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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After U.S.-Taliban talks excluded Afghanistan's government and collapsed last month, the senior official tells NPR that the only way to lasting peace is to include the country's leaders.
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On the anniversary of the People's Republic of China, the country's top diplomat in Washington says it has "no interest in global dominance or hegemony; we just want our people to have a better life."
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In an interview ahead of this week's U.N. General Assembly, Mohammad Javad Zarif tells NPR that U.S. sanctions against Iran "will not be able to bring us to our knees."
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Tensions between pro-independence supporters and government authorities in Indonesia's Papua and West Papua provinces have continued into a second week. The government has shut down Internet access.
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"Environmental personhood" was once considered a fringe issue, but several countries have granted rivers within their borders legal person status. Bangladesh became the latest in July.
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The record number headlined the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees' annual "Global Trends" report published Wednesday, just a day before World Refugee Day.
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Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese citizen, was recently released from Iran's notorious Evin Prison, where he served nearly four years.
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In a special series, Morning Edition discovers the experiences of people affected by the deepening tensions between the world's two largest economies.
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The Laos government and conservationists estimate there are only about 800 elephants left in all of Laos, just half of them living in the wild.
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China has taken dramatic steps to fight climate change, including shutting major coal power plants. But now it plans to build hundreds of coal plants abroad.