Ted Robbins
As supervising editor for Arts and Culture at NPR based at NPR West in Culver City, Ted Robbins plans coverage across NPR shows and online, focusing on TV at a time when there's never been so much content. He thinks "arts and culture" encompasses a lot of human creativity — from traditional museum offerings to popular culture, and out-of-the-way people and events.
Robbins also supervises obituaries or, as NPR prefers to call them, "appreciations," of people in the arts.
Robbins joined the Arts Desk in 2015, after a decade on air as a NPR National Desk correspondent based in Tucson, Arizona. From there, he covered the Southwest, including Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Robbins reported on a range of issues, from immigration and border security to water issues and wildfires. He covered the economy in the West with an emphasis on the housing market and Las Vegas development. He reported on the January 2011 shooting in Tucson that killed six and injured many, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Robbins' reporting has been honored with numerous accolades, including two Emmy Awards—one for his story on sex education in schools, and another for his series on women in the workforce. He received a CINE Golden Eagle for a 1995 documentary on Mexican agriculture called "Tomatoes for the North."
In 2006, Robbins wrote an article for the Nieman Reports at Harvard about journalism and immigration. He was chosen for a 2009 French-American Foundation Fellowship focused on comparing European and U.S. immigration issues.
Raised in Los Angeles, Robbins became an avid NPR listener while spending hours driving (or stopped in traffic) on congested freeways. He is delighted to now be covering stories for his favorite news source.
Prior to coming to NPR in 2004, Robbins spent five years as a regular contributor to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, 15 years at the PBS affiliate in Tucson, and working as a field producer for CBS News. He worked for NBC affiliates in Tucson and Salt Lake City, where he also did some radio reporting and print reporting for USA Today.
Robbins earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and his master's degree in journalism, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught journalism at the University of Arizona for a decade.
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With the sequester, the Public Defender's Office in Tucson, Ariz., has lost a quarter of its staff. But everyone is entitled to legal representation, so judges are appointing expensive private attorneys in the public defenders' place. -
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, one of President Obama's staunchest critics, has confounded conservatives in her own party by pushing for an extension of Medicaid coverage in the state. -
The immigration bill now under consideration by the Senate calls for drones to patrol the U.S. border 24/7. Supporters say that means more drones are needed. But critics argue there's no evidence the drones already flying are cost-effective. -
Nogales, Ariz., is home to one of the nation's busiest ports of entry. Trucks line up for inspection before heading to grocery stores in the U.S. But the sequester is forcing the ports to make cuts, leading some to fear higher prices for food and strained relationships with foreign trading partners. -
For 16 years, Mexican growers have agreed not to sell tomatoes below what's called a reference price, meant to protect Florida growers from cheap Mexican tomatoes. But half of all tomatoes eaten in the U.S. come from Mexico, and Mexican growers say it's because their tomatoes taste better. -
The Tucson, Ariz., band's newest batch of story-songs about people in transition is titled Algiers, named for the New Orleans neighborhood where it was recorded. -
Every day at the convention in Tampa, Newt Gingrich — the former House Speaker and a former college professor — will hold a two hour policy workshop.
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Long a staple of Western wear, the bolo tie is getting the museum treatment in Phoenix. The Heard Museum celebrates the tie's history and artistry in a new exhibit where simple designs are displayed alongside more traditional works of art in the high-ceilinged gallery. -
Emily Dickinson is all over Tucson, Ariz. Reading, lectures, classroom lessons — it's all part of the Big Read Project, which is devoted to "inspiring people across the country to pick up a good book."
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In 2010, U.S.-born workers lost more than 1 million jobs while foreign-born workers gained more than a half-million nationwide. Experts in Phoenix say foreign-born people are more likely to get employed faster because they are more willing to take any job, at any pay. Researchers say the trend could change the national workforce long-term.
