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10 years since the deadly Flint water crisis and America's eroding bridges | Scripps News Investigates

Scripps News follows up on Flint's replacement of leaded pipes, catalogues bridges across the country in need of critical repairs and tells the stories of National Guard members denied their benefits.
Lead pipes in Flint, Michigan.
Posted at 9:02 AM, May 06, 2024

City in contempt

It's been 10 years since the start of one of the nation's most shocking public health scandals: the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

Corroded pipes leached lead into the drinking water and exposed tens of thousands of residents to harmful contamination.

Last spring, Scripps News investigated the progress Flint was making to replace its pipes — and our reporting is now being cited in a federal judge's order to hold the city of Flint in contempt of court for not finishing the job.

When we went back to Flint recently we found a city still reeling from the crisis.

Bridges in decay

When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore earlier this year, it offered a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of the nation's bridges and raised new questions about their safety.

For the past year, Scripps News has been investigating bridges from coast to coast, and discovered many are in need of urgent repair or replacement.

We learned of a potential problem facing some 10,000 bridges made from a certain steel that, without regular maintenance, can be especially prone to corrosion and collapse.

Battle for benefits

When a pilot in the Air National Guard was forced out of her cockpit because of a medical condition, she says she was left with no military pay and no benefits.

She's one of hundreds of National Guard members that our Scripps News investigative team in Phoenix found are being denied medical coverage by the U.S. military. She's also one of the few to successfully battle to get those benefits reinstated.