Hanford Insider: From Small Town Hanford to the White House - Tamara Keith's Journey, & Community News

Transcript

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On this week's episode of the Insider, rob will take a look back at the Hanford City Council actions from last week and what's on the agenda for this week.

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We'll also see what's on the community calendar.

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Then Hanford's own Tamara Keith joins us from Washington DC to share with us what it's like working as a White House correspondent.

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This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, june 17th.

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Hello everybody, welcome to this episode of the Hanford Insider.

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I'm your host, rob Bentley.

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Thanks for listening.

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The weather this week is going to start out really nice with temperatures in the 90s, but as the week progresses we'll see a return to the 100s by the weekend.

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Come out and say hi at the Thursday Night Marketplace this week.

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Eric and I'll be at the Hanford Insider booth to greet our listeners.

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It looks like the weather's going to be great and we can't wait to see you.

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The band Soul Iconic will be providing the entertainment this week In community news.

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On Thursday, after getting some tips about an illegal fireworks operation, the Hanford Police and Fire Department searched a home in South Hanford and officers found stacks of packaged illegal fireworks, some of which were labeled to sell.

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They also found materials used to make homemade fireworks, a ghost gun and an MK-76 practice bomb.

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33-year-old Ryan Branch was booked on multiple charges into the Kings County Jail and has since been released on bond.

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During this press conference on Friday, both Police Chief Stephanie Huddleston and Fire Chief Daniel Perkins emphasized that Hanford has a zero tolerance for illegal fireworks and that if you see something, please say something and then we'll follow up on the tip, as they did with this arrest.

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If you get caught using illegal fireworks, the fines are steep, but the danger of injury and damage is even greater.

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Speaking of law enforcement, how about a big shout out to Deputy Dave Calhoun, who recently retired from the Kings County Sheriff's Office?

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Thank you for your 30 years of service.

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Have a happy and healthy retirement, dave.

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In community news, the Hanford City Council held a special meeting last Tuesday to receive final information regarding the proposed revenue measure for consideration to be placed on the November ballot.

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Of the current 7.25% sales tax, 87% of it is sent to Sacramento no-transcript buildings, such as deferred AC upgrades and replacements, drainage issues, plumbing issues, security issues and structural issues.

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These priorities were reviewed by the 13-member Revenue Measure Committee this spring over 10 study sessions with over 20 hours of research.

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The plan was then presented to the City Council a month or so ago.

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At Tuesday's meeting, the Council also received information from Randall Communications about how to go about educating the public about the measure.

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Initial surveys that have been conducted indicate support for the tax measure.

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At this Tuesday's meeting, the Council will formally adopt the draft ballot language resolution and ordinances, which will include a citizen oversight committee.

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I would encourage everyone to educate themselves by reading the materials on the city website and not make decisions solely based on what you read on social media.

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In my interview with Tamara Keith in just a moment, you'll actually hear why we think depending on social media for your news intake isn't such a good idea.

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Subscribers to my email list will also be getting an additional attachment that contains direct links to the documents outlining the proposed revenue measure isn't such a good idea.

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Subscribers to my email list will also be getting an additional attachment that contains direct links to the documents outlining the proposed revenue measure.

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You can watch Tuesday's City Council meeting in person or online at cityofhanfordcacom.

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Here's some things coming up on our community calendar.

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The King's Arts Center presents Yosemite Renaissance Wednesday through Fridays from 12 to 5 and Saturdays 10 to 3.

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For more information, visit kingsartscenterorg.

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The County Elections Department is holding the Candidate Information Night this Wednesday, june 19th, from 6 pm to 8 pm.

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This is a great opportunity for those community members interested in running for city council, school boards and special district offices in the November 5th general election.

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The Kings County Law Enforcement 5k run and walk for Special Olympics will be held this Saturday at the Kings County Government Center at 9 am.

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Also this Saturday, hanford's own.

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Danny Stacey, who recently appeared on NBC's the Voice, will be performing in concert at the Hanford Fox Theater.

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Get your tickets at foxhanfordcom.

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Kings County Community Action Organization is having a summer block party at their main office on 11th Avenue on Friday, June 28th, from 9 am to noon.

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There'll be games, children's activities, head Start, enrollments, community resources, a vaccination clinic and refreshments.

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Visit kcaoorg for more information.

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If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together.

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Send your information to hanfordinsider at gmailcom.

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Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a complete calendar of events.

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Well, it's a great pleasure to welcome to the show Tamara Keith, who is a former Hanford resident who is now working in National Public Radio in a White House correspondent.

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Welcome to the show, tamara.

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Thanks for having me.

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Hey, tamara, we've got so much to cover today, but let's start kind of with your roots in Hanford, how your family came to Hanford.

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I know a lot of people will probably remember your father as a drama teacher at Hanford High School, but can you kind of walk us through your education in Hanford and then how you made your way to Washington DC?

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And my parents like to say that they drove until they could afford a place to live, until they could afford to buy a house.

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And they found Hanford and they thought it was extremely charming.

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And my dad was able to get a job at the high school teaching English and theater, and he also taught speech at College of the Sequoias and mom did a little occasional classroom music teaching like choir and singing psalms and banging things, probably.

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So that's how we got there when I was in fourth grade and the family stayed, oddly, until I graduated from high school and then my parents followed me to college, which is weird.

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So they followed you.

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They did.

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I have a brother.

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He's younger, but they just keep following me, so they live out here now.

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So one of the interviews that I heard with you a few years back was talking about how the impression of listening to the NPR broadcasts in the car radio kind of inspired you to what you're doing now.

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Absolutely so.

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When we lived in LA, I was an actor, a child actor.

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I wasn't a very successful one, certainly, but we would have to drive all over LA to go to auditions, and so my parents started me very early on public radio, but I don't think it really sunk in.

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I liked it and that it was going to be a part of who I was for my entire life, until we were living in Hanford and we found a church that we liked in Fresno, and so every Sunday we would drive to Fresno listening to Weakened Edition, sunday, go to church, go to Tower Records, maybe go to a movie, and then, oh, definitely Costco, and then come back to Hanford.

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As I understand it, there is probably now a Costco in Hanford which blows my mind.

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Yeah, it's a popular one.

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So tell us about your journey through the school at Cal Berkeley and kind of how you found your way to Washington DC with NPR.

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Well, I guess that my ultimate path to Washington DC began on the first day of classes at Cal.

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In my very first class, my very first day, I met a very nice boy and he is my husband and you know it was funny because I told him what I wanted to do when I grew up, which was work for NPR.

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Maybe, if I was lucky, cover the White House.

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He said he wanted to be a veterinary oncologist, which was sort of random but sure, and we did what we said we wanted to do and I think partially it's because we had each other that we were able to do that.

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So it was a long and winding road that actually brought me back to the Valley for a while.

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My first job out of grad school I covered the entire Central Valley for the California Report on KQED Public Radio and then in 2008, my husband got a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health and he thought that I would just be able to show up in Washington D and then I got a job at NPR and everything's really great.

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I mean, there were like layoffs in between and all kinds of other things that happened in minor dramas, but ultimately moving to DC and showing up on their doorstep worked out pretty well.

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That's great.

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So you've been there a while and you've been working White House correspondent here since 2014.

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What are you currently doing?

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So, right, I cover the White House.

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I'm NPR's senior White House correspondent, and so that means that when President Biden went to France, I went to France and got very little sleep.

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But that's the most recent thing that I've been working on is his trip to mark these 95, 98, 105-year-old veterans who made it out to Normandy for this commemoration and still going strong and just the opportunity to see them being honored.

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Never mind that there were politicians there and world leaders and Steven Spielberg and whoever else Tom Hanks but I got to meet one of the veterans and it is the absolute highlight of that trip and that actually had nothing to do with my journalism.

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I just ran into him in a hallway at a hotel and I was like, oh my gosh, you're that guy.

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So obviously a lot of travel, a lot of travel.

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Can you tell?

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us about maybe some of the highlights experiences that you've had traveling to these different destinations with the administration.

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Yeah, and I will say that most of the time I'm not traveling to the amazing foreign countries or exotic lands.

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A lot of the time I'm traveling to Iowa, or during primary season, or I'm, and I love Iowa, or I'm.

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You know, I'm going to be spending a lot of time in Wisconsin in the next five months and and North Carolina and another swing states.

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But you know, like one of the highlights I guess it was a foreign trip and it was a surprise trip.

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So it's I mean, it's not a surprise to the president that he's going on the trip, but it's a surprise to everyone.

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Any of the US troops serving in war zones isn't quite the right word because Iraq and Afghanistan had had moved to more, somewhat more stable situations.

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But he hadn't been to either of those countries, and so they decided that he was going to go on Christmas Day to Iraq, day to Iraq.

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And so I got a call like three days before that saying come into the White House, don't bring any electronics, brought just a notebook into Press Secretary Sarah Sanders' office and was basically told you're going to meet at Joint Base Andrews at a specific time and this is what you bring and you're going to Iraq.

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But we didn't know anything more than that and I wasn't allowed to tell anyone.

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I wasn't my parents, we were.

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We were supposed to be traveling out for for Christmas, had to change flights, had to do all kinds of things, because when the White House calls and says you're going to Iraq with the president, you drop everything and you go to Iraq with the president.

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And so it was.

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I could tell my husband and I could tell one editor, but I had to have those conversations in person, without electronics nearby, which is totally wild.

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So that was, that trip was a highlight and very intense.

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That trip was a highlight and very intense.

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And then there are other trips that you'll never forget Stopping at Dover Air Base for the dignified transfer of the remains of fallen service members.

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That experience will be seared in my mind forever.

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And I didn't go on the trip but because at the time I was the president of the White House Correspondents Association, I was deeply involved in planning President Biden's secret trip to Ukraine.

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I mean, I didn't plan the logistics or anything like that, but I knew about it about 10 days before anyone else knew and I got to pick which reporter went and which photographer went on the trip and spent countless hours advocating to try to get more people, more reporters, to be able to go, and then stayed awake for about 48 hours tracking the trip when nobody else knew that it was happening.

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Yeah, and I am.

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I am happy that that is no longer my responsibility, because that is some very intense responsibility.

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I bet.

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So I think you brought up a really important point in there is that you have been correspondent for a number of years and you're not necessarily affiliated with a campaign or another.

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Is that you're covering at all?

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What are some of the challenges that you've faced in doing that?

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Balancing your I guess personal opinions versus.

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You know it must be difficult sometimes, I would imagine.

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Right, as you say, I started out covering the Obama administration.

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Towards the tail end I covered Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

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I covered a bit of Romney's presidential campaign too, in 2012.

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Then I immediately had to sort of completely switch gears and cover the Trump White House, and that was quite a steep learning curve.

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But let's be honest, every new administration is a steep learning curve, both for them and for us.

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Getting sourced up is one of these things that's challenging.

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You know, getting people to share information with you, figuring out who's reliable that is a challenge with every administration.

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And the other thing is that it changes.

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You know people come and go in the White House and then you're kind of starting over new whether it's a new administration or just a new crop of people that have come into that to that administration, to that administration.

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And you know my joke is that, in terms of personal opinions, I'm dead inside.

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That I don't.

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I try not to get emotionally involved in my work.

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Politics is something that a lot of people care passionately about and that is essentially their hobby, right?

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They spend all their time like fighting the good fight on the internet about their candidate or their politics, and you will not catch me doing any of that in my private time.

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If I sometimes have friends who like want to talk to me about politics because you know, I know things and I'm just like, well, how are your kids doing?

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Like it's just, I just don't want to do it.

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It's my job and and it's not my hobby and it's not my life.

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But obviously I'm very interested in politics but also the mechanics of it and the personalities and all of those things.

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But you know, just in terms of how I feel about various people, I, you know, I obviously everyone has feelings, but I do my best to inspect my work and make sure a lot of information and misinformation out there regarding different scenarios and different feelings that people have about particular policies and such.

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How can we, as the voters, put our trust in the media to report fair and accurate information?

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Dr.

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Well, that's a tough, that's like.

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You know.

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If I could solve that then maybe we could solve a lot of problems.

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But what I would say is that I know that the mainstream media gets denigrated a lot by a lot of people.

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Job it is to get things right.

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You know, we're really the only ones whose job it is to make our stories fair and obviously you need to check your sources, check the bias.

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You know, if you're looking at the editorial page of any newspaper, it's either going to be extremely.

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It's either going to be extremely.

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It's either going to be liberal or it's going to be conservative.

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It's going to be the Wall Street Journal editorial page or the Wall Street Post editorial page.

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I don't like reading the editorial page because I don't think we should be in the opinion business.

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I think we can do analysis, but that needs to be based on reporting and journalism and not based on fields.

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And you know, those of us who are professional journalists take that responsibility very seriously and I don't know how we restore trust.

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The only thing that I know how to do is keep doing what I'm doing.

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Try to do better every day.

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When somebody has a complaint about my story, take it seriously.

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Think about if I would have done something differently or if I should do something differently.

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I'll just give you an example.

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I had a story that I did about President Biden when he was in France visiting this World War I cemetery that former President Trump had not visited.

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He was supposed to visit and then there was rain and rather than taking a motorcade, he just bailed on it, and there had been reporting in multiple outlets that he had called the war dead suckers and losers at various times around that trip.

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And so I did a story based on that.

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I reached out to people who had worked in the Trump administration, got you know one source confirming it, plus the other reports that existed, and another source that said, like, the statement I put out refuting it back in 2020 when I worked in the Trump White House, was totally untrue and not based on facts.

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And so I felt pretty confident with all of the couching of you know that Trump has not publicly admitted to this or anything but felt pretty good with the story and thought it was fair and it was fair.

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But then the Trump campaign reached out after it had already posted and said, hey, we've got a new statement.

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This thing is a total fabrication, like can't believe Joe Biden would do this, and so I added to my story.

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I added more of their perspective to the story, because they had put out this new statement, because I do want my story to be fair, my story to be fair, so I mean, that's just sort of an example of it, I guess.

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But it's, it is a challenging time.

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It's not just that people don't trust the mainstream media, it's that they don't trust any institutions.

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There is less connectiveness.

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People are less connected to religion and to churches.

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They're less connected to their communities.

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Our worlds have gotten so much smaller and it's just this like thing that the algorithm has fed us, which and it may be that the algorithm is feeding you more of this thing that makes you angry because you'll keep looking at it and and it's not making us healthier or better or more engaged in our communities, and I'm really worried about it.

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But, of course, your podcast is trying to break through some of that and you know, obviously what I do is trying to break through some of that and all we can do is our best.

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Yep.

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So you've certainly had some great experiences and some frustrating experiences in your position, but what are some highlights, some things that you're most proud of of what you've been able to do there?

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Well, this is not something I'm most proud of.

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It's a great highlight, great way to start.

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I just have to say it's actually really, really cool to get to fly on Air Force One.

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The hours are often miserable and there are lots of downsides, but it is just getting to fly on Air Force One.

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The hours are often miserable and there are lots of downsides, but it is just getting to fly on Air Force One, walking into the United States Capitol and walking up to the White House on any day.

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I am just still a little bit awestruck by the opportunity that I have to report on these institutions and on the American government, that I have to report on these institutions and on the American government.

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So I guess, like every day I get to do my job and I feel like really privileged to be able to do that.

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The funny thing about this job is like, you know, it's like 51st States or something.

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Every day is a blank slate.

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It's like it's sort of like yes, you're covering this, one beat the White House, and yet every day it could be something different.

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You know, one day you're reporting on something going on in Yemen and you didn't even know that there were Houthi rebels until you started hearing about them in the White House press briefing and you know the next day it's about school nutrition or something, or shortages of baby milk powder.

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So OK, two highlights.

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One that goes back to my days reporting in the Central Valley.

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A couple of favorite stories.

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One was about bee theft.

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That was very fun and I think I got a lot of puns in that one.

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And the other one was I got to and I don't know, I don't remember exactly where it was.

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It was a little further north in the valley but at some point California overtook Wisconsin as the dairy capital of the of the country that was making these gigantic blocks of cheddar cheese that were then being powderized to be like sprayed onto Doritos and I just thought that was like the coolest thing in the world.

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I mean, like, how weird is that?

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But I guess what I will say is that my, my recent highlight, career highlight was after October 7th.

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I was in the small pool of reporters, so there's only 13 reporters who fly with the president on Air Force One, go wherever he goes.

00:24:26.461 --> 00:24:29.854
We're called the protective pool and we share our reporting.

00:24:29.854 --> 00:24:58.351
I share the audio with the rest of the press corps and it was a real highlight to talk to the press on the plane.

00:24:58.351 --> 00:25:15.698
President Trump did it all the time, mostly off the record, but this is the first time Biden came back and the story I did based on that trip ended up winning an award, which was very exciting because I never win anything, so we're going to call that a highlight, yeah.

00:25:16.098 --> 00:25:20.550
All right, so let's talk about your downtime, which I'm sure you value quite a bit.

00:25:20.550 --> 00:25:24.720
What are some activities that you enjoy when you unplug?

00:25:25.923 --> 00:25:27.086
So I have two boys.

00:25:27.086 --> 00:25:37.176
They are six years old and 11 years old and I am very proud of them and spend time with them.

00:25:37.176 --> 00:25:47.987
In my downtime I also like to run and ride my bike and do exercise, which is kind of hilarious because in high school I figured out a way to get PE credit for marching band.

00:25:47.987 --> 00:26:03.189
When I because, like you know, people are like, oh, I need to exercise for you know, so I can lose weight or so I can eat more, and I'm like, no, I need to exercise so I can stay sane.

00:26:03.189 --> 00:26:16.162
It is like those endorphins that just like release of going on a run that is absolutely essential to to surviving life in in my mind.

00:26:16.162 --> 00:26:17.744
So that's what I do to unwind.

00:26:17.744 --> 00:26:20.151
And I just have to say I'm so proud of my older son.

00:26:20.151 --> 00:26:28.556
He has been playing guitar and he just had a concert and like a rock concert and it was, it was not, it was not terrible.

00:26:28.635 --> 00:26:29.619
The power of music.

00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:31.432
Yeah, exactly.

00:26:31.432 --> 00:26:35.160
Hey, Tamara, it's been so awesome having you on the show today.

00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:40.800
Can you give us some of the social sites that we could follow to kind of keep up with you?

00:26:40.800 --> 00:26:44.741
I know you have the podcast, which is the NPR Politics podcast.

00:26:44.741 --> 00:26:47.699
What are some things that you're involved in on social media?

00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:57.352
Yeah, so the NPR Politics podcast is available wherever you get podcasts, and I'm one of four hosts, so I'm not always on, but sometimes I'm on and it's always good.

00:26:57.352 --> 00:27:00.374
I swear, and I'm one of four hosts, so I'm not always on, but sometimes I'm on and it's always good, I swear, and it's a great.

00:27:00.374 --> 00:27:21.872
It's a great way to get an overview of what's going on in politics without having to consume it from a fire hose like you might in other venues and then basically on every social platform that I'm on, I am Tamara Keith in PR Awesome, and I know you have the Monday.

00:27:21.872 --> 00:27:22.354
What is the Monday?

00:27:22.354 --> 00:27:29.013
Yes, I'm on PBS News Hour on Mondays it's the Politics Monday segment, and they also distribute that as a podcast and it's up on YouTube as well.

00:27:29.013 --> 00:27:33.911
I haven't gotten into TikTok and I don't know that it's going to happen.

00:27:33.911 --> 00:27:39.032
I'm going to wait and see if they actually get banned in America before I get attached.

00:27:40.196 --> 00:27:41.059
Well, Tamara again.

00:27:41.059 --> 00:27:46.941
Once again, thank you for being on the show and we're looking forward to seeing you in February of 2025.

00:27:46.941 --> 00:27:56.203
You'll be speaking at the local high schools regarding your career path and an inspiration for so many, and I want to wish you a safe and healthy summer.

00:27:56.203 --> 00:28:03.351
I know you're going to be taking some time off and, especially with the election cycle coming up, I know it's going to get even more crazy.

00:28:03.351 --> 00:28:04.755
So thank you for all that you do.

00:28:05.517 --> 00:28:07.221
Yeah, thank you so much for having me on.

00:28:07.221 --> 00:28:11.820
Hanford was a big part of putting me where I am, so I feel grateful.

00:28:15.891 --> 00:28:18.019
Well, that's all the time we have for this week's show.

00:28:18.019 --> 00:28:23.342
Tune in next week, as we'll hear from Debbie Gibson from United Cerebral Palsy of Central California.

00:28:23.342 --> 00:28:27.960
If you'd like to support the show, you can go to buymeacoffeecom slash.

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00:28:29.002 --> 00:28:35.963
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00:28:35.963 --> 00:28:40.181
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00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:46.843
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00:28:46.843 --> 00:28:56.933
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00:28:56.933 --> 00:29:02.656
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00:29:02.656 --> 00:29:08.760
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00:29:08.760 --> 00:29:10.281
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00:29:10.281 --> 00:29:11.261
Have a great week.

Hanford Insider: From Small Town Hanford to the White House - Tamara Keith's Journey, & Community News

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