Pam Fessler
Pam Fessler is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where she covers poverty, philanthropy, and voting issues.
In her reporting at NPR, Fessler does stories on homelessness, hunger, affordable housing, and income inequality. She reports on what non-profit groups, the government, and others are doing to reduce poverty and how those efforts are working. Her poverty reporting was recognized with a 2011 First Place National Headliner Award.
Fessler also covers elections and voting, including efforts to make voting more accessible, accurate, and secure. She has done countless stories on everything from the debate over state voter identification laws to Russian hacking attempts and long lines at the polls.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Fessler became NPR's first Homeland Security correspondent. For seven years, she reported on efforts to tighten security at ports, airports, and borders, and the debate over the impact on privacy and civil rights. She also reported on the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, The 9/11 Commission Report, Social Security, and the Census. Fessler was one of NPR's White House reporters during the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Before becoming a correspondent, Fessler was the acting senior editor on the Washington Desk and NPR's chief election editor. She coordinated all network coverage of the presidential, congressional, and state elections in 1996 and 1998. In her more than 25 years at NPR, Fessler has also been deputy Washington Desk editor and Midwest National Desk editor.
Earlier in her career, she was a senior writer at Congressional Quarterly magazine. Fessler worked there for 13 years as both a reporter and editor, covering tax, budget, and other news. She also worked as a budget specialist at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and was a reporter at The Record newspaper in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Fessler has a master's of public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from Douglass College in New Jersey.
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A coalition of more than 1,400 charities is launching Giving Tuesday to jump-start end-of-year giving. They're taking off on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to motivate donors at a time when the outlook for giving remains lackluster.
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Lots of people and companies are making donations to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, but food and clothing aren't always the most helpful things. Most charities would prefer money so they can target help to the greatest needs.
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President Obama, in his victory speech, noted that the hours voters had to wait in line are something "we have to fix." One solution: Spend more on equipment and poll workers. But that would be tough in this fiscal climate. Another is to expand early voting. But states such as Ohio have had their early-voting laws challenged in court. -
With the presidential election looking to be very close, the outcome could come down to relatively few votes in a battleground state. That has the political parties, state election offices and lawyers for the campaigns preparing a post-Tuesday strategy. -
Both conservative and liberal groups are preparing to monitor the Nov. 6 elections. They're all looking to report any transgressions they may see on Election Day. -
It's a sign that Election Day is getting closer: increasing reports of efforts to intimidate or mislead voters. Letters from an unknown source have been sent to voters in at least 20 Florida counties questioning their citizenship and eligibility to vote.
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Civil rights groups and Democrats complain that the billboards 鈥� many located in black, Hispanic and student-dominated neighborhoods 鈥� are meant to intimidate voters. The source of the billboards is an anonymous "private family foundation." -
Neither President Obama nor Republican Mitt Romney has focused much attention on the poor. They've talked about creating jobs and opportunity, but mostly for the middle class. Advocates say Obama's stimulus spending has helped, but Republicans argue that government aid helps keep people in poverty. -
If you want to vote in the November elections and you aren't registered yet 鈥� you'd better hurry. The registration deadline in five states is this weekend. By the following weekend, the deadline will have passed in more than half the states. -
A consulting firm hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters in five battleground states has been let go after one of its workers apparently submitted over 100 questionable registration forms in Florida's Palm Beach County.
