
Ted Robbins
As supervising editor for Arts and Culture at NPR based at NPR West in Culver City, Ted Robbins plans coverage across NPR shows and online, focusing on TV at a time when there's never been so much content. He thinks "arts and culture" encompasses a lot of human creativity — from traditional museum offerings to popular culture, and out-of-the-way people and events.
Robbins also supervises obituaries or, as NPR prefers to call them, "appreciations," of people in the arts.
Robbins joined the Arts Desk in 2015, after a decade on air as a NPR National Desk correspondent based in Tucson, Arizona. From there, he covered the Southwest, including Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada.
Robbins reported on a range of issues, from immigration and border security to water issues and wildfires. He covered the economy in the West with an emphasis on the housing market and Las Vegas development. He reported on the January 2011 shooting in Tucson that killed six and injured many, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Robbins' reporting has been honored with numerous accolades, including two Emmy Awards—one for his story on sex education in schools, and another for his series on women in the workforce. He received a CINE Golden Eagle for a 1995 documentary on Mexican agriculture called "Tomatoes for the North."
In 2006, Robbins wrote an article for the Nieman Reports at Harvard about journalism and immigration. He was chosen for a 2009 French-American Foundation Fellowship focused on comparing European and U.S. immigration issues.
Raised in Los Angeles, Robbins became an avid NPR listener while spending hours driving (or stopped in traffic) on congested freeways. He is delighted to now be covering stories for his favorite news source.
Prior to coming to NPR in 2004, Robbins spent five years as a regular contributor to The °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ Hour with Jim Lehrer, 15 years at the PBS affiliate in Tucson, and working as a field producer for CBS °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ. He worked for NBC affiliates in Tucson and Salt Lake City, where he also did some radio reporting and print reporting for USA Today.
Robbins earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and his master's degree in journalism, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught journalism at the University of Arizona for a decade.
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Since 1986, the U.S. has steadily built an infrastructure on its Southern border and inland. All told, the nation has spent nearly $200 billion in today's dollars. Roughly 80,000 government workers depend on immigration enforcement, along with defense contractors large and small. NPR's Ted Robbins reports immigration is down, but there's no end in sight for the border-industrial complex. (This piece initially aired Sept. 12, 2012, on Morning Edition).
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The Tucson, Ariz., band's newest batch of story-songs about people in transition is titled Algiers, named for the New Orleans neighborhood where it was recorded.
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President Obama is scheduled to campaign in Colorado on Thursday, while late Wednesday, he visited another battleground state in the West — Nevada. Polls indicate the race is tight. That's partly because Republican candidate Mitt Romney and PACS supporting him are spending a lot to get their message across. Still, it may be tough to turn Nevada red.
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In today's dollars, the bill for U.S. immigration enforcement since 1986 comes to $219 billion — roughly the cost of the space shuttle program. About 80,000 government workers depend on immigration enforcement. Despite a drop in illegal immigration, the border industrial complex is here to stay.
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Every day at the convention in Tampa, Newt Gingrich — the former House Speaker and a former college professor — will hold a two hour policy workshop.
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Many residents of the Boot Hill cemetery in Tombstone, Ariz. — including gunfighters, miners, saloon keepers and train robbers — met untimely ends.
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In Arizona, accused Tucson gunman Jared Loughner is expected to plead guilty in federal court Tuesday. Loughner allegedly killed six people and wounded 13 others in that attack including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Loughner was declared mentally unfit to stand trial but it appears that may change.
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Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio made a court appearance Tuesday and faced questioning. Arpaio is accused of racial profiling in a civil class-action lawsuit.
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At issue is whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio violated the civil rights of Latino citizens and legal U.S. residents. The plaintiffs hope to prove Arpaio's department engaged in systematic racial profiling. The self-proclaimed "Toughest Sheriff in America" says he's cracking down on illegal immigration.
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The Border Patrol recently began training wild mustangs to help out along the border in southern Arizona. Horse patrols are nothing new; they allow agents to get into remote areas no vehicle can reach. But it turns out the mustangs are exceptionally well-suited for the harsh landscape.