Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
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The number of fathers at home in the U.S. has nearly doubled since 1989. A desire among more men to stay home with the kids has a lot to do with that, but so does the inability to find a job. -
A survey of data shows a marked drop in teenagers reading for pleasure. Researchers are trying to figure out whether the explosion of e-reading and digital diversions is behind the decline. -
A federal court has ruled that being "at work" no longer has to mean physically in the office. Employment lawyers are expecting a flood of requests to telecommute, and say they'll be harder to deny.
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In Vermont and San Francisco, the right of employees to ask for flexible work schedules is now enshrined in law. That doesn't mean, however, that employers are compelled to grant them.
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The U.S. tax code, which dates back to the days of Ozzie and Harriet, can work against dual-income spouses. In some cases, it's cheaper for one spouse to stay home.
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Women earn more than ever but their attitude about investing hasn't kept pace. They lack confidence, experts say, and fear they, like Cate Blanchett's character in Blue Jasmine, will run out of money. -
An experimental program is trying to teach self-employed women the importance of long-term financial security. "You take care of yourself because nobody else is going to," one recruiter says.
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New research finds that nearly one-third of full-time workers do most of their work remotely. But just who those workers are 鈥� and how much work they're doing 鈥� may come as a surprise. -
When couples divorce, fathers' rights groups say, too many judges fall back on tradition 鈥� primary custody for Mom. The groups are pushing for shared custody laws, but the effort faces resistance. -
The gap in earnings between young people who have a college degree and those who don't has continued to widen over the past several decades. And while total student loan debt in the U.S. continues to rise, millennials say a college degree is still worth it.