Russell Lewis
As NPR's Southern Bureau chief, Russell Lewis covers issues and people of the Southeast for NPR — from Florida to Virginia to Texas, including West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. His work brings context and dimension to issues ranging from immigration, transportation, and oil and gas drilling for NPR listeners across the nation and around the world.
In addition to developing and expanding NPR's coverage of the region, Lewis assigns and edits stories from station-based reporters and freelancers that air on NPR's news programs, working closely with local correspondents and public radio stations. He spent a year in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, coordinating NPR's coverage of the massive rebuilding effort and the reverberations of the storm in local communities. He joined NPR in 2006 and is based in Birmingham, Alabama.
Lewis is also a key member of NPR's 'Go Team' — a small group of experienced NPR producers and reporters who respond to major disasters worldwide. He is often among the first on the scene for NPR — both reporting from these sites as well as managing the logistics of bringing additional NPR reporters into disaster areas that lack functioning transportation systems, basic utilities, food, water, and security.
He was dispatched to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, where he helped manage a group of NPR journalists. He created an overland supply line for the NPR team between the Dominican Republic and Haiti and brought listeners stories about the slow pace of supply distribution because of border bottlenecks. In Japan in 2011, he was quickly on the scene after the earthquake and tsunami to help coordinate NPR's intensive coverage. In 2013, he was on the ground overseeing NPR's reporting in the Philippines in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Covering the impact of the massive earthquake in Nepal in 2015, he field-produced NPR's coverage and also reported how a lack of coordination by the government and aid workers slowed response. Lewis managed NPR's on-the-ground coverage in 2015 of the terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and reported from Brussels, Belgium. He returned to Brussels in 2016 after the terrorist bombings at the airport and metro station. He helped field-produce NPR's coverage and also reported several stories about the response and recovery. In 2018, he went to Indonesia to field-produce and edit coverage following the earthquake and tsunami in Palu.
Lewis also oversees NPR's sports coverage. He spent six weeks in Brazil in 2014 handling logistics and reporting on the World Cup. In 2015, he did the same in Canada for the Women's World Cup. In 2016, Lewis reported and oversaw NPR's team of journalists at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He also led NPR's coverage from Pyeongchang, South Korea, at the 2018 Winter Olympics and from Tokyo at the delayed Summer Olympics in 2021.
In 2010, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University awarded him a prestigious Ochberg Fellowship. The Fellowship is designed to improve reporting on violence, conflict, and tragedy. Lewis has continued his work with the Dart Center and has trained reporters on behalf of the organization in Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico.
A graduate of the University of Florida, Lewis began his public radio career in 1992 as reporter and executive producer at NPR member station WUFT in Gainesville, Florida. He also spent time at WSVH in Savannah, Georgia, and was Statehouse Bureau Chief at Kansas Public Radio. For six years he worked at KPBS in San Diego as a senior editor and reporter. He also was a talk show host and assistant news director at WGCU in Fort Myers, Florida.
When he's not busy at work, Lewis can be found being creative in the kitchen or outside refereeing soccer games.
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Coach Bev Priestman and two former members of Canada's coaching staff cannot work in soccer for a year. In addition, the Canadian women's team received a penalty that likely ends its Olympic hopes.
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The United States men had not played at an Olympics since 2008. The squad opened the Paris Olympics by taking on host France in group play. The French easily defeated the Americans 3-0.
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Berhalter's removal follows a disappointing finish for the USMNT at this summer's Copa America tournament. Now, a race is on to hire a new coach with less than two years until the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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The U.S. Justice Department says Boeing has accepted a deal to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from the crashes of two 737 Max jets in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.
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Boeing agreed to buy Spirit AeroSystems, the Kansas-based supplier that makes fuselages for the 737 Max jet, in a deal intended to improve quality after a midair door plug blowout.
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Hurricane Beryl weakened slightly to a category 3 early Monday, the National Hurricane Center said. On Sunday, Beryl was the first-ever Atlantic hurricane to reach a Category 4 level in June.
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One of the first astronauts to go to the moon has died. Bill Anders was on Apollo 8 when it entered lunar orbit in 1968. He also took the 'earthrise' photo, one of the most famous space images ever.
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Awestruck, Anders snapped the timeless shot of the glorious blue and white planet rising over the horizon of the gray and lifeless moon, and "how tiny and fragile and precious and finite it is."
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The classified documents trial had been scheduled to begin May 20. But months of delays had slowed the case as prosecutors pushed for the trial to begin before the November presidential election.
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The FAA says Boeing informed the agency in April that required inspections to confirm that the wings were properly bonded to the carbon fiber fuselage on certain 787 jets were not completed.
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Ondine Achampong says she tore her ACL during a bars dismount. The surgery and recovery from the knee injury can take up to a year. She was expected to be a medalist at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
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After 16 seasons, two Olympic gold medals and three WNBA championships, Candace Parker announced her retirement from professional basketball on Sunday.