Michael Copley
@michaelcopley1.bsky.social
@npr.org Investigative Correspondent Signal: michaelcopley.29
"You're going to cash my check," Nicole Maziasz, a Wisconsin homeowner, says of State Farm, "but you're going to work your butt off to deny whatever damage I claim to have." www.npr.org/2026/04/28/n...
Lawsuits accuse State Farm of secretly working to cut insurance payouts
Lawsuits allege that State Farm tries to avoid paying what it owes for hail damage. The litigation is happening as homeowners face soaring insurance costs, partly due to threats from climate change.
npr.org
Going without insurance for your house? My @npr Climate Desk colleague would like to hear from you:
Michael Copley@michaelcopley1.bsky.social · 3mo agoMillions of US houses are uninsured as premiums soar. That’s leaving families and entire communities exposed to big financial risks. Are you going without coverage? NPR wants to hear your story. www.npr.org/2026/04/28/n...
Millions of US houses are uninsured as premiums soar. That’s leaving families and entire communities exposed to big financial risks. Are you going without coverage? NPR wants to hear your story. www.npr.org/2026/04/28/n...
Millions of homes in the U.S. are uninsured. NPR wants to hear your story
Millions of homes in the U.S. are uninsured, partly because insurance costs have soared in recent years. NPR wants to hear about the coverage decisions you're making as premiums rise.
npr.org
Lawsuits allege that State Farm tries to avoid paying what it owes for hail damage. The litigation is happening as homeowners face soaring insurance costs, partly due to threats from climate change. n.pr/4uevEeG
Lawsuits accuse State Farm of secretly working to cut insurance payouts
Lawsuits allege that State Farm tries to avoid paying what it owes for hail damage. The litigation is happening as homeowners face soaring insurance costs, partly due to threats from climate change.
n.pr
Valuable reporting here from my @npr.org Climate Desk colleague @michaelcopley1.bsky.social:
NPR@npr.org · 3mo agoLawsuits allege that State Farm tries to avoid paying what it owes for hail damage. The litigation is happening as homeowners face soaring insurance costs, partly due to threats from climate change. n.pr/4uevEeG
The country’s largest home insurer, State Farm, is accused of running a secret scheme to deny and minimize payments for hail damage — a huge cost for insurers. The allegations come as homeowners face soaring insurance costs, partly due to threats from climate change. www.npr.org/2026/04/28/n...
Lawsuits accuse State Farm of secretly working to cut insurance payouts
Lawsuits allege that State Farm tries to avoid paying what it owes for hail damage. The litigation is happening as homeowners face soaring insurance costs, partly due to threats from climate change.
npr.org
States say disaster funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a trickle under the Trump administration. That's delaying projects to protect communities from wildfires and hurricanes.
Communities are waiting on billions in disaster funding from the Trump administration
States say disaster funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency has slowed to a trickle under the Trump administration. That's delaying projects to protect communities from wildfires and hurricanes.
n.pr
"By intervening to stop investments that President Trump personally opposes, the administration risks chilling infrastructure spending across the economy, not just in offshore wind, says Leslie Abrahams... at the Center for Strategic and International Studies." Story by @michaelcopley1.bsky.social
NPR@npr.org · 4mo agoPresident Trump has tried to kill offshore wind's future in the U.S. But industry analysts say the attacks could hurt business confidence across the U.S. economy. n.pr/4v7ywLM
We looked at three communities across the U.S. who are struggling with insurance costs and cancellations as climate-driven disasters get worse. The effects are rippling through communities 2/ - with @rhersher.bsky.social @michaelcopley1.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/11/12/n...
It's harder to get home insurance. That's changing communities across the U.S.
Home insurance is getting less affordable, and less available, as insurers raise prices and pull back from areas with extreme weather. That's forcing families across the country to make tough choices.
npr.org
"That gentrification is a real thing, the change in the cost is a real thing," says Rob Fowler, a builder in southwest Florida. “And it all adds up to the fact that only well-heeled players can play now." www.npr.org/2025/11/17/n...
Disaster and insurance costs are rising. The middle class is struggling to hang on
Middle-class families are struggling to afford insurance in southwest Florida. Realtors say a wave of foreclosures could be coming.
npr.org
Some of the country's highest home insurance prices are in the central U.S., a region generally considered to be protected from climate-driven disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes. n.pr/49PWIKc
Why home insurance is unaffordable, even in places without wildfires or hurricanes
Some of the country's highest home insurance prices are in the central U.S., a region generally considered to be protected from climate-driven disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes.
n.pr
"It's to a point of unsustainability," says Robert Dyer, CEO of the Cozad Community Health System. "If we got hit by another storm right now, it would drain all our cash." From @rhersher.bsky.social www.npr.org/2025/11/13/n...
Why home insurance is unaffordable, even in places without wildfires or hurricanes
Some of the country's highest home insurance prices are in the central U.S., a region generally considered to be protected from climate-driven disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes.
npr.org
Without Congressionally-approved funding, public media stations say communities will be left with aging infrastructure amid growing risks from extreme weather.
Public media stations in rural America say emergency-alert funding is in jeopardy
Without Congressionally-approved funding, public media stations say communities will be left with aging infrastructure amid growing risks from extreme weather.
n.pr
A lot of companies want the EPA in charge of setting national climate regulations because it helps shield them from lawsuits and creates a predictable environment in which to make investments. n.pr/47HiEWK
Businesses face 'chaos' as EPA aims to repeal its authority over climate pollution
A lot of companies want the EPA in charge of setting national climate regulations because it helps shield them from lawsuits and creates a predictable environment in which to make investments.
n.pr
The federal government's Energy Star efficiency program is in jeopardy. The Trump administration wants to eliminate or privatize it. Here's my @npr.org story: www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...
The Trump administration seeks to eliminate or privatize the Energy Star program
The Energy Star program has saved Americans more than a half-trillion dollars in energy costs and has reduced climate pollution. Now the Trump administration wants to eliminate or privatize it.
npr.org
The Trump administration announced its plan today to overturn a key 2009 Environmental Protection Agency finding that underpins much of the federal government's actions to rein in climate change. My @npr story: www.npr.org/2025/07/29/n...
Trump's EPA wants to eliminate regulation for greenhouse gases
The Trump administration proposes eliminating a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger people. That would undermine the EPA's climate change regulations for power plants and cars.
npr.org
"It's not a question of whether or not the country is going to install solar if these provisions are removed or phased out too quickly. It's just a matter of where [project developers] are going to get the product from."
NPR@npr.org · last yr.Abruptly ending tax incentives that encourage solar developers to buy American could upend a booming manufacturing sector.
Abruptly ending tax incentives that encourage solar developers to buy American could upend a booming manufacturing sector.
Solar manufacturing is booming. Advocates say it could go bust without incentives
Abruptly ending tax incentives that encourage solar developers to buy American could upend a booming manufacturing sector.
n.pr
Investments that help communities endure more extreme weather are "a path to keep insurance available," says Dave Jones, director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley Law. “But the insurers need to account for it in their modeling. They're not."
Protecting your home from disaster might not help you get insurance
Insurance costs are soaring, and coverage is hard to find in some parts of the United States. Communities say insurers are ignoring their efforts to confront the problem.
npr.org
You count on the NPR Network. Today, supporters like you are donating and sharing what #PublicMediaGives to their communities that no other news service can. Your support connects small towns, big cities and the millions who call them home. Every dollar makes a difference. Donate now: n.pr/4lFTPPD
“In DePue, Ill., sewage will keep backing up into people's basements when there's heavy rain. In Rising Sun, Md., a mobile home park that has already flooded six times will remain in harm's way. And in Kamiah, Idaho, houses won't get upgrades that would protect them from wildfires.”
Rural communities were promised millions in disaster funds. Trump is ending it
Rural communities are scrambling after the Trump administration canceled billions in disaster grants. Many were counting on the funds for infrastructure fixes meant to withstand future disasters.
npr.org
JUST IN: A federal judge in Vermont ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University who was arrested at his US citizenship interview and ordered deported.
Federal judge orders release of Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi
A federal judge in Vermont ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University who was arrested at his US citizenship interview and ordered deported.
npr.org
For an @npr.org story I'm researching: have you cooked with an electric grill before? What do you think of the experience, compared to a gas or charcoal grill? Any suggestions if someone is thinking about switching to an electric grill this summer?
The attacks on climate activists represent a broad assault on US civil society, says Lee Wasserman, director of the Rockefeller Family Fund and a target of the hacking. “It’s a very big issue that transcends, really, the most basic aspects of freedom,” Wasserman told NPR
Private eye accused of hacking American climate activists loses U.K. extradition fight
The Justice Department has charged Amit Forlit with conspiracy to commit computer hacking, among other crimes.
npr.org
EPA cancels $900K to address asthma in western Mass., includes city once dubbed U.S. 'asthma capital' www.nhpr.org/2025-04-28/e...
EPA cancels $900K to address asthma in western Mass., includes city once dubbed U.S. 'asthma capital'
Most of a multi-year, $1 million federal grant to address asthma in western Massachusetts was terminated on Friday, effective immediately, according to the Healey administration.
nhpr.org
Some Los Angeles fires victims are rebuilding their homes without gas appliances. Climate advocates want all homeowners to choose electric, but it's hard to require that of people who've had their lives upended. My @npr.org story with Ryan Kellman's photos: www.npr.org/2025/04/23/n...
Some Los Angeles fires victims are rebuilding their homes without gas appliances
As Los Angeles rebuilds from the Eaton and Palisades fires, climate activists want to retire the gas utility pipelines and and hope to persuade people to rebuild homes as all-electric.
npr.org
Pope Francis pushed for action on climate change -- not surprising for a pontiff who was the first to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology. My @npr.org story: www.npr.org/2025/04/21/n...
Pope Francis focused on climate change as the planet continued to get hotter
Pope Francis called on the world and 1.4 billion Catholics to confront climate change. He brought attention to the issue but it's not clear he changed many minds.
npr.org
The agency forecasts weather, manages fisheries, and researches the world's oceans, atmosphere, and climate. The proposed budget cuts would slash the climate work entirely.
Major budget cuts proposed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The agency forecasts weather, manages fisheries, and researches the world's oceans, atmosphere, and climate. The proposed budget cuts would slash the climate work entirely.
npr.org