Amanda Arden

2026 fire season is underway with several fires burning across California, including the Sandy Fire in Simi Valley.

A day in DC 🫡

A busy, busy, busy Q1 filled with lots of work travel, but also quality time with colleagues, buying my first home, and fun moments like the Shamrock Run and a hike in the Gorge!

Seeing Savannah Guthrie’s heart-wrenching interview on the TODAY Show this morning took me back to my weeks spent in Tucson in Frebruary covering her mother’s disappearance. At the time, it felt like Nancy Guthrie would be found at any moment. Now, like Savannah, we still hold on to the hope that someone will come forward with information.

I had a front-row seat to CBS News history last night as Tony Dokoupil began his tenure as the anchor of the Evening News. The breaking news out of Venezuela sent us scrambling, but this scrappy team in San Francisco and our colleagues in New York pulled off a solid show from the KPIX studio. We wish Tony all the best in this new role.

2025 work pics wrapped! Kept sane by the good people (and occasional llamas) around me.

🗻Shoot at Mount Rainier National Park
❄️Story on de-icing planes at a very icy Chicago O’Hare airport
🔥 LA wildfire coverage
👨🏽‍⚖️Washington state challenged the executive order on birthright citizenship
💧If it’s not a giant coffee, Andres is holding a giant water — this time at Lori Vallow Daybell court coverage.
🚨ICE protest coverage in LA
👑 No Kings protest in Las Vegas
🍴A good meal with good people in Boise
🎤My first and only CBSM+ appearance — discussing Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing
💵A billionaire with a terminal illness - covering the 2024 Powerball winner
🫆A cold, dark morning covering Charlie Kirk’s murder
🛻A ride-along interview with Portland’s mayor
💨ICE protest coverage in Portland
☔️Atmospheric river and king tides on the Oregon coast
🦙Holiday therapy llamas at PDX
🌧️A very rainy atmospheric river live shot in Altadena
🚫Larry, master of signs and stickers, establishing Amanda Arden’s secret club

In this season of giving/gifting, please allow me a moment to appreciate a very valuable gift I received a decade ago. 👇🏻

The year was 2015 and I was graduating from the University of Oregon. My dad, mom, and brother made the road trip from our small hometown in Montana to Eugene, Oregon to celebrate. I knew it would be an emotional day for my dad who, even to this day, gets teary-eyed when he remembers dropping me off at college in “the big city of Eugene.”

My parents, who both worked very hard to help me pursue higher education, were extremely proud. I was the first member of the family to receive a bachelor’s degree – two, technically: journalism and French.

That day, my dad gifted me these suitcases. Little did he know just how much I’d end up using them several years later, when I accepted my job at CBS News. These suitcases have been through a lot. They’ve flown internationally, been lost – and found again (thankfully), dragged through mud, bounced over cobblestones, soaked in rain, and endured wildfire smoke. In a job that sometimes feels lonely, your suitcases become your closest companions.

We’ve been on a lot of adventures together, these suitcases and me, and now it’s time to bid them farewell. Their torn exteriors, dented pull handles, and fickle wheels are ready for retirement. And so, though I know it’s cheesy, I’m making this post to remember this special gift — my purple luggage – and the miles we’ve traveled together.

Happy holidays, everyone. May you find a deep appreciation for the gifts that surround you. 🎁

A busy month in Portland covering ICE arrests, protests, and the possible deployment of the national guard. Here are just a few of the stories we’ve done on the issues.

Thanks to and for your hard work in the Rose City. And to our catching producers and editors, these pieces wouldn’t have made it to air without you.

I was honored to be accepted to Oregon State University’s 2025 media fellowship, which took place last week. This year, the fellowship focused on AI and robotics. We heard from some top researchers at the university about their fascinating work and dived into everything from the ethics around AI to humanoid robots. I walked away feeling more knowledgeable about the topics and intrigued about the advancements we’ll see in the coming decades.