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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The president visited the supermarket where last weekend's deadly shooting took place, then forcefully denounced white supremacy and the racist "Replacement" theory that inspired the shooter. -
South America and much of the continental United States had the best view of Sunday night's lunar eclipse, which lasted nearly five hours. -
Human rights advocates have decried the accusations as "baseless" and say the trial is meant to sideline political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for more than 30 years. -
The move is meant to speed up the recovery of the island nation's pandemic-battered economy, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday. -
With permanent burial too costly for many, a priest launched a project to exhume victims, cremate them and find a lasting resting place for their ashes — all free of charge to the families. -
After nearly half the Pacific island territory's population voted in favor of independence from France in a referendum in October, a new government is made up mostly of pro-independence politicians. -
The 168 school desks make up an exhibit called "Pandemic Classroom." Each of the seats represents 1 million children living in countries where schools have been closed for almost a year. -
"The coup is obviously good for no one," says a human rights activist. "But for the Rohingya, the risk is heightened. This is the military regime responsible for the atrocities over many, many years." -
As the aftermath of the Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar continues to unfold, people in the U.S. with deep ties to the Southeast Asian country can only watch and wait. -
Many in the Myanmar immigrant community in the U.S. worry about family and friends back home, where tensions between security forces and protesters continue to escalate following a military coup.
