Ted Robbins
As supervising editor for Arts and Culture at NPR based at NPR West in Culver City, Ted Robbins plans coverage across NPR shows and online, focusing on TV at a time when there's never been so much content. He thinks "arts and culture" encompasses a lot of human creativity — from traditional museum offerings to popular culture, and out-of-the-way people and events.
Robbins also supervises obituaries or, as NPR prefers to call them, "appreciations," of people in the arts.
Robbins joined the Arts Desk in 2015, after a decade on air as a NPR National Desk correspondent based in Tucson, Arizona. From there, he covered the Southwest, including Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Robbins reported on a range of issues, from immigration and border security to water issues and wildfires. He covered the economy in the West with an emphasis on the housing market and Las Vegas development. He reported on the January 2011 shooting in Tucson that killed six and injured many, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Robbins' reporting has been honored with numerous accolades, including two Emmy Awards—one for his story on sex education in schools, and another for his series on women in the workforce. He received a CINE Golden Eagle for a 1995 documentary on Mexican agriculture called "Tomatoes for the North."
In 2006, Robbins wrote an article for the Nieman Reports at Harvard about journalism and immigration. He was chosen for a 2009 French-American Foundation Fellowship focused on comparing European and U.S. immigration issues.
Raised in Los Angeles, Robbins became an avid NPR listener while spending hours driving (or stopped in traffic) on congested freeways. He is delighted to now be covering stories for his favorite news source.
Prior to coming to NPR in 2004, Robbins spent five years as a regular contributor to The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, 15 years at the PBS affiliate in Tucson, and working as a field producer for CBS News. He worked for NBC affiliates in Tucson and Salt Lake City, where he also did some radio reporting and print reporting for USA Today.
Robbins earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and his master's degree in journalism, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught journalism at the University of Arizona for a decade.
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In Arizona, a federal judge ruled against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department, saying it used racial profiling to enforce the state's tough immigration laws. Host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Ted Robbins about the ruling.
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In Oklahoma on Friday, state emergency officials said Monday's tornado destroyed 1,150 homes. An unknown number of structures were damaged. The state has registered more than 1,800 insurance adjusters.
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The Senate's immigration bill would require all U.S. employers to use E-Verify, a federal database that checks a worker's immigration status instantly. While businesses have had difficulty using the system in the past, officials say its results are now accurate 98 percent of the time. -
Almost half of all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. came legally — but then overstayed their visas. In an effort to curb those "overstays," the Senate is considering a bill that mandates tracking visitors' visas when they leave the country, not just when they arrive. -
The steady stream of good news about the recovering housing market isn't without its limits. Thad Salter and his family live in the Phoenix suburb of Maricopa since moving from California in 2006. He's seen his home drop in value by more than half and has been underemployed as an human resources professional since 2008. NPR's Ted Robbins reports that, for the Salters, the housing news isn't as good as reports in the housing industry would suggest.
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Thousands of people were expected in Las Vegas for the first weekend of NCAA men's college basketball tournament. It's one of the most lucrative weekends in Las Vegas. Casino officials say it draws more people than the Super Bowl.
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Nogales, Ariz., is home to one of the nation's busiest ports of entry. Trucks line up for inspection before heading to grocery stores in the U.S. But the sequester is forcing the ports to make cuts, leading some to fear higher prices for food and strained relationships with foreign trading partners. -
With baseball gone from the Olympics, the World Baseball Classic is the only international professional baseball tournament. Former Yankees and Dodgers manager Joe Torre said he put on a uniform again to manage the U.S. team because it's a privilege.
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Reaction is coming in after the Obama administration's unusual move releasing immigration detainees due to budget cuts. An Arizona sheriff is blasting the sequestration gridlock for undermining the safety of local communities. Immigrant rights groups, however, say it shouldn't take a budget crisis to do what they think is right.
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Audie Cornish talks to Ted Robbins about reaction to the Obama administration's decision to release immigrant detainees. The move was attributed to budget cuts.
