Ashley Westerman
Ashley Westerman is a producer who occasionally directs the show. Since joining the staff in June 2015, she has produced a variety of stories including a coal mine closing near her hometown, the 2016 Republican National Convention, and the Rohingya refugee crisis in southern Bangladesh. She is also an occasional reporter for Morning Edition, and NPR.org, where she has contributed reports on both domestic and international news.
Ashley was a summer intern in 2011 with Morning Edition and pitched a story on her very first day. She went on to work as a reporter and host for member station 89.3 WRKF in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she earned awards covering everything from healthcare to jambalaya.
Ashley is an East-West Center 2018 Jefferson Fellow and a two-time reporting fellow with the International Center for Journalists. Through ICFJ, she has covered labor issues in her home country of the Philippines for NPR and health care in Appalachia for Voice of America.
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Human rights advocates have decried the accusations as "baseless" and say the trial is meant to sideline political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for more than 30 years. -
The move is meant to speed up the recovery of the island nation's pandemic-battered economy, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday. -
With permanent burial too costly for many, a priest launched a project to exhume victims, cremate them and find a lasting resting place for their ashes — all free of charge to the families. -
The Philippines is losing restrictions on travel to the country. The change would affect tourists from 150 countries, including the U.S. where the largest diaspora of Filipinos live.
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It's a pandemic predicament. With only 1 recorded case of COVID-19 in their island nation, Tongans are desperate for help after the volcanic eruption — but eager to keep the virus out. -
In the Philippine capital Manila, people without proof of full vaccination or a work exemption can't take public transportation. Human rights activists say the policy discriminates against the poor.
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If you had to define 2021 with just one word what would it be? Merriam-Webster Editor-at-Large Peter Sokolowski talks about what words were most on people's minds throughout the year.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks to Thomas Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, about the preparations being made for the New Year's Eve celebration in New York City.
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Much of California is in the grips of extreme or exceptional drought. But the state may soon be blanketed by record levels of snow, after a series of storms finish parading through the western U.S.
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NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Al Michaels of NBC Sports about football coach and sportscaster John Madden, who died Tuesday at the age of 85.
