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]
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Japan has poured billions of dollars into recovery from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. NPR discusses what the recovery looks like nearly a decade after it happened.
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The president first stopped in Lake Charles, La., before heading to Orange, Texas. In both stops, he met with local public officials to talk about the devastation from Hurricane Laura. -
Hunkered down but still hair conscious? Stylists and barbers are now guiding people through DIY cuts via video chat. The in-demand service provides otherwise laid-off workers with some income. -
For now, the coronavirus pandemic has stopped tourists from visiting the ancient tree in Fukushima prefecture. "No matter what," says the tree's caretaker, "the cherry blossoms are still there."
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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." -
Confirmed Cases In The U.S. Top 300,000 As New Hot Spots EmergeWhite 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. -
People strolled under the trees and spread out picnic blankets, all but ignoring the posted signs about the dangers of COVID-19 spreading. -
The Tokyo Marathon had just a tiny fraction of its usual runners this weekend. Japan is canceling events both big and small in an attempt to curb coronavirus spread ahead of the summer Olympics.
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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.
