Pam Fessler
Pam Fessler is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where she covers poverty, philanthropy, and voting issues.
In her reporting at NPR, Fessler does stories on homelessness, hunger, affordable housing, and income inequality. She reports on what non-profit groups, the government, and others are doing to reduce poverty and how those efforts are working. Her poverty reporting was recognized with a 2011 First Place National Headliner Award.
Fessler also covers elections and voting, including efforts to make voting more accessible, accurate, and secure. She has done countless stories on everything from the debate over state voter identification laws to Russian hacking attempts and long lines at the polls.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Fessler became NPR's first Homeland Security correspondent. For seven years, she reported on efforts to tighten security at ports, airports, and borders, and the debate over the impact on privacy and civil rights. She also reported on the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, The 9/11 Commission Report, Social Security, and the Census. Fessler was one of NPR's White House reporters during the Clinton and Bush administrations.
Before becoming a correspondent, Fessler was the acting senior editor on the Washington Desk and NPR's chief election editor. She coordinated all network coverage of the presidential, congressional, and state elections in 1996 and 1998. In her more than 25 years at NPR, Fessler has also been deputy Washington Desk editor and Midwest National Desk editor.
Earlier in her career, she was a senior writer at Congressional Quarterly magazine. Fessler worked there for 13 years as both a reporter and editor, covering tax, budget, and other news. She also worked as a budget specialist at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and was a reporter at The Record newspaper in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Fessler has a master's of public administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a bachelor's degree from Douglass College in New Jersey.
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About 1 in 5 voters now mails in his ballot. But many ballots are rejected because they arrive late, the voter forgets to sign the form or the signature does not match the one on record. -
The court told Wisconsin it may not implement its law requiring voters to present photo IDs. In Texas, a federal judge struck down that state's ID law, saying it discriminates against minority voters.
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A federal appeals court in Ohio just upheld a decision extending early voting in that state — but several other big voting law cases are still undecided, just weeks before the midterm elections. -
An innovative program seeks to fight persistent poverty by helping a struggling family navigate past some of the day-to-day obstacles that keep many people poor. -
The ALS Association has raised more than $94 million in recent weeks via its online ice bucket challenge — compared with $2.7 million this time last year. Now what? -
Around the U.S., food assistance agencies are trying to come up with new ways to feed hungry kids in the summer. In Hopkins County, Ky., they're using mobile vans to take food to where kids live. -
The campaign to find permanent homes for 100,000 homeless people, including the chronically homeless, was started four years ago. Now, the group behind the push says it has reached its goal. -
Last year, about 1 in 7 people in the U.S. were getting food stamps, or SNAP benefits. But the numbers have started to drop as more people find work and better-paying jobs, analysts say. -
Like her own mother was, Desiree Metcalf is a young, single mom living in poverty. She doesn't have just one or two problems, but a whole pile of them. -
Voters in eight states are required to show photo IDs. Some experts say the tide is turning toward striking down ID requirements. Others say not so fast.
