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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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his forces are taking back Kherson, following Russia's withdrawal from the strategic southern city. -
A new school in Kyiv aims to get more women involved in the war effort by putting them in a driver's seat where few have been before: piloting drones.
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Ukraine was the leading country Americans adopted from, but it halted adoptions this year after Russia's invasion. Now many families and children are in limbo. -
Ukrainians celebrated the Saturday attack on a key bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula to mainland Russia by flooding social media with memes, which have become a staple of the conflict. -
Dozens of American parents who were in the process of adopting children from Ukraine are stuck in limbo as the war with Russia grinds on with no end in sight.
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The war displaced millions of Ukrainians. But officials are trying to entice citizens to travel around the country for pleasure again. -
All of the chain's 100-plus locations in Ukraine closed after Russia invaded in February. Three reopened in Kyiv this week, for delivery only. "It's a nice gift from McDonald's," one customer says. -
Ukrainian forces liberated the town of Balakliia in a swift counteroffensive against Russia in the east, where retreating Russian troops left behind tanks, captives and an untold number of casualties. -
The rural town of Balaklia was liberated as part of Ukraine's recent counteroffensive against Russia in the east. NPR was among the first group of journalists to go there.
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The Ukrainian town of Balaklia was the first to be liberated as part of Ukraine's recent counteroffensive. The work to understand what happened there during six months of occupation is just beginning.
