Amy Walters
Amy Walters is a producer for NPR based at NPR West in Los Angeles.
After graduating from Earlham College with a Bachelor's degree in English, Walters interned at NPR in the Middle East. After returning to the states she joined the staff of Morning Edition in 2000. Soon Walters was recruited to All Things Consideredand spent two years on the show. On September 11, 2001, Walters stood on top of NPR's Washington, DC, headquarters watching the smoke float by from the attack on the Pentagon. Walters contributed to NPR's award-winning coverage of that day. The following year she interviewed and produced several minute long segments of survivors remembering the loved ones they lost that day.
As NPR expanded west, Walters followed. A native of Southern California, Walters returned to the golden state as a field producer at NPR's new production facility near Los Angeles. She produced NPR's coverage of the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's election, award-winning coverage of California's prison system, and the death of pop legend Michael Jackson
Breaking news takes up much of her time but she has also been recognized for her investigative work. With NPR's crime and punishment correspondent Laura Sullivan, Walters was honored with the DART Award for Excellence in coverage of trauma, the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting, and the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for their NPR series, "The Sexual Abuse of Native American Women."
The next year Walters and Sullivan received both The Peabody Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Journalism for their series uncovering the truth about the 1972 murder in Angola, Louisiana.
She still travels around the country and the world for NPR. She spent time in Baghdad and produced much of NPR's post-Katrina coverage in New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. Recently, Walters has spent her time uncovering the life and culture of Los Angeles' notorious Skid Row neighborhood, exploring the culture and economics of the marijuana industry in Humboldt County and reporting from Fort Hood, Texas after the shooting massacre there.
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The conventional thinking is that suicide is a problem in high-income countries. But a new WHO report says that three-fourths of suicide deaths are in the low- and middle-income world. -
The reporter asks the nurse what the hospital needs. The nurse says, "If you don't help me, why do you ask me?" Welcome to Black Lion, said to be the country's best hospital. -
Among fast-fashion chains, "made in the USA" labels are hard to find. Forever 21 has reaped billions ordering clothes from around the world. American Apparel, however, boasts that its garments are made domestically. The key to its profitability may lie in the limited types of garments it sells. -
From the Danish modern furniture of the 1950s to the omnipresence of Ikea, Americans have long been attracted to the austere design of Nordic countries. Now a massive festival in Washington, D.C., showcases artists and designers from the very top sliver of the globe. -
AeroVironment has an unusual combination of products — military drones and electric vehicle chargers. The company's president acknowledges that some workers are uncomfortable with the company's dual interests, but he doesn't see a conflict. -
The grunion run happens only in the spring and summer months. Late at night, under the full and new moons, thousands of tiny, silvery fish swim to shore for a very peculiar mating ritual. -
The famed Sturgis motorcycle rally is wrapping up its 72nd year in South Dakota this weekend. As the rally ages so do many of the riders. We look at what's new on three wheels.
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Playing in the massive music festival, which now spans two identical weekends, means agreeing not to book local shows in the intervening week. -
The Karnes County Civil Detention Center in Texas will house mostly low-risk detainees awaiting deportation or facing court. With features like a pharmacy, commissary and soccer field, it's a departure from other Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities that critics have called excessively harsh. -
Once Persian-American reality meant escaping post revolutionary Iran. Now it also means being part of American reality TV culture. Ryan Seacrest has teamed up with Bravo to create Shahs of Sunset— a reality show about the affluent lifestyles of Persian Americans in Beverly Hills.
