Martin Kaste
Martin Kaste is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk. He covers law enforcement and privacy. He has been focused on police and use of force since before the 2014 protests in Ferguson, and that coverage led to the creation of NPR's Criminal Justice Collaborative.
In addition to criminal justice reporting, Kaste has contributed to NPR News coverage of major world events, including the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the 2011 uprising in Libya.
Kaste has reported on the government's warrant-less wiretapping practices as well as the data collection and analysis that go on behind the scenes in social media and other new media. His privacy reporting was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court's 2012 United States v. Jones ruling concerning GPS tracking.
Before moving to the West Coast, Kaste spent five years as NPR's reporter in South America. He covered the drug wars in Colombia, the financial meltdown in Argentina, the rise of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and the fall of Haiti's president Jean Bertrand Aristide. Throughout this assignment, Kaste covered the overthrow of five presidents in five years.
Prior to joining NPR in 2000, Kaste was a political reporter for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul for seven years.
Kaste is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.
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At a gala party on Wednesday, Amazon launched its first smartphone. It is distinguished from other phones by the ease with which you can use it to buy things from Amazon.
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At an unveiling in Seattle, online retail giant Amazon announced its entry into the smartphone market with a new device called "Fire."
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The city council has approved a measure raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The wage will be phased in over a number of years. The measure takes effect on April 1, 2015.
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Devices that scan your brain and read your emotions are no longer sci-fi. Researchers say the technology could threaten privacy by revealing things like your sexual orientation or political leanings. -
Officers are wearing video cameras to record interactions with the public. The city's troubled police department is trying to prove a commitment to transparency, as it tries to end federal monitoring. -
A Montana man says he was justified in shooting a prowler, a German exchange student, in his garage. The case has revived the debate over how far Americans should be able to go to defend their homes. -
Washington has become the first state to have its "No Child Left Behind" waiver revoked by the federal government, meaning the state will have less flexibility in spending federal education funds.
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Clam digging satisfies that primeval urge to go out into nature and find free food. And inveterate Washington state clam diggers admit they compete to get their daily limit of 15 clams. -
It's day six of the search and recovery operation at the site of the landslide in Oso, Washington. Ninety people are reported missing and that's left many families in limbo, waiting for news.
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Police are buying software programs that help them track suspicious activity on the Web. But they come with a risk: If they're used too aggressively, the department could end up in court.
