Sam Baker
Senior Editor and Morning Edition HostSam Baker is KERA's senior editor and local host for Morning Edition. The native of Beaumont, Texas, also edits and produces radio commentaries and Vital Signs, a series that's part of the station's Breakthroughs initiative. He also was the longtime host of KERA 13’s Emmy Award-winning public affairs program On the Record. He also won an Emmy in 2008 for KERA’s Sharing the Power: A Voter’s Voice Special, and has earned honors from the Associated Press and the Public Radio News Directors Inc.
Sam worked in commercial television at NBC and CBS affiliates for six years before moving to public broadcasting. He was news director and Morning Edition host at KWGS-FM in Tulsa, Okla., for three years and moved to KERA in 1991. He has served on the board of Public Radio News Directors Inc. and is a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators.
As a volunteer, Sam for seven years produced a weekly series, Jazz in Words and Music, for Reading and Radio Resources, an agency serving the visually impaired. He is also a former member on the board of Southwest Transplant Alliance, a private nonprofit organization that provides organs and tissues for transplantation.
-
Diverticulosis refers to small outpouching in the colon called diverticula or little sacs. Diagnosis of it is not a major cause for concern, but poor lifestyle choices can produce a different outcome. -
As with nurses, the U.S. is also short on doctors. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates a U.S. shortage of about 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034.
-
A well-balanced diet is considered essential for good health. The vitamins and nutrients can help minimize illness. So can what we eat work against COVID-19?
-
Senate Bill 827 set $25 caps on copays for the life-saving drug for those in state-regulated health insurance programs. Texas is the 19th state to enact such a law.
-
Texas has had a shortage of nurses for years. But the current surge in COVID-19 cases has made matters worse: It’s forced a number of nurses to leave, and there aren't enough people — especially in critical care — among the so-called traveling, or temporary, nurses that hospitals rely on to fill in the gap.
-
The study included more than 3,700 people from 56-countries with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 with illness lasting more than 28 days.
-
People changed their lives considerably early in the pandemic to avoid getting sick. But even if they escaped the virus, COVID-19 still made an impact.
-
Substance abuse disorders are believed to cost the U.S. about $740 billion a year. But there's a shortage of trained professionals to respond to this problem.
-
The delta variant has sharply increased the number of COVID hospitalizations. It’s still possible to nurse milder cases of COVID at home. But the standards are higher than when the pandemic first began.
-
Some call it a disgusting habit. But picking your nose can have serious consequences, especially now during the pandemic.
-
Jenkins asked a judge to block Abbott from enforcing his executive order that prohibits local governments from requiring masks. Jenkins also wants to confirm he has the authority to take steps to respond to the pandemic, including requiring face coverings.
-
The summer heat can cause your body to lose a lot of water. It’s important to rehydrate, but also to be careful how you do it.
