Midday

Today, we continue our series of Conversations with the Candidates who will be on the June 26th primary ballot here in Maryland. Tom’s guest is Valerie Ervin. She is one of nine Democrats running for Governor this June. The winner will go up against Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in the general election in November. former Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin announced that she would be takin...

Today, we continue our series of Conversations with the Candidates, which includes those who already hold public office. Congressman C. A. ----Dutch---- Ruppersberger is Tom's guest in Studio A, for the hour today. He has represented Maryland’s 2nd congressional district since 2003. That district includes parts of five jurisdictions: Baltimore City and Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard C...

Today, we continue our series of Conversations with the Candidates who will be on the June 26th primary ballot here in MD. Yesterday, former Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin entered the race, following the sudden passing of her running mate, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. We begin the program with a conversation with WYPR's Baltimore County News reporter, John Lee, about th...

Tom's guest today is Donna Brazile. A Democratic political operative for more than 40 years, Ms. Brazile encountered a firestorm of criticism last fall when she published her memoir of the 2016 election, ----Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-Ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.---- Many of her fellow Democrats read the book as a bitter diatribe from a disgruntled member...

We begin the show today with an update on the resignation of Baltimore City Police Commissioner Daryl DeSousa. WYPR reporter Dominique Maria Bonessi attended Mayor Catherine Pugh’s press conference this morning. She joins Tom in Studio A.Tom’s guest for most of the hour is David Linden. He’s a professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the former editor of the Journal of...

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom today with her review of the world premiere of Soul: The Stax Musical, now rattling the boards at Baltimore Center Stage. The production is the directorial swansong of departing artistic director Kwame Kwei Armah, who's stepping down after seven years running the shows at Center Stage. (Check out his May 9 interview here on Midday).With a book by Mat...

Few events in recent MD history were as shocking or disruptive to the political landscape as the death of Kevin Kamenetz last week, from a heart attack. The 60 year old Baltimore County Executive was one of the leading contenders in the crowded field of hopefuls vying for the chance to run against incumbent Governor Larry Hogan in November. With just a month until early voting starts in the primar...

We turn now to a play that's based on a book by a former journalist whom many Baltimoreans of a certain age will recognize. After Richard Hollander’s parents were killed in a car accident in the mid-1980s, he discovered a suitcase full of correspondence that gave him great insight to the fate of his Jewish relatives in German-occupied Poland during the Holocaust. That discovery led him to write a...

Over this past ceasefire weekend, the City saw 72 hours pass with two reported shootings, and one alleged case of first degree child abuse. The event, which was intentionally scheduled to coincide with Mother’s Day, is the second ceasefire event with no homicides from gun violence. Tom is joined in Studio A by Baltimore Ceasefire 365 Co-Founder, Erricka Bridgeford. Erricka joined us this past Febr...

Tom's guests today are two longtime politicians, one a Republican, the other a Democrat, who are now working together to try to fix the dysfunction in political Washington. Former Republican Congresswoman Connie Morella represented Maryland’s 8th Congressional District from 1987 until 2003. President George W. Bush appointed her U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Deve...

In a career spanning more than 50 years, composer John Williams has created a vast catalog of music for screen, stage, symphony and sport. He's garnered 51 Academy Award nominations for his memorable film scores including Jaws, Jurassic Park, Superman, Star Wars, three of the Harry Potter films and Schindler's List. One of his most popular scores will be filling the Strathmore and Meyerhoff concer...

Before beginning today's Healthwatch conversation with Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen, Tom talks with WYPR reporter Mary Rose Madden about the news that Baltimore Police Commissioner Daryl DeSousa has been charged by federal prosecutors with not filing tax returns for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015. DeSousa has admitted to the facts filed in Federal Court yesterday, and he’s apolo...

We begin the show today with reflections on the life and career of Kevin Kamenetz, a fixture on the Maryland political scene for more than two decades. Mr. Kamenetz passed away early this morning from a heart attack. He began his career in public service as a prosecutor in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office. He was first elected to the Baltimore County Council in 1994. He served four ter...

Today, we continue our series of Conversations with the Candidates, in the run-up to Maryland's June 26th primary elections. Maryland’s General Assembly District 41 has had more than its share of upheaval in recent years. Sen. Lisa Gladden represented the district for 14 years before retiring in February 2017 for health reasons. Del. Nathaniel Oaks was appointed to fill her seat, and four months l...

Tom's guest today is the playwright, director and actor, Kwame Kwei Armah, OBE. He has been the artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage since 2011, but he will soon be moving on. After his final show at Center Stage, which opens tomorrow night, he’s heading home to London, where he has taken the helm of the storied Young Vic Theatre. During his tenure here in Baltimore, he produced three of th...

Our theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins us today for another of her weekly reviews of the region's theater offerings. Today, she's spotlighting the world premiere of a new adaptation of the J.M.Barrie classic, Peter Pan, ​now on stage at Baltimore's Single Carrot Theatre. Billed officially as Peter Pan: Wendy, Peter. Peter, Wendy, the play is a ----re-imagining---- of Barrie's beloved 1904 stage...

Tom's guest today is the interim superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools, Verletta White. Last month, the County School Board appointed Ms. White as the permanent superintendent, but that decision was overruled last week by the State School Superintendent, Karen Salmon. Baltimore County is still reeling from the ethics scandal that led to a jail sentence for the previous superintendent....

On today’s show, Tom is joined Dr. Sonja Santelises, the CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools. As the City School Board considers the budget for the 2018-19 school year, we discuss some of the provisions within the proposal. This budget does not call for any teacher layoffs, but does call for cuts to Charter Schools. There is an increase in literacy coaching, and the overall budget has been develo...

Today, on the Midday News Wrap: An adult film star is suing the president of the United States. The afore-mentioned president added the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, to his ever-changing legal team. The president’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, remains in legal trouble, as a trouble-shooter for Bill Clinton and George W. Bush joins the list of Trump legal dramatis personae. Emmet Floo...

Today, a conversation about American exceptionalism when it comes to our cherished tradition of free speech. Tom’s guest is the acclaimed legal scholar, Floyd Abrams, a distinguished constitutional lawyer who has litigated some of the most consequential 1st Amendment cases of our time, including the Pentagon Papers case and Citizen’s United. He is the author of the 2017 book, “The Soul of the Firs...

It's time for our regular Thursday visit with Midday's peripatetic theater critic, J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom in the studio today with her review of An American in Paris, the touring stage adaptation of the Gershwin-inspired 1951 film musical. The Tony Award-winning production premiered on Broadway in 2015, hit the road in 2016, and is just now making its local stop at Baltimore's Hippodrome T...

It's Midday at the Movies. The 20th annual Maryland Film Festival kicks off tonight at the SNF Parkway Theater here in Baltimore. More than 120 local and international filmmakers from around the world will gather at the newly restored theater on Charles Street to screen their latest work, and to discuss the many facets of their art in panel discussions and workshops. Between Wednesday May 2 and Su...

It’s Midday Culture Connections. Today, we examine the mini-firestorms that have erupted over the past week surrounding journalist, a comedian and a rapper. Kanye West set the Twittersphere alight with a series of pro-Trump tweets that led more than a few people to question the rapper’s mental health, and even challenge his “Blackness.”Comedian Michelle Wolf has come under fire for her biting “roa...

Today we continue our series of Conversations with the Candidates, in the run up to Maryland’s June 26th primary elections. Tom’s guest is Del. Pat McDonough. He is a Republican, and he has represented parts of Baltimore and Harford Counties in the Maryland Legislature for the past 15 years. He also represented District 7 as a conservative Democrat for one term, from 1979 until 1983. He has been a...

A regular feature here on Midday: The Afro Check-In, where we sit down with our colleagues at the Baltimore Afro Newspaper to talk about some of the issues and stories they are covering. Early voting in Mary’s primary election begins in less than 7 weeks. Several key state senate races, in West Baltimore’s 40th, 41st and 44th Districts are heating up. We’ll take a look at those. And, the “N” word,...