I Hate Politics Podcast

College admissions season is here and to help you to through the home stretch, think through the dilemmas of whether your child should go test optional or submit score, the difference between early action and early decision, and much more, Sunil Dasupta talks with UMBC's director of financial aid and scholarship, Andrea Cipolla. External scholarships: https://scholarships.umbc.edu/searching-the-we...

An 11-year old on a bike coming home after school dies in a collision with a MCPS school bus. We look at how pedestrian safety is seldom preventive. MCPS is proposing new boundary changes that leave two schools in the richest part of the county untouched while increasing the poverty rate at schools with high poverty rates. A county executive candidate forum showcases debate over rent stabilization...

The Conowingo Dam in northern Maryland is the state's largest hydroelectric project and the Susquehanna River it controls is the largest tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. As part of renewing its federal license to operate, the dam's private owner, Constellation Energy and the state of Maryland have finally come to an agreement on improving water quality in the river, fish lifts, and dredging the da...

Gov Moore says MD will continue federal assistance programs. MCPS' only charter school, Mecca Business Learning Institute, is teetering as families withdraw. Natali Fani-Gonzalez is the first elected official critical of MCPS' program reorganization plan. Maryland Public Service Commission solicits battery storage and nuclear power projects for expedited approval. And more. Music by Dear Daria.

Montgomery County Public Schools is proposing to expand its magnet programs to build on a pedagogical method seen as highly successful over four decades, but faces criticism that their actual plans are unlikely to provide the necessary resources and support. Sunil Dasgupta asks former longtime coordinators of two of the most successful MCPS magnet programs,  Eileen Steinkraus, at Montgomery Blair...

MD Board of Revenue Estimates issues surprisingly strong tax outlook, but state leaders highlight caution. DC Council okayed the RFK stadium deal and almost immediately project leaders say there might be delays. As MD considers a VA proposal to put toll lanes on the Wilson Bridge, an 18-minute drive on I-66 cost $66. New MD law hikes to speed camera tickets take effect Oct 1. And more. Music by De...

School construction money is never enough and Maryland has reported 80 percent of its school buildings are unreliable and or in need of repair. Sunil Dasgupta talks with the state's House Majority Leader David Moon about his plan to link state aid for school construction to how efficiently counties use existing school capacity, encouraging school boards to change attendance boundaries before they...

The 7-state Chesapeake Bay Watershed agreement is up for renewal, but environmental activists are unhappy with the new text. The federal takeover of DC has lapsed, but 14 Congressional bills still pose threats to home rule. The plight of H-1B schoolteachers who were recruited with promises of green cards. Not on your fall bingo: a lice report. And more. Music by Dear Daria.

MCPS is reorganizing its high school specialty programs, ending countywide recruitment for its marquee magnets, and introducing 30 separate programs and 84 pathways across 6 regions. Sunil Dasgupta talks with parent volunteers Rebekah Kuschmider and Audra Dove, members of the Opportunity Design Team organized by MCPS to engage the community, about whether MCPS can really deliver on its promises on...

School district security chief Marcus Jones on swatting. Eyewitness accounts of ICE action near Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring and over 450 people signed a letter to MCPS asking for help defining protocols in case of ICE action immediately outside of schools. MCPS school administrators and PTAs are flummoxed by changes in rules and fees for PTA use of school space. And more. Music by Dear...

As the fall local government budget season comes up, Sunil Dasgupta talks with author Celina Su, professor of political science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and Brooklyn College, about her new book Budget Justice: On Building Grassroots Politics and Solidarities ( https://a.co/d/7uX3b0R ), where she uses the experience of participatory budgeting in New York, Barcelona...

Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb have responded differently to the Trump takeover. MD Governor Wes Moore orders creation of new county level housing targets and opening of state land to housing. MD Department of Transportation issues its new 2026 capital budget plan. In Montgomery County, a viral story about ICE turns out to be false. And more. Music by Dear Dar...

Charlie Stephenson, 21, of Alexandria, Va, died by suicide while at college in Fort Worth, Tx, in July 2022. His mother, Betsy Thibaut Stephenson, wrote a book that was recently published, Blackbird: A Mother's Reflections on Grief, Loss, and Life After Suicide ( https://a.co/d/haDI8ml ). She joins Sunil Dasgupta for this episode. Call or text 988 for the National Suicide Helpline. Music by Drew P...

A Trump-appointed federal judge dismisses the Administration's lawsuit against the entire bench of the federal District Court of Maryland. Baltimore wins a $62 million jury award against ghost gun dealer. The Maryland Public Service Commission looks likely to propose a longer period of review for a controversial high voltage power transmission line between Baltimore and Frederick. In Northern Virg...

The USDA has been promoting its "Stomp It" campaign for some years now to try to control the spread of the invasive Spotted Lanternfly, but the plant-hopping insect, a native of Southeast Asia, has continued to travel out from the Mid-Atlantic where it first arrived in the United States, and is threatening fruit trees and vineyards. As the insect embarks on another annual mating season come Septem...

MCPS communications chief and CTO on outreach platforms as schools reopen. How to think about the magnet program changes proposed last week ( https://t.ly/qBJ79 ). Maryland Public Service Commission Chair Fred Hoover on new hearings looking at how the state's gas utilities should align their investments with the state's climate goals. And more. Music By Dear Daria.

When Wes Moore, the first black governor of the state, vetoed the reparations bill in Spring 2025, it sent a shock of disappointment and betrayal especially among black leaders inside and outside Maryland. Delegate Aletheia McCaskill from Baltimore was the lead sponsor of the bill in the House of Delegates and tells her side of the story in this episode. Music By Drew Pictures and the Lead Extras.

The US DOJ and Maryland Elections Board tussle over access to the state's voter list. Montgomery County Council is looking at changing a provision in the new gas leaf-blower ban requiring picture-taking with complaints. MoCo County Council faces a First Amendment challenge from a local satire blogger. And more. Music by The Longtimers.

With increasing inland flash flooding in the region, a new study from Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' Transportation Planning Board finds FEMA flood maps cover only 15 percent of flooding-related road closures in the Washington DC region. Sunil Dasgupta talks with Katherine Rainone, a transportation resilience planner at MWCOG, about the regional vulnerability study and projects to...

Fighting off attacks from his own political base over the non-release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Trump uses the pretext of a crime emergency to orchestrate a federal takeover of Washington DC's police Department and removal of homeless people from the district.  Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich invites two Vanderbilt University law professors to strengthen his hands against the...

Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Taylor, who is beginning his second year at the helm of the nation's 15th largest and Maryland's largest school district, has said that MCPS was one of the nation's best school districts in 2011-12 and, by implication, not since. Taylor joined Sunil Dasgupta to talk about his vision and the challenges ahead as he tries to return the district t...

N ew study finds FEMA flood maps account for only 15 percent of flooding-related road closures in the region over the last 20 years. MCEA files grievance action against MCPS for delays and inaccuracies in payroll. Superintendent Thomas Taylor offers a fix by date. Rockville City Council nixed rent stabilization the second year. Councilmember Izola Shaw who championed the cause analyzes. Washington...

Washington DC Council has been getting ready to vote on Mayor Muriel Bowser's plan to redevelop the RFK Stadium and its adjacent land as the new home for the Washington Commanders football team, which will cost the city $1 billion. Sunil Dasgupta talked to the DC Policy Center Executive Director and longtime DC public finance economist Yasim Say if this was a fair deal? Music by Washington DC prog...

Montgomery County, MD, upzones around transit corridors, but opposition remains. Finally, a new Impact tax  agreement between Gaitersburg and MoCo. Court awards an MCPS teacher half a million dollars for false accusation of racism by the school district. At least 3 teachers are involved in another lawsuit for wrongful punishment for "antisemitic" speech. New economic analysis of the RFK Stadium sa...

Montgomery County Public Schools, MD, is on the verge of big changes in attendance boundaries, program access, and grading policy, but this summer faces political contestation between wanting these changes and deciding on whom to impose the cost of that change. Sunil Dasgupta talks with MCPS parent and Kensington resident Rebekah Kuschmider about the likelihood and cost of disbanding the regional...