Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
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In May, NOAA will release its once-a-decade update for the 30-year weather averages that local meteorologists use. In many places, it will mean far fewer days that are "above normal." -
Next month, the temperature averages meteorologists use will get an update. It means the warmer climate will — quite literally — become the new "normal," posing a challenge for forecasters.
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Former EPA chief Gina McCarthy is President-elect Joe Biden's pick for domestic climate adviser. She'll have a big role pushing for aggressive climate action across the government.
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The move would ease approval for major infrastructure projects. It could mean federal agencies won't need to consider climate impacts of things like pipelines and highways.
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Carfentanil, a powerful opioid used to sedate elephants, is being blamed for a record spike in drug overdoses in the Midwest. It's much stronger, and riskier, than heroin or fentanyl.
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For some climate activists, the personal decision to have a child is also fraught with moral consequences: the negative impact on the environment, and on the quality of life for those children.
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Despite the attention to lead in water, the biggest health risk to children is still from lead paint. The city of Baltimore banned lead paint way back in 1950, but children continue to be poisoned.
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Despite a decades-long crackdown, much of the $113 billion in child support debt will never be paid because those who owe it are too poor. President Obama is proposing changes to address this reality.
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At Baltimore's Renaissance Academy High School, mentors help students cope with the trauma in their daily lives. The principal says the aim is not just to keep boys in school, but to keep them alive.
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A handful of states are refusing to name both parents from a same-sex couple on a birth certificate, even though its among the benefits named in the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.
