Midday

On this edition of the Midday News Wrap: President Trump imposed stiff tariffs yesterday, raising levies on imported steel by 25 percent and 10 percent on Aluminum. The EU responded in kind, rolling out a plan to impose their own tariffs on American made goods. Tuesday's primaries saw a large spike in voter turnout in Texas, but offered up little surprises overall with the Republicans retaining th...

It's Thursday, and Midday theater critic J, Wynn Rousuck joins guest host Rob Sivak with her weekly review of local thespian offerings. Today, she spotlights the new production of a two-woman play by Win Wells called Gertrude Stein and a Companion, at the Fells Point Corner Theater. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The 1960s and 70s were a time of protest and change in America, and while marches and rallies were bringing the messages of dissent and disaffection to a world stage, movement activists were also using the marketplace to share and promote their ideas. Their unique storefronts offered politically-conscious alternatives to conventional, profit-driven business models. Today we’re going to take a clos...

WYPR producer Jamyla Krempel hosts today’s show. There’s been lots of talk lately about changing the narrative in Baltimore. Last month, Mayor Catherine Pugh told an audience at the Parkway Theatre that Baltimore had a “perception problem.” She also said she wanted to “work on the media not depicting Baltimore always as this negative place to be.” The Mayor’s statements got lots of people, includi...

Black artists are enjoying more mainstream success behind the camera as well as on the screen, in roles crafted to speak to the entirety of the black experience throughout the African Diaspora. Perhaps no film embodies that truth more so than Black Panther. The latest offering from the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been smashing box office records around the world, and thus far, has grossed nearly...

On this edition of Midday's Afro Check-In: Frustration continues for commuters who rely on the Baltimore Metro System following the abrupt closure of the subway system for repairs two weeks ago. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has adds 20 positions in her office, including the recently created Office of African American Male Engagement. And in Annapolis, House Bill 2, which encourages minority and...

Today on Midday, another in our series of Conversations with the Candidates, ahead of the June 26th primary elections. Tom's guest today is State Senator Jim Brochin, who is one of three Democratic candidates in the primary race for Baltimore County Executive. The current County Executive, Kevin Kamenetz, has served the maximum two terms. He is now running for Governor. Senator Brochin has represe...

Today on Midday, with high winds blowing outside our Baltimore studio, we explore whether the winds of change will blow through Annapolis come November, as we begin a series of Conversations with the Candidates who will be on the June 26th primary ballots here in Maryland. Between now and the election, Tom Hall will be talking with Democrats who are running in the gubernatorial primary, as well as...

It's Thursday, and our peripatetic theater critic, J. Wynn Rousuck joins us in the studio once again, today with her review of Count Down. play by The play by Dominique Cieri is being produced by The Strand Theater Company, the only Baltimore theater that presents works written exclusively by women artists. Cieri says the play is a composite of her experiences working for a New Jersey youth arts p...

Welcome to another edition of Midday at the Movies…The 90th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday night, hosted once again by talk show host (and social activist) Jimmy Kimmel. Excitement about this year's awards is running high because of a notably diverse and independent crop of films, filmmakers and performers. On today's Midday at the Movies, we preview a bit of that excitement by...

On this edition of the Midday Healthwatch: a busy week for public health advocates. Members of the Baltimore City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a measure requiring restaurants to replace the sugary soft drinks offered in most kids’ meals with more healthful milk, juice or water -- a response to the city's rampant childhood-obesity rates. In Annapolis, advocates pressed state lawmaker...

Republican Governor Larry Hogan has assiduously tried to distance himself from President Trump. He has a very high approval rating and by the time the general election campaign begins after the June primary, it’s expected that he may have as much as $10 million dollars in his campaign coffers. The challenge for MD Democrats: Choose a contender amongst the seven primary candidates who can unseat th...

In the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, there was predictable and familiar outrage, but also, an eerily comfortable ease with which, as a nation, we processed this tragedy. There have been more than 50 mass shootings and attempted mass shootings in US schools since the Columbine massacre in 1999. Students from across the country have organized protests and walkouts. They have taken to social me...

There are few names or brands more deeply entrenched in the American psyche than Walt Disney. The 20th century animation pioneer built an iconic business and entertainment empire on the shoulders of a talking mouse named Mickey. By the time of his death from lung cancer in 1966 at the age of 65, Disney and his many multi-media enterprises -- from movies to theme parks -- had become an unparalleled...

On today's edition of the Midday News Wrap, we begin with Baltimore Brew founding editor and publisher, Fern Shen. This week, the Brew published a series documenting the ballooning problem of overtime abuse in the Baltimore police department. Then, Luke Broadwater of the Baltimore Sun and investigative reporter Alec MacGillis of ProPublica join Tom to review some of the week’s top local and nation...

It's Thursday, and that means theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom in the studio with her weekly review, today spotlighting a new production at Baltimore's Center Stage. From the playwright of Detroit ’67, Skeleton Crew (the third play in Dominique Morisseau’s acclaimed Detroit Trilogy) tells the story of four workers at the last exporting auto plant in Detroit struggling to survive as their w...

Three-point-four million American citizens live on the island of Puerto Rico. While efforts to rebuild communities in Texas and Florida after a series of deadly hurricanes last September are progressing steadily, 400,000 Puerto Ricans on the island are still without electricity, some five months after the wind and rain stopped. Noah Steinberg-Di Stefano has just returned from his second trip to Pu...

The Congressional Research Service estimates that about 4.3 million people hold permanent government security clearances, but many close advisers to President Trump do not -- including presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. Last week, Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coates, said the system of approving security clearances for top officials is “broken” and must be overhauled. A couple of day...

Governor Hogan’s recent offer of $100 million dollars to settle the 12 year-old lawsuit filed by the state’s HBCU’s against the Maryland Higher Education Commission, was met with hope by some, and incredulity by others as the state admitted that the cost of reversing the legacy of discriminatory funding practices would actually cost billions. Debora Bailey, reporter for the AFRO Newspaper, and Dr....

When Baltimore Police Commissioner Designate Darryl DeSousa appeared on Midday last Wednesday, he was quick to credit the efforts of Erricka Bridgeford, one of the founders of Baltimore Ceasefire 365, for the city’s 12 day streak with zero murders. It was in the days during and after the third Ceasefire weekend that began on February 2nd, that Baltimore experienced no homicides for nearly two week...

Today, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan joins Tom live in Studio A. He is one of only two Republicans elected to our state’s highest office in the last 50 years, and in a poll released last month by Gonzales Media and Research, 71% of MD voters said they approve of the job the Governor is doing. While there is no shortage of Democrats vying for the chance to face the Governor in the general election...

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins us today with reviews of two plays now running in the region: Red Velvet, by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, and All She Must Possess, a world premiere at Rep Stage, on the Howard Community College campus. Chesapeake Shakespeare's Red Velvet (profiled on Midday's January 31st show) tells the story of Ira Aldridge, a celebrated and controversial African Amer...

Joining Tom for the NewsWrap today are White House correspondents Ayesha Rascoe of Reuters and Tamara Keith of NPR. In the wake of another massacre at an American high school, politicians who oppose any move toward gun regulation are keeping the families in Parkland, Florida in their thoughts and prayers, and keeping the NRA satisfied that no significant changes to federal gun policy are likely. T...

It's Midday on Music and today explore music as a window into Muslim Culture, and the creative work of Muslim women, who are being celebrated in a series at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore this season called Nisa'a Women. My guests this afternoon are Sudanese singer Alsarah and her band The Nubatones. The group is in town as the second installment in the Nisa'a Women series. They are conducting...

Following his interview with Baltimore City Police Commissioner-Designate Darryl D. DeSousa in the first half of today's Midday, host Tom Hall welcomes to the studio two guests with a keen understanding of the many challenges facing Mr. DeSousa and his beleaguered department. Joining Tom is Maj. Neill Franklin (ret.), the Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), a natio...