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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Maryland lawmakers Thursday overrode Gov. Robert Erlich's veto and approved a measure, directed at Wal-Mart, requiring a certain level of expenditure on employee health care. Unions are vowing to push for similar laws in at least 30 other states.
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This Thanksgiving, the tastes of New Orleans will be missing or difficult to find for families now living far from their favorite Cajun or Creole spices. That's the case for a couple who evacuated from New Orleans and are spending Thanksgiving in Mount Rainier, Md.
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Millsboro, Del., is home to Punkin Chunkin 2005 World Championship. This year was the 20th for a contest to see who can build a machine to hurl a pumpkin the farthest. It's part science, part sport and all party.
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In Maryland, the current class of 9th graders will be the first to have to pass an algebra test to graduate from high school. Baltimore County's school system is working to help students by offering parents their own algebra refresher class.
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The Millions More Movement will be held on Washington's National Mall Saturday to mark the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March. On Oct. 16, 1995, hundreds of thousands of black men gathered and pledged to improve themselves, personally and politically.
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Allison Keyes offers a remembrance of actor Brock Peters, who died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 78. Peters is best known for his portrayal of a wrongly accused man in To Kill A Mockingbird, starring Gregory Peck.
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We offer a tribute to Negro League baseball veteran Ted Radcliffe, who died recently at age 103. He earned his nickname by playing well in multiple positions on various teams.
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The missing-persons case of Latoya Figueroa, a pregnant black woman from Philadelphia, has finally attracted mainstream news coverage after bloggers at AllSpinZone.com generated publicity on her behalf.
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The funk/R&B/rock group Mint Condition burst onto the music scene 14 years ago with its first album, Meant to be Mint. Now the Minneapolis-based band is back with its first CD in six years, Living the Luxury Brown.
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Thousands of men turned out for the annual "Real Men Cook for Charity" event last weekend. Allison Keyes has more on amateur and celebrity chefs sharing recipes and wisdom at what has become a summer ritual in several cities across the country — and has even inspired a book, Real Men Cook: Rites, Rituals, and Recipes for Living.