When he was a kid, Tom Ward thought his dad was Superman, especially because he worked with his hands. When I sat down with Tom a few weeks ago, he talked about how heroic and invincible his father seemed, about his athleticism and his work ethic. But years of working as a sandblaster had taken their toll. They turned out to be this Superman’s kryptonite.
In 1913, when the Labor Department was founded, the U.S. workforce looked a lot different. Child labor was commonplace, and there were fewer opportunities for women and people of color.
The following was posted on Saturday, Dec. 6: One hundred seven years ago today in Monongah, West Virginia, 362 coal miners – many of them teenage boys — went to work and never came home. That morning, an explosion ripped through two connected mines.
When severe weather strikes, we often turn to meteorologists and weather forecasters for life-saving information. Tina Eller of Atlanta told the New York Times that her local weatherman, Glenn Burns, saved the lives of her and her family in 2011 by issuing an on-air warning to take cover when a tornado was minutes away from ravaging her community.
