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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The Tucson, Ariz., band's newest batch of story-songs about people in transition is titled Algiers, named for the New Orleans neighborhood where it was recorded. -
President Obama is scheduled to campaign in Colorado on Thursday, while late Wednesday, he visited another battleground state in the West — Nevada. Polls indicate the race is tight. That's partly because Republican candidate Mitt Romney and PACS supporting him are spending a lot to get their message across. Still, it may be tough to turn Nevada red.
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In Tucson, Ariz., it was a weekend for remembering. On Sunday, it had been one year since the shooting attack that killed six people and wounded 13 more. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head, was at a few of the memorial events.
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In 2010, U.S.-born workers lost more than 1 million jobs while foreign-born workers gained more than a half-million nationwide. Experts in Phoenix say foreign-born people are more likely to get employed faster because they are more willing to take any job, at any pay. Researchers say the trend could change the national workforce long-term. -
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who's been recovering at a facility in Houston after being shot in the head last month, is speaking. Meanwhile, the investigation into the attack that killed six people and wounded 13 has reached a conclusion.
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The Border Patrol's indicators of success for Operation Streamline don't always add up and neither do the numbers: No one knows just how much the program costs. The Border Patrol makes arrests, but the Justice Department and federal courts provide the logistics of convicting those who cross illegally. -
Operation Streamline, first implemented in 2005, puts illegal border-crossers into the federal court system en masse and convicts them as federal criminals. Critics say the program takes resources from more violent cases and infringes on due process rights. -
President Barack Obama unveils a plan Wednesday in Arizona to help end the housing crisis and fight foreclosures. The state has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. Nationwide, more than 2.3 million homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007.
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New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn his nomination to be commerce secretary in the Obama administration. Richardson took his name out of the running amid a federal grand jury investigation into government contracts.
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President-elect Barack Obama's proposed economic stimulus plan calls for creating jobs through ambitious construction projects, which sets it apart from the plans of previous presidents that have focused on persuading consumers to spend more.
