Russell Lewis
As NPR's Southern Bureau chief, Russell Lewis covers issues and people of the Southeast for NPR — from Florida to Virginia to Texas, including West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. His work brings context and dimension to issues ranging from immigration, transportation, and oil and gas drilling for NPR listeners across the nation and around the world.
In addition to developing and expanding NPR's coverage of the region, Lewis assigns and edits stories from station-based reporters and freelancers that air on NPR's news programs, working closely with local correspondents and public radio stations. He spent a year in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, coordinating NPR's coverage of the massive rebuilding effort and the reverberations of the storm in local communities. He joined NPR in 2006 and is based in Birmingham, Alabama.
Lewis is also a key member of NPR's 'Go Team' — a small group of experienced NPR producers and reporters who respond to major disasters worldwide. He is often among the first on the scene for NPR — both reporting from these sites as well as managing the logistics of bringing additional NPR reporters into disaster areas that lack functioning transportation systems, basic utilities, food, water, and security.
He was dispatched to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, where he helped manage a group of NPR journalists. He created an overland supply line for the NPR team between the Dominican Republic and Haiti and brought listeners stories about the slow pace of supply distribution because of border bottlenecks. In Japan in 2011, he was quickly on the scene after the earthquake and tsunami to help coordinate NPR's intensive coverage. In 2013, he was on the ground overseeing NPR's reporting in the Philippines in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Covering the impact of the massive earthquake in Nepal in 2015, he field-produced NPR's coverage and also reported how a lack of coordination by the government and aid workers slowed response. Lewis managed NPR's on-the-ground coverage in 2015 of the terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and reported from Brussels, Belgium. He returned to Brussels in 2016 after the terrorist bombings at the airport and metro station. He helped field-produce NPR's coverage and also reported several stories about the response and recovery. In 2018, he went to Indonesia to field-produce and edit coverage following the earthquake and tsunami in Palu.
Lewis also oversees NPR's sports coverage. He spent six weeks in Brazil in 2014 handling logistics and reporting on the World Cup. In 2015, he did the same in Canada for the Women's World Cup. In 2016, Lewis reported and oversaw NPR's team of journalists at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He also led NPR's coverage from Pyeongchang, South Korea, at the 2018 Winter Olympics and from Tokyo at the delayed Summer Olympics in 2021.
In 2010, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University awarded him a prestigious Ochberg Fellowship. The Fellowship is designed to improve reporting on violence, conflict, and tragedy. Lewis has continued his work with the Dart Center and has trained reporters on behalf of the organization in Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico.
A graduate of the University of Florida, Lewis began his public radio career in 1992 as reporter and executive producer at NPR member station WUFT in Gainesville, Florida. He also spent time at WSVH in Savannah, Georgia, and was Statehouse Bureau Chief at Kansas Public Radio. For six years he worked at KPBS in San Diego as a senior editor and reporter. He also was a talk show host and assistant news director at WGCU in Fort Myers, Florida.
When he's not busy at work, Lewis can be found being creative in the kitchen or outside refereeing soccer games.
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It was not the color medal the U.S. had hoped for, but it was a better result than at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics when the USWNT was bounced out of the tournament in the quarterfinals. -
The U.S. players had a 1-0 loss against Canada in the semifinal. They'll take bronze if they win their next game. The U.S. lost its star goalie to an injury in the first half. -
The U.S. women's soccer team is advancing to the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics after defeating the Netherlands in a tight match that went to a penalty kick shootout.
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The U.S. women's gymnastics team hasn't lost an Olympic or world championship since 2011. But that may change at the Tokyo Olympics. During qualifying, the squad did not look as sharp as usual.
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The U.S, ranked No. 1 and the reigning World Cup champions, played a familiar foe: Sweden. And unfortunately for the U.S., it was a familiar result. Sweden beat them 3-0. -
Collins was the crew member who stayed in orbit on the Apollo 11 command module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Later he oversaw building of the National Air and Space Museum. -
Investigators looking into Saturday's engine explosion of a United Airlines Boeing 777 say several fan blades separated from the engine. But it is too soon to say why it happened.
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The helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant highlighted an aviation problem: It's difficult for pilots to recover after entering clouds by mistake. New virtual reality technology aims to change that. -
In a report into the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others in 2020, the National Transportation Safety Board says the pilot flew into worsening weather conditions and lost control.
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Chuck Yeager, fighter ace, test pilot, breaker of the sound barrier and coolest of the cool, was the man even astronauts looked up to. Yeager never sought the spotlight, and was always a bit gruff. -
It's been a short and strange baseball season due to the coronavirus. Most of the playoffs were played at neutral sites to limit travel. Now, it's down to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays. -
Gonzalo, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean, is the earliest "G" storm on record. It has been a busy start to the Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasters don't think it'll be slowing down.
