Kat Lonsdorf
Kat Lonsdorf is a Middle East reporter currently based in Tel Aviv.
Originally from a small town in Wisconsin, Kat attended Occidental College in Los Angeles where she majored in Diplomacy and World Affairs. She joined NPR in 2016 after earning her Masters in Journalism from Medill at Northwestern University.
Lonsdorf has produced and reported for NPR around the world, including in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Japan, Kenya, Ukraine, Georgia, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. In 2020, she was NPR's Above the Fray Fellow, reporting out a series of stories looking at clean up and recovery efforts in Fukushima, Japan after the nuclear disaster in 2011. That series made her a finalist for the Livingston Award for international reporting. She's also won both a Gracie and an Edward R Murrow award for her work.
Before she came to NPR, she was a full-time bartender in downtown Los Angeles, and also hosted and produced an education travel video series for kids called Project Explorer where she filmed in 14 countries across five continents. Lonsdorf has lived in both Japan and Jordan, and speaks Japanese and conversational Arabic. She's currently trying to learn Hebrew in the evenings. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
-
Iran's most fortified nuclear facility is buried deep inside a mountain. Only the U.S. has the 30,000-pound bombs — "bunker busters" — capable of reaching it. And that option revolves around Missouri's Whiteman Air Force Base. -
Federal authorities are also investigating the Washington, D.C. shootings as a hate crime and an act of terrorism. One of the victims, 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim, was a Prairie Village native. -
On a new album, the classical stars revisit the concerto Williams composed specifically for Ma, as well as some of Williams' most affecting film scores. -
In a press conference on Sunday, the governor stressed the importance of working together, both in-state and nationally. "Nobody can do this alone," he said. "Nobody." -
White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said Saturday that New York, Louisiana and Detroit remain the main hot spots but emerging are Colorado, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. -
The torch relay was supposed to start on Thursday in the Japanese prefecture hit hard by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A torch runner recalls the disaster that took his family. -
The security forces fired live bullets and tear gas and set ablaze tents where demonstrators have been living. At least one protester was killed and dozens wounded. -
The Pacific nation's months-long program ended this week with questionable success. A ban on most semi-automatic and military-style rifles also took effect across the country. -
Extreme heat and drought conditions have caused hundreds of fires to spark throughout the country, many of which have been burning for weeks. -
The former defense secretary, who has been accused of human rights abuses during the country's civil war, campaigned on a platform of stability and national security.
