Allison Keyes
Allison Keyes is an award-winning journalist with almost 20 years of experience in print, radio, and television. She has been reporting for NPR's national desk since October 2005. Her reports can be heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition Sunday.
Keyes coverage includes news and features on a wide variety of topics. "I've done everything from interviewing musician Dave Brubeck to profiling a group of kids in Harlem that are learning responsibility and getting educational opportunities from an Ice Hockey league, to hanging out with a group of black cowboys in Brooklyn who are keeping the tradition alive." Her reports include award-winning coverage of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York, coverage of the changes John Ashcroft sought in the Patriot Act, and the NAACP lawsuit against gun companies.
In 2002 Keyes joined NPR as a reporter and substitute host for The Tavis Smiley Show. She switched to News and Notes when it launched in January 2005. Keyes enjoyed the unique opportunity News & Notes gave her to cover events that affect communities of color on a national level. "Most news outlets only bother to cover crime and the predictable museum opening or occasional community protest," she said. "But people have a right to know what's going on and how it will affect them and their communities."
In addition to working with NPR, Keyes occasionally writes and produces segments for the ABC News shows Good Morning America and World News Tonight.
Keyes is familiar with public radio, having worked intermittently for NPR since 1995. She also spent a little less than a year hosting and covering City Hall and politics for WNYC Radio. Prior to that, she spent several years at WCBS Newsradio 880.
Keyes' eyewitness reports on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York earned her the Newswoman's Club of New York 2002 Front Page Award for Breaking News, and, along with WCBS Newsradio staff, the New York State Associated Press Broadcast Award for Breaking News and Continuing Coverage. Her report on the funeral of Patrick Dorismond earned her the National Association of Black Journalists' 2001 Radio News Award.
In addition to radio, Keyes has worked in cable television and print. She has reported for Black Enterprise Magazine, co-authored two African-American history books as well as the African American Heritage Perpetual Calendar, and has written profiles for various magazines and Internet news outlets in Chicago and New York.
Keyes got her start in radio at NPR member station WBEZ in Chicago, IL, in 1988 as an assistant news director, anchor, and reporter. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a degree in English and journalism. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Inc. and the National Association of Black Journalists.
When not on the air, Keyes can be found singing jazz, listening to opera, or hanging out with her very, very large cat.
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Everything about Jones was big: his stage presence, the intensity of his glance and the brilliance of his craft. From Star Wars to The Lion King to CNN, his voice pervaded popular culture. -
The Smithsonian is bringing back the funk. Parliament-Funkadelic's iconic stage prop, which would descend to the stage in a blaze of flashing lights, will anchor a new exhibit.
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Jazz bassist Rufus Reid has played with just about everybody in the mainstream jazz world, but his latest project is a work exploring the intersection of music and the visual arts. -
The obelisk has recovered from damage sustained during an earthquake that hit Washington, D.C., in 2011. -
A Maryland gun shop owner has backed off on a plan to sell the nation's first smart gun after receiving death threats and protests from gun rights advocates.
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The Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., got its new T. rex just in time to close its fossil hall for five years of renovations — longer than some dinosaur fans have even been alive. -
When Mexican artist Diego Rivera was commissioned to do a mural for Rockefeller Center, some may have wondered whether industrialist tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr. knew what he was getting into. -
Officials with the Drug Enforcement Agency are meeting with Maryland state police and other law enforcement officers on Thursday. They hope to find a way to head off a tainted heroin mixture that has killed nearly 40 people in the state since September. Officials say the drug is affecting users in both the suburbs and inner cities, and groups that offer services to drug abusers are moving quickly to warn users to watch out for the deadly heroin-fentanyl combination.
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An arctic air mass is blanketing the eastern half of the nation today, bringing with it high winds and heavy snow accumulations in some areas. Thousands of flights have been cancelled, schools are closed and federal government offices are closed. Those who don't have to drive or be somewhere also have an opinion on the weather.
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The owner of Inspire BBQ caters to the tastes of discerning barbeque lovers, but he's also on a mission to reclaim troubled young people and teach a profession that will help them sustain themselves and the community.
