Laurel Wamsley
Laurel Wamsley is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She reports breaking news for NPR's digital coverage, newscasts, and news magazines, as well as occasional features. She was also the lead reporter for NPR's coverage of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.
Wamsley got her start at NPR as an intern for Weekend Edition Saturday in January 2007 and stayed on as a production assistant for NPR's flagship news programs, before joining the Washington Desk for the 2008 election.
She then left NPR, doing freelance writing and editing in Austin, Texas, and then working in various marketing roles for technology companies in Austin and Chicago.
In November 2015, Wamsley returned to NPR as an associate producer for the National Desk, where she covered stories including Hurricane Matthew in coastal Georgia. She became a Newsdesk reporter in March 2017, and has since covered subjects including climate change, possibilities for social networks beyond Facebook, the sex lives of Neanderthals, and joke theft.
In 2010, Wamsley was a Journalism and Women Symposium Fellow and participated in the German-American Fulbright Commission's Berlin Capital Program, and was a 2016 Voqal Foundation Fellow. She will spend two months reporting from Germany as a 2019 Arthur F. Burns Fellow, a program of the International Center for Journalists.
Wamsley earned a B.A. with highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain Scholar. Wamsley holds a master's degree from Ohio University, where she was a Public Media Fellow and worked at NPR Member station WOUB. A native of Athens, Ohio, she now lives and bikes in Washington, DC.
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The deadly fire in a Bronx high-rise earlier this month has cast attention on fire safety requirements for apartment buildings. Seventeen residents died from smoke inhalation.
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After the deadly fire in a Bronx apartment building, hundreds of people are living in hotel rooms. But finding housing in another affordable building like Twin Parks may not be easy.
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Fast-rising home prices are creating opportunities for some longtime Black homeowners. Those high valuations can also raise big questions about the best way to tap into that wealth. -
All 17 of the missionaries kidnapped in Haiti two months ago have now been freed. Violence and kidnapping have spiked in Haiti following the assassination of its president in July.
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Low-income people are especially affected by inflation, economists say. While some are struggling with the rising prices of gas, food and rent, the pay for some low-wage jobs is rising.
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Voters in three U.S. cities –- Minneapolis, St. Paul and Boston -– indicated their interest this week in controlling fast-rising housing prices using a contentious method: rent control.
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The cost of many foods — especially beef, pork and poultry — is rising fast, largely due to supply chain issues. For many, that can mean hard decisions at the grocery store.
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17 people with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries remain missing after being kidnapped in Haiti. A gang has claimed responsibility and is reportedly asking for a ransom of $1 million per person.
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Even with government assistance and other efforts, more than 55% of Black and Latino households reported serious financial problems, compared with 29% of white households.
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Instagram and Facebook are under scrutiny after being accused of harmful body-image messages. We hear from teenagers who say Instagram can be a stresser — but it's hard to quit.
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As religious exemptions are now being sought in droves, their use raises concerns that they pose a serious public health risk. But some say vaccine mandates are too much, too soon. -
US Soccer says it's offering the men's and women's national teams "identical" contracts. The union for the women's team players is calling the announcement a PR stunt.
