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Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth

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Matt Rota for ProPublica They entered the world the way babies should, with piercing cries announcing their arrival. They passed their newborn screening tests. Some made it to their 2-week wellness visits without concern. Then, without warning, their systems began to shut down. A 7-week-old boy in Maryland developed sudden seizures. An 11-pound girl in Alabama stopped breathing for 20 seconds at a time. A baby boy in Kentucky vomited before becoming lethargic. A brown-haired girl in Texas, not yet 2 weeks old, bled around her belly button. Desperate to save them, records show, doctors inserted tubes into their airways and hooked them up to IVs. They ordered blood transfusions. They spent half an hour trying to resuscitate one boy until his parents told them they could stop. They shaved another boy’s soft locks to embed a needle directly into his skull to reduce the pressure in his brain. None of it was enough. At the morgue, the babies were brought in with the...

Texas Lawmakers Repeatedly Failed to Pass Legislation That Could Have Protected Residents From Deadly Floods

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Crosses mark the spot where Beth and Hutch Bryan and Martha Crawford were staying during the floods on July 4, 2025, in Kerr County, Texas. The sound of construction machinery filled the air as Kylie Nidever walked past properties ravaged months earlier by floodwaters. Nidever’s home was among those in her Bumble Bee Hills neighborhood untouched by last year’s July 4 flood, one of the deadliest disasters in Texas history. The 35-year-old understood the draw of the tranquil Kerr County subdivision, where she played as a child in a nearby creek that fed the Guadalupe River. But she was taken aback by how enthusiastic most of her neighbors were to rebuild. Nidever wondered why the government had let people build in any areas long known to be dangerous and whether leaders would intervene now. “Is somebody going to come in and stop us?” said Nidever, who has considered moving. “If it happens again and it’s worse next time, people will die in this neighborhood.” Afte...

A New Look for ProPublica

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You may have noticed things look a little different when visiting ProPublica’s website recently or encountering our work on other platforms, such as Apple News or Instagram . We’ve updated our logo and our typefaces, and we made improvements to the design and functionality of our homepage and how we present our work. We wanted to take a moment to tell you what’s changed and why. The biggest changes you’ll notice on our homepage are structural. Many of our investigations come with supporting material, including visual explainers, details on our methodology or ways to send us tips. Our new design allows us to package these pieces together, so it’s easier for you to find the full picture. We’re also showcasing more of our best investigations from the archives so readers have a chance to discover reporting they may have missed. The new homepage allows investigations to be packaged with supporting material, such as our methodology or translations, and better showcases our vi...