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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Taylor Sheesh, the Philippines' top Taylor Swift impersonator, has set out on her own tour across the country in a bid to get the global superstar's attention. -
Host team New Zealand defeated Norway 1-0 in the opening game of the tournament, following a brief pause to remember those killed and injured in a shooting in Auckland just hours before. -
King, 23, was stationed in South Korea, but was scheduled to fly back to the U.S. to face disciplinary action when he escaped an airport outside of Seoul and managed to flee into North Korea. -
Health, Science & EnvironmentNew data from the World Health Organization and UNICEF show that the number of children getting vaccinated is rebounding globally. -
A pact on police cooperation is just one of several deals signed by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare this week during a trip to Beijing meant to upgrade the relationship between the two countries. -
The country's film regulator has decided that a map shown in the movie does not depict China's controversial nine-dash line. -
Two Dutch museums returned nearly 500 cultural objects to Indonesia and Sri Lanka that were looted during the colonial era, including gold and silverware, statues, weapons and hundreds of artworks. -
Philippine film regulators are reviewing Barbie after a senator said it depicts a map that China uses to lay claim to nearly all of the South China Sea. Warner Bros. says it's just a "doodle." -
The International Atomic Energy Agency has approved a plan by Japan's government to dump nuclear waste water from the destroyed Fukushima power plant into the Pacific Ocean. -
New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán threw a perfect game Wednesday, just the fourth in team history and 24th overall in Major League Baseball history.
