Karen Brown
Reporter/Producer/HostKaren is a radio and print journalist who focuses on health care, mental health, children’s issues, and other topics about the human condition. She has been a full-time radio reporter for NEPM since 1998. Her features and documentaries have won a number of national awards, including the National Edward R. Murrow Award, Public Radio News Directors, Inc. (PRNDI) Award, Third Coast Audio Festival Award, and the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize.
Karen’s work has appeared on NPR, in The New York Times, and other outlets. She previously worked as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. She earned a Masters of Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996.
She can be reached at karen_brown [at] nepm.org.
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Western Mass has among the lowest vaccine rates in the state. Officials say vaccine hesitancy is likely to get worse under Trump administration, which is attacking vaccines through rhetoric and funding cuts. -
The town of Montague hired historical investigators to fill in details of the "Falls Fight," where 250 Native people were killed more than 350 years ago. The study was funded by the National Park Service. -
One community health center in Franklin County is trying to build reserves before the cuts take effect. The organization's director is expecting the financial strain to be "worse than Covid." -
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal assembled a panel this week to highlight importance of Consumer Product Safety Commission, which he says is under attack by the Trump administration. -
As part of a national class action lawsuit, drug companies and pharmacies have to pay $1 billion to Massachusetts over 18 years. Sixty percent of the money goes to the state to distribute, and 40 percent to cities and towns directly. -
"Cottage Street Studios: Past and Present" brings together artists who formed a community at a former mill building in downtown Easthampton before rents went up. -
UMass Amherst researchers found that not only did low income patients have more insurance claims turned down, but they were less likely to contest those claims or have them reversed. -
An inside look at NEPM's new series, "High Stakes: Gambling Addiction, Beyond Borders." Reporter Karen Brown traveled to Norway and the United Kingdom to learn how other countries are balancing the excessive spread of legal betting with the risk of gambling disorders — and looked at similar efforts within the United States. -
As sports betting expands across the U.S., states are on their own to make the rules. A growing movement of U.S. health leaders and legislators want to strengthen and standardize the way gambling is regulated. But they are facing opposition from the betting industry. -
In 2005, the U.K. passed a law that liberalized the gambling industry, which had previously been merely tolerated. Public health leaders across the Atlantic say the U.S. should take note of the challenges the U.K. has faced since gambling spread to almost every city.
