Merrit Kennedy
Merrit Kennedy is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She covers a broad range of issues, from the latest developments out of the Middle East to science research news.
Kennedy joined NPR in Washington, D.C., in December 2015, after seven years living and working in Egypt. She started her journalism career at the beginning of the Egyptian uprising in 2011 and chronicled the ousting of two presidents, eight rounds of elections, and numerous major outbreaks of violence for NPR and other news outlets. She has also worked as a reporter and television producer in Cairo for The Associated Press, covering Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan.
She grew up in Los Angeles, the Middle East, and places in between, and holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from Stanford University and a master's degree in international human rights law from The American University in Cairo.
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Veterinarians at the Smithsonian's National Zoo have turned to an unconventional therapy for an arthritic 41-year-old Asian elephant — shoes. The talented animal also knows how to play the harmonica. -
The residents of a public housing complex in East Chicago, Ind., are now forced to move because of dangerously high lead levels in the area's soil. A lead smelting company used to lie on the site. -
Students will be entering a brand-new school for the first time when classes start Monday. It's located at the same site as the scene of the tragedy and the architects were inspired by nature. -
The bridge is elegantly stretched between two peaks in China, where visitors can gaze under their feet at the canyon — a vertigo-inducing 328 yards below. -
It could still take weeks to contain the raging blaze in Southern California, which has destroyed nearly 100 homes and put more than 80,000 people under mandatory evacuation orders. -
Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe says a crude oil pipeline set to span from North Dakota to Illinois could contaminate their drinking water and sacred lands. -
The federal state of emergency in Flint, Mich. expires today, as the city continues to navigate a public health crisis caused by lead-laced water. -
More than a thousand people have been rescued as the state is drenched and battered by what the governor has called an "unprecedented and historic flooding event." -
Conjoined twin boys Moaz and Nawras have been evacuated out of one of Syria's most embattled areas for urgent medical treatment, following an international appeal to save their lives. -
Instead, the IOC has called on sports federations to carry out assessments on individual athletes to determine whether they can compete, amid state-sponsored doping allegations.
