Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
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New research finds that nearly one-third of full-time workers do most of their work remotely. But just who those workers are — and how much work they're doing — may come as a surprise. -
When couples divorce, fathers' rights groups say, too many judges fall back on tradition — primary custody for Mom. The groups are pushing for shared custody laws, but the effort faces resistance. -
The gap in earnings between young people who have a college degree and those who don't has continued to widen over the past several decades. And while total student loan debt in the U.S. continues to rise, millennials say a college degree is still worth it. -
The only federally mandated leave covers just half of the workforce, and many people say they can't afford to use it because it's unpaid. States and cities across the U.S. are stepping in with policies that cover both public and private sector workers. -
A local Christian aid group is trying to help villages adapt using drought-tolerant crops and irrigation pumps. But even with new techniques, farmers still need to know: When is it safe to plant? -
Since Superstorm Sandy, officials in Washington, D.C., have gotten a clear idea of what would happen in a worst-case storm scenario. Key government buildings and tourist sites like the Smithsonian museums are particularly vulnerable to flooding. So federal and local officials are taking steps to protect them.
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In the developing world, one in three girls is married by the age of 18, and the number of young girls being married off is actually increasing, according to groups tracking the issue. -
Across the developing world, 1 in 3 girls marries before age 18. Some are wed and become mothers by the time they reach their teens. In Malawi, some villages have started to punish parents who marry off their young daughters. -
The state says the for-profit agency is not licensed to operate in the state. The agency has said that because its online ads don't originate in Illinois, it is not bound by the state's law. Still, the move could test the Internet's expanding reach in this sensitive area. -
At least one gunman opened fire on people at a building in the Washington Naval Yard. Police say several people are dead and several wounded.
