Ashley Gross is KPLU's business and labor reporter, covering everything from Amazon.com and Boeing to garbage strikes. She joined the station in May 2012 after working for five years at WBEZ in Chicago, where she reported on business and the economy. Her work telling the human side of the mortgage crisis garnered awards from the Illinois Associated Press and the Chicago Headline Club. She's also reported for the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage and for Bloomberg News in San Francisco.

She studied history at Brown University and earned a master's in international affairs at Columbia University. She grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She lives in West Seattle with her husband and two sons.

One of Ashley's most memorable moments in radio happened several years ago in Northwest Alaska: "I was visiting an alcohol and drug rehab program in the tiny village of Selawik. It helps Alaska Natives recover by helping them get back in touch with their subsistence lifestyle. It was spring, which meant the river was still frozen - barely. We went out on snowmachines to go ice-fishing, but late in the day, as we headed back, the river had melted to the consistency of a Slurpee. It was a harrowing ride and a good lesson in trust - I rode with my eyes closed, clinging for dear life to the woman driving. A week later, three people drowned trying to ride a snowmachine over that river, and that's when I realized just how dangerous life in rural Alaska can be."

The Salt
6:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Shop Owners Hope Yogurt Smooths A Path Out Of Greek Recession

Credit Joanna Kakissis / NPR
Dimitris Plassas and Georgia Ladopoulou work the yogurt bar at Fresko, which specializes in several varieties of Greek-style yogurt.

Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 11:23 am

Greeks used to take their yogurt for granted. This year, at anti-austerity protests, they even threw it at their politicians. But Greeks are finally realizing yogurt might actually help the country during its worst recession in half a century.

In Athens, dozens of entrepreneurs have opened yogurt bars. The first one, called Fresko, opened last year on a pedestrian street near the Acropolis. It features four types of rich, strained yogurt kept cool in traditional ceramic pots.

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Your Money
6:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Stores Banking On Personalized Loyalty Programs

Credit Ashley Gross / KPLU
A customer using Safeway's personalized deals gets this loaf of bread for 99 cents instead of the original $4.29.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 6:56 pm

Loyalty cards have long given discounts to shoppers who sign up, but stores are increasingly offering personalized discounts tailored to each customer's shopping patterns.

Those tailored discounts mean someone standing in front of you at the supermarket checkout line might get a lower price on the exact same gallon of milk that you're buying.

A 'Secret Deal'

Heather Kulper is one of those people who really wants to get a good deal. She's a mom in a suburb north of Seattle who writes a blog about coupon clipping and saving money.

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Presidential Race
6:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Riddled With Crime, N.J. City Turns To County Police

Credit Mel Evans / AP
The city of Camden, N.J., is considering getting rid of its own police force and turning to the county to try and combat record crime.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 7:08 pm

Although considered one of the most dangerous places in the country, past budget cuts in Camden, N.J., have forced police layoffs. Now the city is considering even more dramatic steps: replacing the city's police force with one operated by the county.

Camden is on pace to break a record for homicides and shootings this year, and many in the crime-ravaged city say something has to change.

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Business
6:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Fishing For Lobsters Not Just A Man's Game

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 5:46 pm

In New England, more women are breaking through the glass gangway. That's the ramp you use to walk down onto a dock to hop onboard your own fishing boat. For generations lobstermen in Maine have been predominantly, well, men — but that's starting to change.

At a small gas dock in a rock-lined cove on Deer Isle, Maine, there's a new captain fueling up. Genevieve Kurilec, 29, wears a tank-top, orange fishing overalls and lobster buoy earrings.

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Music Al Fresco
6:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

A Honky-Tonk Duo Takes The Piano Outdoors

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 2:41 pm

Weekend Edition continues its series on the sounds of music al fresco with a musical act founded on a very inconvenient choice. You'd think a street musician would want to travel light when selecting an instrument — say, a ukulele, a violin, maybe a guitar. But a piano?

"It's about 300 pounds," says Kirby Lee Hammel. "Only one pulled muscle in the last year and a half, I think."

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Author Interviews
6:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

The 'State Of England' Is Grim In 'Lionel Asbo'

Credit Isabel Fonseca
Martin Amis is the author of London Fields, Time's Arrow and The Rachel Papers.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 2:41 pm

Martin Amis' latest novel is his 15th work of fiction. His books are comical, raunchy, full of flashy language and a sense of something new being done. And in Lionel Asbo: State of England, the titular Lionel is vicious, violent and very funny.

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Arts & Life
6:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

'Gone With The Wind' Author's Estate A Windfall

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 2:41 pm

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "TARA'S THEME")

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

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Sunday Puzzle
3:15 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Shuffle The Anagram, K?

Credit NPR Graphic

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 2:41 pm

On-air challenge: This week's puzzle is called "Anagram K-pers." Every answer is a familiar word starting with the letter "K." You identify the words from their anagrams. For example, K + vane will make "knave."

Last week's challenge: Name two insects. Read the names one after the other. Insert an "H" somewhere in this string of letters, and you'll complete a familiar word that is the opposite of what either of these insects is. What word is it?

Answer: Behemoth (bee, moth)

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Law
7:20 pm
Sat August 18, 2012

Kids Behind Bars: Illinois Rethinks Juvenile Justice

Credit Cheryl Corley / NPR
Elias Roman, 17, has been through Illinois' juvenile justice system twice. But the second time around, he was paired with a mentor, and he's looking at things differently.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 6:36 pm

In an alley in Little Village on Chicago's West Side, the faint sound of music from a Spanish-speaking radio station wafts in the air and garbage cans are sprayed with gang graffiti. They look like the tattoos on 17-year-old Elias Roman's arms.

"This [alleyway] right here is where I caught my first gun case," says Elias, who was born and raised in the neighborhood, home to a large Mexican-American community.

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