Ayesha Rascoe
Ayesha Rascoe is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday and the Saturday episodes of Up First. As host of the morning news magazine, she interviews news makers, entertainers, politicians and more about the stories that everyone is talking about or that everyone should be talking about.
Known for her southern roots and signature wit, Rascoe has been a mainstay on NPR's programs since joining the outlet in 2018.
Prior to her role as host, Rascoe was a White House Correspondent. She covered three presidential administrations, gaining a reputation for her sharp questioning in the White House briefing room. Rascoe's reporting included a number of high profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she was also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
She's also guest hosted NPR's It's Been a Minute podcast and radio show and been a frequent guest on Pop Culture Happy Hour.
Before joining NPR, Rascoe spent the first decade of her career at Reuters, rising from a news assistant to an energy reporter to eventually covering the White House. While at Reuters, Rascoe covered some of the biggest energy and environmental stories of the past decade, including the 2010 BP oil spill and the U.S. response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011. She also spent a year covering energy legal issues and court cases.
She graduated from Howard University in 2007 with a B.A. in journalism.
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A slew of Supreme Court decisions this summer will have far-reaching consequences. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Leah Litman, law professor at the University of Michigan, about what to expect.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks actor Elizabeth Banks about her new show, "The Better Sister."
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In "Great Black Hope," a young, gay, Black man is reeling even before his socialite roommate is found dead. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Rob Franklin about race, class, addiction, and his debut novel.
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Parts of the U.S. air traffic control system still rely on floppy disks and computers running Windows 95. The Trump administration is pushing for an overhaul, but it won't be easy or cheap.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Claudia Sahm, Chief Economist for New Century Advisors, what the latest job figures tell us about the state of the economy.
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President Trump's immigration actions, like the travel ban, have had large effects in South Florida where many Venezuelan, Haitian, and Cuban people live.
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The Trump administration is ramping up immigration action across the country while the tax and spending bill containing immigration provisions is losing momentum in the Senate.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks journalist Jeff Gerstmann what's next for gaming now that the Nintendo Switch 2 is finally in stores.
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A black-and-white photo of a Las Vegas dancer posing in a mushroom-cloud swimsuit became iconic of America's "atomic age," but for decades her identity was unknown. The mystery has finally been solved.
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The latest flurry of activity between Israel and Hamas over a possible ceasefire is still far from a done deal. Meanwhile, not enough aid is getting in to Gaza as a murky plan by U.S. contractors continues its chaotic rollout.