Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
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A major point of contention in debt-ceiling negotiations is tougher work requirements for safety-net programs.
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Businesses like Cook Medical in Indiana say the housing shortage makes it harder to recruit and keep middle-income workers. Now, more companies are building places for employees to rent or even buy. -
The Biden administration says to end the homelessness crisis, more must be done to keep people from losing housing in the first place. But identifying and reaching those most at risk is a challenge.
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Voters in several cities approved ballot measures to cap rents, part of a larger resurgence of rent control. Economists warn that such caps can actually reduce affordable housing overall.
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Given record high rents and low vacancy rates, housing providers are offering to match people up as roommates to get them off the streets. But it can be a tough sell for both renters and landlords.
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Experts say the federal child tax credit was a big reason for the drop. The expanded child tax credit ended in December, just as inflation was starting to climb to historic highs.
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Many in Jackson, Mississippi, have had unreliable access water for decades. It's a problem made worse - and harder to solve - by a shrinking population and economic decline.
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Residents accuse the largely white state government of neglecting the needs of a city that's 82% Black. White flight in the 1970s devastated the tax base, posing a major challenge to any solution.
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According to a new poll, a majority of Americans said a lack of affordable housing is a serious problem where they live, and many fear eviction.
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There's still a shortage of child care teachers and that's keeping parents out of the workforce. Dozens of states are trying to lure back providers and lower costs for families.
