
Ailsa Chang
Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist who hosts All Things Considered along with Ari Shapiro, Audie Cornish, and Mary Louise Kelly. She landed in public radio after practicing law for a few years.
Chang is a former Planet Money correspondent, where she got to geek out on the law while covering , , , and the .
Previously, she was a congressional correspondent with NPR's Washington Desk. She covered battles over healthcare, immigration, gun control, executive branch appointments, and the federal budget.
Chang started out as a radio reporter in 2009, and has since earned a string of national awards for her work. In 2012, she was honored with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for her . The series also earned honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Society of Professional Journalists.
She was also the recipient of the Daniel Schorr Journalism Award, a National Headliner Award, and an honor from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her investigation on how Detroit's broken public defender system leaves lawyers with insufficient resources to effectively represent their clients.
In 2011, the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association named Chang as the winner of the Art Athens Award for General Excellence in Individual Reporting for radio. In 2015, she won a National Journalism Award from the Asian American Journalists Association for her coverage of Capitol Hill.
Prior to coming to NPR, Chang was an investigative reporter at NPR Member station WNYC from 2009 to 2012 in New York City, focusing on criminal justice and legal affairs. She was a Kroc fellow at NPR from 2008 to 2009, as well as a reporter and producer for NPR Member station KQED in San Francisco.
The former lawyer served as a law clerk to Judge John T. Noonan Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.
Chang graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University where she received her bachelor's degree.
She earned her law degree with distinction from Stanford Law School, where she won the Irving Hellman Jr. Special Award for the best piece written by a student in the Stanford Law Review in 2001.
Chang was also a Fulbright Scholar at Oxford University, where she received a master's degree in media law. She also has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she never got to have a dog. But now she's the proud mama of Mickey Chang, a shih tzu who enjoys slapping high-fives and mingling with senators.
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The House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing Tuesday to address the influx of unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America.
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House Republicans voted on leadership positions. While Rep. Kevin McCarthy stepped up to the role of majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise overcame a more crowded competition to replace McCarthy.
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President Obama nominated a controversial Georgia judge � one who once supported the display of the Confederate flag � for the federal bench. The White House says there's a particular reason for that.
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Georgia GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson says if the judicial nomination of Michael Boggs gets derailed, it won't unravel the deal he worked out with the White House on federal bench nominees.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee is hearing from a controversial nominee for the Georgia federal district court bench. Though President Obama nominated him, many Democrats take issue with his history.
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had made a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline contingent upon passage of the energy efficiency bill. Most Democrats don't want a vote on Keystone.
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Sheldon Adelson is possibly the most influential campaign donor in the U.S. He also happens to be the head of the Sands casino empire, and now he's behind a push in Congress to ban online gambling.
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With enrollment numbers lagging, residents getting bombarded with anti-ACA ads and a close Senate race serving as a backdrop, the state was the focus of a White House conference call Thursday.
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Arranging face time with members of Congress and their staffs is such a challenge that businesses in Washington exist to do nothing other than try to schedule meetings.
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The profile of the judiciary has already changed significantly under the president, especially when it comes to the number of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans he's appointed.