Alan Greenblatt
Alan Greenblatt has been covering politics and government in Washington and around the country for 20 years. He came to NPR as a digital reporter in 2010, writing about a wide range of topics, including elections, housing economics, natural disasters and same-sex marriage.
He was previously a reporter with Governing, a magazine that covers state and local government issues. Alan wrote about education, budgets, economic development and legislative behavior, among other topics. He is the coauthor, with Kevin Smith, of Governing States and Localities, a college-level textbook that is now in its fourth edition.
As a reporter for Congressional Quarterly, he was the inaugural winner of the National Press Club's Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism, which is given to outstanding reporters under the age of 35. Sadly, he no longer meets that requirement.
Along the way, Alan has contributed articles about politics and culture for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle. He is happy to be working for an outlet where he has been able to write about everything from revolutions in the Middle East to antique jazz recordings.
Alan is a graduate of San Francisco State University and holds a master's degree from the University of Virginia.
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There was a time when teens would spend hours on the phone gabbing with friends. Now, that's the stodgiest behavior imaginable. Even for older people, a ringing phone is an unwanted intrusion. -
Top earners are usually paid when they stay home sick, but low-income workers are not. That has triggered a debate about fairness and risks to public health when incentives force sick people to work. -
Outright bans haven't passed legal muster, but new requirements enacted last year have shut down four of the state's 14 abortion clinics. -
With murders down dramatically, death penalty support has fallen far from its peak 20 years ago. Problems with executions, meanwhile, have made many Democrats, at least, skeptical about the practice. -
For a generation, nearly all death penalty states followed the same lethal injection protocol. Now they're forced to improvise — some say experiment — which has led to several botched executions. -
Cincinnati had a history of discrimination against gays, but all that has changed. The LGBT community has been embraced by politicians and corporations and now feels much safer than it used to. -
Upwards of 70,000 people are attending the NRA's annual convention this weekend. They're hearing from plenty of politicians, but for most it's a social confab and a chance to try out new weapons. -
Washington, Ill., lost half of its assessed property value to a tornado in November, but residents who lost everything are eager to reclaim their hometown. -
A handful of states are about to lose decades of clout and seniority in Congress. Which one will be hardest hit of all? -
Whenever a captain comes back and passengers don't, it's seen as shameful behavior. The captains of the Costa Concordia and the South Korean ferry both received blame for not staying with their ship.
