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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The titan arum blooms again, this time at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Eager flower-watchers lined up to experience the plant's distinctive rotting-corpse-like odor.
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Wal-Mart says it will not build three of the six stores planned for Washington, D.C., after the city council passed a bill that would require the retailer to pay a wage nearly 50 percent higher than the city's minimum wage. Those three stores would be located in mostly low-income areas, with high unemployment and few places to shop. A similar situation once played out in Chicago.
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Native American groups are challenging the exclusive trademark protection for the Washington Redskins, saying the NFL team's name is a racial slur. If the judge rules in the groups' favor, the team could lose millions of dollars from the sale of licensed merchandise. -
The legendary music that makes up Broadway's upcoming Motown: The Musical offers audible proof that Berry Gordy's Detroit R&B label is the soundtrack of an American generation. But for Gordy, the new project is just the story of that label as he lived through it. -
Many of the canines that have flocked to Manhattan are staying at the Hotel Pennsylvania. And there the pooches are treated like VIPs — very important pooches, that is. From spinach pizza to a doggie concierge, it's a pampered life for a show dog. -
Bipartisan support in the Illinois Senate helped pass legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses. But critics say granting driving rights to people in the country illegally is putting the cart before the horse. -
An ongoing exhibition at the National Museum of African Art asks visitors to consider the connections between art and science — and the ways both disciplines help us explore the why, when and how of our existence. Artifacts in the exhibition show that we've been wondering about the stars for millennia. -
Some black voters in the Youngstown, Ohio, area are expressing reservations about President Obama this year because of his stance on some social issues that offend their religious beliefs. It's unclear, however, how many will sit home or change their votes as a result.
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The father of funk has been in court, trying to reclaim ownership of songs like "Atomic Dog." -
As the supernatural enjoys a pop culture resurgence — from vampires to fairy tales — there's also been a firestorm of fascination with dragons, who appear this year in two movies, a new book, video games and a Washington, D.C. museum exhibit. Allison Keyes explores the mystical creatures' appeal.
