Kathy Lohr

Whether covering the manhunt and eventual capture of Eric Robert Rudolph in the mountains of North Carolina, the remnants of the Oklahoma City federal building with its twisted metal frame and shattered glass, flood-ravaged Midwestern communities, or the terrorist bombings across the country, including the blast that exploded in Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, correspondent Kathy Lohr has been at the heart of stories all across the nation.

Lohr was NPR's first reporter based in the Midwest. She opened NPR's St. Louis office in 1990 and the Atlanta bureau in 1996. Lohr covers the abortion issue on an ongoing basis for NPR, including political and legal aspects. She has often been sent into disasters as they are happening, to provide listeners with the intimate details about how these incidents affect people and their lives.

Lohr filed her first report for NPR while working for member station KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and began her journalism career in commercial television and radio as a reporter/anchor. Lohr also became involved in video production for national corporations and taught courses in television reporting and radio production at universities in Kansas and Missouri. She has filed reports for the NPR documentary program Horizons, the BBC, the CBC, Marketplace, and she was published in the Saturday Evening Post.

Lohr won the prestigious Missouri Medal of Honor for Excellence in Journalism in 2002. She received a fellowship from Vanderbilt University for work on the issue of domestic violence. Lohr has filed reports from 27 states and the District of Columbia. She has received other national awards for her coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Midwestern floods of 1993, and for her reporting on ice storms in the Mississippi Delta. She has also received numerous awards for radio pieces on the local level prior to joining NPR's national team. Lohr was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She now lives in her adopted hometown of Atlanta, covering stories across the southeastern part of the country.

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Education
3:03 pm
Sun October 28, 2012

Undocumented Students Take Education Underground

Originally published on Fri November 9, 2012 2:19 pm

About 35 students meet every Sunday at an undisclosed location in Georgia to study. They are undocumented and banned from attending some of the most prestigious colleges in the state.

Georgia is one of three states to bar undocumented students from attending schools. But a group of professors at the University of Georgia has created a fledgling school to provide a place for students to learn.

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Business
2:50 am
Thu September 27, 2012

Atlanta Symphony Musicians Ratify New Contract

When the two sides couldn't reach an agreement last month, players were locked out of the Woodruff Arts Center. With the season set to begin in just one week, the musicians approved a deal with $5 million in concessions.

Presidential Race
3:14 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Some Florida Seniors Divided On '47 Percent'

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 5:09 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The fundraiser where the Romney video was recorded was held in Florida. And today, in that politically important state, reaction was mixed about Romney's unscripted remarks. NPR's Kathy Lohr gathered some views from people at a retirement community.

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Deceptive Cadence
1:31 am
Tue September 11, 2012

Atlanta Symphony Locked Out

Credit Jennifer Taylor
The Atlanta Symphony performs at New York City's Carnegie Hall in 2011.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 1:49 pm

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and its musicians are at an impasse. The players' contract expired at the end of last month. The symphony is facing a $20 million budget deficit, and it's seeking millions in concessions from the musicians. Both sides say they want to reach an agreement, but they've left the bargaining table, putting the orchestra's 68th season in jeopardy.

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Election 2012
3:06 pm
Fri August 24, 2012

In Akin's Wake, Ryan Defends Anti-Abortion Record

Originally published on Fri August 24, 2012 6:27 pm

Since Republican Rep. Todd Akin first said the words "legitimate rape" Sunday, just about everyone in the Republican Party has condemned those comments.

The Missouri Senate candidate later apologized, but his remarks continue to drive the political debate. They've also raised questions about the anti-abortion record of the Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

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Around the Nation
3:14 pm
Thu August 23, 2012

A City Leveled By Hurricane Andrew Rebuilds — Again

Originally published on Thu August 23, 2012 4:43 pm

Twenty years ago, Homestead, Fla., was in the eye of what was then the worst storm to hit the United States.

Fifteen people died directly from Hurricane Andrew and a few dozen more died from injuries later. Tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. Andrew's 165-mile-per-hour winds took out nearly every building in Homestead, leaving tens of thousands homeless. Families spent hours in lines to get water and ice.

National Guard troops handed out bags of ice but limited how much each family could get.

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Crime In The City
2:58 am
Mon July 30, 2012

Writer Has A Down-Home Feel For Atlanta's Dark Side

Originally published on Mon July 30, 2012 6:24 am

Best-selling crime novelist Karin Slaughter (yes, that's her real name) grew up just south of Atlanta in the 1970s and '80s, when the city saw some of its most gruesome crimes: A rash of child murders in which dozens of African-American children disappeared, their bodies turning up in nearby woods and rivers. The realization that horrid crimes can happen even to children changed Slaughter's life.

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Around the Nation
5:09 am
Thu July 19, 2012

Civil Rights Group, SCLC, Strives To Remain Relevant

Originally published on Thu July 19, 2012 6:00 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

The civil rights organization co-founded by Martin Luther King Junior meets in Sanford, Florida today for its annual convention. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has struggled in recent years with leadership battles and declining membership. Now members want to rebrand the SCLC. Here's NPR's Kathy Lohr.

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Politics
1:03 am
Fri June 22, 2012

Some Immigrant Students Still Dreaming Of Clarity

Originally published on Fri June 22, 2012 5:17 am

One question left unanswered by President Obama's announcement last week that he would stop deportations of some young illegal immigrants was what the policy change will mean for students.

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American Dreams: Then And Now
3:00 am
Thu June 14, 2012

Immigration Law Slows A Family's March Forward

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 8:33 am

Immigrant success stories are closely woven into the concept of the American dream. In South Carolina, two generations of an immigrant family have worked hard to live out their dreams, but anti-illegal immigration laws have put even legal immigrants like them on edge.

Working Upon Arrival

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Around the Nation
4:00 am
Sun June 10, 2012

Farm Bill More Than Just Peanuts For Some Farmers

Credit Kathy Lohr / NPR
Georgia farmer Donald Chase says the Senate's proposed farm bill favors farmers in the Midwest and leaves Southern farmers without a safety net.

Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 2:58 pm

Southeast of Macon, Ga., near Oglethorpe, rows of peanuts planted six weeks ago have sprouted. Tiny yellow flowers dot the rich-green plants. Donald Chase, his father and grandfather have owned this farm since the 1950s.

Like many southern farmers, Chase objects to the version of the farm bill kicking around in the Senate this week. The bill aims to do away with direct payments to farmers by expanding crop insurance programs.

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Media
3:08 pm
Mon June 4, 2012

Fixture In Talk Radio Handing Reins To Herman Cain

Originally published on Mon June 4, 2012 5:44 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Conservative talk radio host Neal Boortz announced this morning that he is retiring after more than 40 years on the air.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Flying high for decades, Boortz is reaching for the rip cord. But until he's on final approach, the oratorical aerobatics continue. It's the Boortz Happy Ending.

SIEGEL: Boortz has been broadcasting since Richard Nixon was president. And he says he's giving up his nationally syndicated program on WSB Radio in Atlanta because it's too restrictive.

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Around the Nation
3:23 am
Wed May 16, 2012

International Travelers Welcome Atlanta's New Air Terminal

Originally published on Wed May 16, 2012 4:47 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A new international terminal opens today at the Atlanta Airport. Hartsfield-Jackson International is already the busiest airport in the world. And the new terminal reflects a big by the business capital of the South to become a bigger global player. Georgia wants to attract more international business. NPR's Kathy Lohr has the story.

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Shots - Health Blog
1:02 am
Tue May 15, 2012

Should Parents Be Able To Sue For 'Wrongful Birth'?

Credit Ross D. Franklin / AP
Arizona state Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, listens during a special budget briefing at the state Capitol in October 2008. Barto sponsored a new law that prohibits wrongful birth lawsuits. She says the bill "sends the message that all life is worth protecting."

Originally published on Tue May 15, 2012 7:51 am

Several states, including Kansas and New Jersey, are debating so-called "wrongful birth" laws that would prevent parents from suing a doctor who fails to warn them about fetal problems.

Abortion rights activists say the laws give doctors the right to withhold information so women don't have abortions.

In Suffern, N.Y., Sharon and Steven Hoffman's son, Jake, was born with Tay-Sachs, a genetic disease that mainly affects Jewish families and is usually fatal by age 4 or 5.

"There's no treatment. There's no cure. There's nothing," Sharon says.

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It's All Politics
2:39 pm
Wed April 25, 2012

Gingrich's Unconventional White House Bid: A Retrospective

Credit Rick Wood / MCT/Landov
Newt Gingrich speaks at Marquette University in Milwaukee on March 29.

Originally published on Wed April 25, 2012 6:28 pm

Newt Gingrich has experienced a long slide since March 6, when he won Georgia's Republican primary. It was his second and final victory of the campaign season, but Gingrich fought to stay in the race through a Southern strategy that never caught on.

On Wednesday, a source close to the Gingrich campaign told NPR that he would officially suspend his campaign next week, and was likely to formally endorse Mitt Romney.

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