Peter O'Dowd
Senior Editor, Here & Now
Peter O'Dowd is the senior editor for Here & Now. He has a hand in most parts of the show — he edits and produces segments, travels the country to report stories and plan the show's remote broadcasts, and regularly fills in as host.
Peter is based in Arizona and covers stories important to the Southwest, including the ongoing drought on the Colorado River. As the former news director of KJZZ in Phoenix, he helped establish a news operation with bureaus that spanned much of the U.S.-Mexico border. As an editor and reporter, he’s followed the nation’s housing market and the ongoing debate over immigration reform.
He got his start in broadcasting at Wyoming Public Radio. He's a graduate of Georgetown and Columbia universities.
Recently published
How a Texas musician is rebuilding and finding support in community after deadly floods
The catastrophic floods along the Guadalupe River killed at least 135 people. Survivors are still trying to make sense of what happened.
Former energy secretary on the state of Iran's nuclear program
Trump insisted that Iran’s nuclear sites have been completely demolished and Iran will never rebuild its nuclear program.
How indoor air quality impacts babies and toddlers
New research highlights indoor air quality can have a powerful impact on the health and development of babies and young children.
Grammy-winning musician John Driskell Hopkins on living and making music after an ALS diagnosis
Hopkins continues to perform with the Zac Brown Band.
'Wildfire Days' book tells the story of a female hotshot firefighter
Kelly Ramsey’s first year as a hotshot wildland firefighter in California broke all kinds of records. In 2020, California was an inferno. Ten-thousand fires broke out across the state and...
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This Father's Day, listen to old-time Tejano fiddle music by Belen Escobedo
Escobedo says when she plays the old songs nowadays, it makes men cry because they remember how their fathers taught them, too.
Reporter's notebook: How climate change impacts the Mississippi River
Here & Now's Chris Bentley and Peter O'Dowd spent a week reporting on the Mississippi River.
Historic Mississippi flood destroyed his home. 5 years later, it's finally rebuilt
On Thanksgiving Day, 2024, Anderson Jones had something to be grateful for. He finally made it home. Five years earlier, the sandbag levee protecting his family home failed, causing flood...
After 8 decades, a huge flood-control project in Mississippi may finally get built
For more than 80 years, residents of Mississippi’s Yazoo Backwater have been banking on a pumping project to protect their farms and homes from floods. The federal government is now...
'A crisis of Donald Trump's own making': Sen. Alex Padilla on National Guard deployment
Crowds were protesting increased immigration raids and detentions, especially in the town of Paramount, near Los Angeles.