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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In 1942, Pharmacist's Mate Wheeler Lipes saved the life of a fellow crewman aboard the submarine USS Seadragon. With no formal surgical training, Lipes removed the man's appendix using tools improvised from bent spoons. He's finally being recognized for his ingenuity.
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Host Jennifer Ludden discusses the new research breakthrough on hearing loss with Dr. James Battey, who directs the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Battey explains what research remains to be done, before gene therapy can be tested on humans.
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Only about half of America's high school students think newspapers should be allowed to publish freely, without government approval of their stories. Host Jennifer Ludden talks with Hodding Carter III, the president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, about the findings of the findings of a recent study, "The Future of the First Amendment."
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A new collection of short stories traces the coming of age of three sisters in Uganda. Author Doreen Baingana address issues of class, religion and cultural identity in Tropical Fish: Stories Out Of Entebbe. She talks with NPR's Jennifer Ludden. -
Host Jennifer Ludden looks at how the credit card industry markets to teenagers. Legally, banks may not issue credit cards to minors, but solicitations for cards often go out to kids under 18. It seems the card issuers are counting on parents to bail their kids out when they overcharge.
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Despite a fierce firefight early Sunday, no major violence occurred in the Sunni Triangle. In northern Iraq, Kurdish voters cast two ballots: one for the National Assembly and one for the creation of an independent region Kurdistan. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.
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Architect and author Christopher Alexander recently issued the final book of his four-volume tome, The Nature of Order, In it, he attempts to define and understand the "life" and livability of structures, spaces and cities.
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Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi talks about Sunday's elections. He has spent the past week urging Iraqis to vote, while campaigning at the top of the Iraqi List slate. He discusses his legacy as interim leader and his determination to keep the polls open, regardless of security concerns.
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Daniel Serwer, vice president and director of Peace and Stability Operations for the U.S. Institute of Peace, explains the complex process of electing a 275-member national assembly for Iraq. The assembly's first job will be to write a constitution by Aug. 15, 2005. -
Caroline Elkins' book Imperial Reckoning exposes a grim period in recent British history. In the 1950s, British authorities in Kenya imprisoned thousands of Kikuyu people who were fighting to end colonial rule. Elkins talks with Jennifer Ludden.
