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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Mourners left flowers and plants after the 2011 Tucson shooting rampage that killed six people and wounded 13. Instead of sending the shrines to a landfill after they were taken down, volunteers sorted through everything, replanted what they could and composted the rest. -
Republicans and Democrats are pushing to make overhauling immigration a priority in 2013. Senator-elect Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, is expected to play a big part in any overhaul of immigration laws.
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In Arizona, some people who couldn't vote had a personal stake in getting others to the polls. Young undocumented immigrants walked neighborhoods in the Phoenix area, looking for citizens who support one piece of legislation which could change their lives.
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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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Four bills quickly moving through the state Legislature could make last year's Wisconsin labor laws look modest by comparison. Three restrict the way unions collect dues and the way workers get paid for union activities; the fourth bans collective bargaining between governments and government workers.
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In New Mexico, state lawmakers are figuring out what to do with a budget surplus. Republicans want to give some of the money to businesses, in the form of tax breaks. Democrats want to restore some of the cuts to services made over the last three years.
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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.
