Rachel Martin
Rachel Martin is a host of Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.
Before taking on this role in December 2016, Martin was the host of Weekend Edition Sunday for four years. Martin also served as National Security Correspondent for NPR, where she covered both defense and intelligence issues. She traveled regularly to Iraq and Afghanistan with the Secretary of Defense, reporting on the U.S. wars and the effectiveness of the Pentagon's counterinsurgency strategy. Martin also reported extensively on the changing demographic of the U.S. military – from the debate over whether to allow women to fight in combat units – to the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Her reporting on how the military is changing also took her to a U.S. Air Force base in New Mexico for a rare look at how the military trains drone pilots.
Martin was part of the team that launched NPR's experimental morning news show, The Bryant Park Project, based in New York — a two-hour daily multimedia program that she co-hosted with Alison Stewart and Mike Pesca.
In 2006-2007, Martin served as NPR's religion correspondent. Her piece on Islam in America was awarded "Best Radio Feature" by the Religion News Writers Association in 2007. As one of NPR's reporters assigned to cover the Virginia Tech massacre that same year, she was on the school's campus within hours of the shooting and on the ground in Blacksburg, Va., covering the investigation and emotional aftermath in the following days.
Based in Berlin, Germany, Martin worked as a NPR foreign correspondent from 2005-2006. During her time in Europe, she covered the London terrorist attacks, the federal elections in Germany, the 2006 World Cup and issues surrounding immigration and shifting cultural identities in Europe.
Her foreign reporting experience extends beyond Europe. Martin has also worked extensively in Afghanistan. She began reporting from there as a freelancer during the summer of 2003, covering the reconstruction effort in the wake of the U.S. invasion. In fall 2004, Martin returned for several months to cover Afghanistan's first democratic presidential election. She has reported widely on women's issues in Afghanistan, the fledgling political and governance system and the U.S.-NATO fight against the insurgency. She has also reported from Iraq, where she covered U.S. military operations and the strategic alliance between Sunni sheiks and the U.S. military in Anbar province.
Martin started her career at public radio station KQED in San Francisco, as a producer and reporter.
She holds an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.
-
The Food and Drug Administration gave the OK for a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster for anyone 65 or older or at high risk for severe disease. People whose work puts them at risk will also be eligible.
-
The FDA OKs a Pfizer booster for people 65+ or at high risk for severe COVID-19. Some Haitian migrants have been released into the U.S. The U.N. says people in an area of Ethiopia face severe hunger.
-
The delta variant may have peaked in the U.S. Photos of U.S. agents herding Haitian migrants at the border are hard to look at. Probe finds Entergy New Orleans fought efforts to ready for disasters.
-
Johnson & Johnson says a booster six months after the first shot increases antibodies 12-fold, indicating a second shot would provide added protection.
-
The U.S. is averaging about 140,000 new cases of coronavirus per day and about 1,500 people are dying each day from the virus. Amid this surge, the Biden administration's booster strategy is in flux.
-
An immigration lawyer in Virginia says she has clients also waiting to leave Afghanistan, but the cumbersome process — paired with a lack of U.S. assistance in the country — is a big challenge. -
The FDA will rule on applications from e-cigarette makers who want to stay on the market. Advocates who sued the agency say products that contain flavors and high levels of nicotine should be banned.
-
President Biden is expected to announce a new strategy to deal with the delta variant. The FDA is deciding which e-cigarettes will be banned. The ex-CEO of Theranos is on trial for fraud.
-
In northern Idaho, COVID-19 cases are so bad, all care is being rationed. The Taliban announced a caretaker government in Afghanistan. Mexico's supreme court effectively decriminalized abortion there.
-
The Taliban say their blitz through Afghanistan is complete. President Biden on Tuesday tours Ida damage in the Northeast. Tennessee and other states are struggling with the latest COVID-19 surge.
