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 Trump administration has named Robert Marbut to head the federal agency focused on homelessness, but the nominee is controversial and some worry he'll move away from prioritizing housing.
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The author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being saw his books banned and citizenship revoked in 1979. Exiled in Paris, Kundera began writing his novels in French. -
Two other soldiers allegedly performed a Nazi salute. Germany's defense minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, says decisive action will be taken against instances of extremism within the army. -
The rule extends a 2017 law pertaining to outlets like Voice of America. That law was drafted after the Justice Department compelled Russia-backed RT America to register as a foreign agent in the U.S. -
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said despite Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris accord, the U.S. is committed: "We're still in it." The sailing yacht with Greta Thunberg aboard will arrive soon. -
"I've been always dreaming of this. For this day," said Alfred Chestnut, now 52. The Maryland men were freed after investigators found police and prosecutorial misconduct in the 1983 case. -
Changes are rippling through the financial services market as trade fees drop to zero. The merger will likely attract antitrust scrutiny, as the combined firms will hold $5 trillion in client assets. -
The Pentagon says the defense secretary asked for Spencer's resignation after "losing trust and confidence in him." Spencer said President Trump deserved a Navy chief "who is aligned with his views." -
The nuclear arms race wastes resources that could instead improve people's lives and protect the environment, the pontiff said. His tour marks the first papal visit to Japan in nearly 40 years. -
Bloomberg announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination, saying Trump "represents an existential threat to our country and our values." The businessman is a late entrant to a crowded field. -
The case is the latest legal battle amid a broader "free the nipple" campaign that seeks to normalize the exposure of female nipples.
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Ex-President Evo Morales continues to influence politics from exile in Mexico City as the interim president moves toward new elections. The death toll has risen to 30 in the post-election violence.
