Kathy Lohr
Whether covering the manhunt and eventual capture of Eric Robert Rudolph in the mountains of North Carolina, the remnants of the Oklahoma City federal building with its twisted metal frame and shattered glass, flood-ravaged Midwestern communities, or the terrorist bombings across the country, including the blast that exploded in Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, correspondent Kathy Lohr has been at the heart of stories all across the nation.
Lohr was NPR's first reporter based in the Midwest. She opened NPR's St. Louis office in 1990 and the Atlanta bureau in 1996. Lohr covers the abortion issue on an ongoing basis for NPR, including political and legal aspects. She has often been sent into disasters as they are happening, to provide listeners with the intimate details about how these incidents affect people and their lives.
Lohr filed her first report for NPR while working for member station KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and began her journalism career in commercial television and radio as a reporter/anchor. Lohr also became involved in video production for national corporations and taught courses in television reporting and radio production at universities in Kansas and Missouri. She has filed reports for the NPR documentary program Horizons, the BBC, the CBC, Marketplace, and she was published in the Saturday Evening Post.
Lohr won the prestigious Missouri Medal of Honor for Excellence in Journalism in 2002. She received a fellowship from Vanderbilt University for work on the issue of domestic violence. Lohr has filed reports from 27 states and the District of Columbia. She has received other national awards for her coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Midwestern floods of 1993, and for her reporting on ice storms in the Mississippi Delta. She has also received numerous awards for radio pieces on the local level prior to joining NPR's national team. Lohr was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She now lives in her adopted hometown of Atlanta, covering stories across the southeastern part of the country.
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In 2001, Portland, Ore., was the first to develop a new kind of streetcar system. Success there led to a resurgence, with at least two dozen cities planning, building or expanding trolley lines — places like Atlanta; St. Louis, Mo.; and Tucson, Ariz. But some wonder whether it's the best way to spend limited transit dollars. -
Florida A&M University has lifted the suspension on the Marching 100 and is rebuilding its band. The band had been suspended since a hazing incident in 2011 ended in the death of drum major Robert Champion. His parents say the band is moving forward too soon.
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When Joel Goldman was diagnosed with a medical condition that makes him shake and stutter, he quit his law practice and started writing novels inspired by true crime in the Kansas City area. Eventually, he gave his disorder to FBI Agent Jack Davis, one of his main characters. -
A lawsuit accuses Southern chef Paula Dean of using racial slurs in the workplace. Deen says she has used a slur regarding African-Americans, but not in a long time. The case is bringing out some surprising admissions.
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And now another chapter in our series on African-American lives. NPR conducted a poll of African Americans with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The survey found optimism but many respondents expressed fears about the economy.
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Some churches have said they will end their affiliation with the Boy Scouts after its decision to allow openly gay members to join. Others, including Southern Baptists, are considering their next move. Another group plans to hold a meeting in Louisville later this month with parents who say they want a more Christian organization for their children.
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The Boy Scouts of America has decided to allow openly gay Scouts to join the organization but not gay Scout leaders. Sixty-one percent of the National Council members who cast ballots supported the controversial proposal.
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Former Republican Governor Mark Sanford reclaimed his political career Tuesday night, winning the South Carolina congressional seat he once held. He defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a special election.
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Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, a Republican, and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, faced off Monday night in the only debate before a special congressional election in South Carolina. Sanford is trying to make a comeback after he lied about an affair with an Argentine woman while he was in office. His ex-wife has also accused Sanford of trespassing at her home.
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It's been 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr., began writing his famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail," a response to white Alabama clergymen who called him an "extremist" and told blacks they should be patient. But the time for waiting was over. Birmingham was the perfect place to take a stand.
