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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The government vowed to rebuild the city after the 2017 conflict with militants linked to ISIS. But more than 100,000 people are still in displacement camps, waiting for reconstruction. -
All the members of the Toronto-based ASD Band are on the Autism Spectrum. This month, they've been dropping new covers of songs each week in celebration of Canada's Autism Awareness Month. -
Drive-in movie theaters are making a bit of a comback amid the pandemic. And people are going, even just to reclaim a bit of of their Saturday nights back.
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George Floyd's death isn't just a story about a black man and the white cop charged with his murder. Among Asian Americans, the involvement of Hmong officer Tou Thao is stirring a racial debate. -
Starting Monday, the Southeast Asian country will open some schools and more businesses. It will also allow its citizens to travel domestically. -
The group, mostly women and children, had been stranded at sea for weeks. Human rights groups have long decried the government's plan to send refugees to flood- and cyclone-prone Bhasan Char island. -
Health experts say low rates of testing and refusal to enact strict lockdowns have allowed the virus to infiltrate all 34 provinces of the archipelago nation. -
Americans overseas trying to complete international adoptions have urged the government to expedite their children's visas so they can return as a family. -
As many island nations attempt to keep the coronavirus out, they also risk getting cut off from the outside world their economies depend on. -
Parents and caretakers of people with intellectual or developmental disabilities such as autism face unique hurtles in communicating about the coronavirus pandemic.
