Midday

In May 2017, the stabbing death of Bowie State University student and 2nd Lt. Richard Collins III grabbed national headlines, and left students and faculty wondering how the frightening and tragic incident could have happened on a college campus. Collins, who was black, was stabbed on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park by UMd student Sean Urbanski. Urbanski, who’s white, was a...

The new documentary film, "STEP" by Amanda Lipitz, who grew up in Charm City, has been critically acclaimed, and it’s raised the profile of a Baltimore middle and high school immeasurably. “STEP” follows a high school step team during their senior year at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, an all-girls public charter school here in Baltimore City. Paula Dofat is one of the faculty me...

Today , a conversation about mandatory minimums and monuments. Last night, the Baltimore City Council narrowly passed a preliminary measure related to a bill that at one time could have meant a mandatory jail term for anyone with an illegal gun. The debate has reopened a conversation about the role of judges, and the best ways to make our streets safer. Tom speaks with two councilmen who are on op...

Tom's guest is Hari Kondabolu , the comedian/satirist and co-host of the popular podcast " Politically Re-Active " with fellow comedian W. Kamau Bell. Their show focuses on what they call "the dumpster fire that is the U.S. political landscape" with leading activists and writers. A major draw on the nationwide standup comedy circuit and a regular on late-night TV talk shows, Hari's latest stand-up...

We begin with a conversation about the horrific events that took place in Charlottesville, Va. over the weekend which resulted in the death of one woman and two VA state troopers. Many were injured, and brazenness about racist and hateful rhetoric is alive and well. White nationalists succeeded in shining a bright spotlight on themselves in Charlottesville. The president of the United States has s...

Today, we take another look at Baltimore Link , the city’s new bus system. Gov. Larry Hogan promised the bus system overhaul after he killed the proposed Red Line extension of the Light Rail in 2015. Hogan contended that the $135 million overhaul of the Baltimore bus system would be a better option that the $2.9 billion dollar light rail proposal. MTA officials promised that Baltimore Link would s...

Tom speaks with Senator Ben Cardin , the senior senator from Maryland and ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, about President Trump's escalating war of words with North Korea. This conversation was recorded on Thursday morning. At that time, President Trump had already talked about the "fire and fury" of a response to North Korea should they initiate hostilities. This morni...

On Wednesday Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh released her plan for curbing the spike in violence in the city. Her violence reduction plan takes a holistic approach to fighting crime. The mayor wants more training for police officers, increased access to housing and jobs, and free community college for Baltimore city public school graduates. Critics say the Mayor’s plan lacks accountability and meas...

Baltimore’s annual festival that celebrates African American art, music and culture, known as AFRAM , takes place tomorrow at Druid Hill Park. The festival is in its 41st year and free to the public. It features performances from local artists, interactive exhibits, children’s activities, as well as job training and health and wellness information. Afra White , the planner of AFRAM festival, joins...

This week the American Visionary Art Museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The museum highlights the work of so-called “outsider” artists as many of the artists are self-taught visionaries. Back in the early 90s now-retired Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski spearheaded a movement to pass a resolution in Congress that made the American Visionary Art Museum an official national museum. For mor...

This is another edition of Living Questions , our monthly series on the role of religion in the public sphere, which we produce in collaboration with the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies. This past January, the leadership of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC, elected the Reverend Maria Swearingen and Reverend Sally Sarratt as their congregation’s co-pastors . Calvary Bapt...

Every Thursday, Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews one of this region's theater productions. Today, she reviews "Love's Labour's Lost" by the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory as a part of their Shakespeare in the Meadow productions. This comedy follows Ferdinand, King of Navarre, and his three companions' attempt to forswear the company of women for a three years. That plan does not go par...

The House and Senate and the president have all left town for the August recess. Just before they left they were deep in the drama of the Senate Republicans? failure to repeal and/or replace Obamacare, otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act. During this exodus of all politicians from Washington we?ll put politics aside for a moment and ask: What should the healthcare system and healthcare cove...

Today, a conversation with a man who has filed or joined more than half a dozen cases against the Trump Administration: Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh . Mr. Frosh is a Democrat who was elected in 2014, after serving for 28 years on the Maryland General Assembly. Earlier this year, to the chagrin of the Governor, the general assembly gave the Attorney General?s office the authority to sue th...

It?s another edition of the Midday Healthwatch , our monthly conversation with Baltimore City Health Commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen . According to the latest estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 142 Americans die every day from a drug overdose -- more than 50,000 people every year. The majority of these deaths, now surging in more than 30 states, are being caused by powerful...

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury. The Trump White House has called in the Marines, or at least one highly respected Marine General, to impose order in the West Wing, and to squash the constant barrage of leaks. Those leaks, however, continue at an unprecedented pace. A transcript of phone calls with the Presidents of Mexico and Australia were revelatory about the President...

Midday Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom in the studio every Thursday to review one of our region's current theater productions. Today, she spotlights Sister Act , a musical based on the 1992 film comedy starring Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer who is forced to hide out in a convent, disguised as a nun. Sister Act is directed by Tom Wyatt at Cockpit in Court on the Essex campus of the Co...

There?s a new top librarian in Baltimore. Heidi Daniel took over as President and CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library this week after longtime president Carla Hayden left last year to lead the Library of Congress. Heidi comes to Baltimore from Youngstown, Ohio, where she oversaw 15 branch libraries. Prior to Youngstown, she worked at both the Houston Public Library and the Metropolitan Library Sys...

Today, another installment of the Midday Culture Connection with Dr. Sheri Parks of the University of Maryland. Sheri is an Associate Dean for Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Programming at the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland College Park, where she is also an Associate Professor in the Department of American Studies . She?s the author of Fierce Angels: Liv...

Today, another installment of the Midday Culture Connection with Dr. Sheri Parks of the University of Maryland. Sheri is an Associate Dean for Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship and Programming at the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of MD College Park, where she is also an Associate Professor in the Department of American Studies . She?s the author of Fierce Angels: Living wi...

Dr. Jeffrey Kahn is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics . When he stops by Midday , we talk about all manner of complex dilemmas. Today, we?re having a conversation about the ethical questions surrounding the case of Charlie Gard . He?s the infant in Britain who died on Friday, a week shy of his first birthday. He was critically ill for all of his short life. He had a r...

Dr. Jeffrey Kahn is the Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics . When he stops by Midday , we talk about all manner of complex dilemmas. Today, we?re having a conversation about the ethical questions surrounding the case of Charlie Gard . He?s the infant in Britain who died on Friday, a week shy of his first birthday. He was critically ill for all of his short life. He had a r...

On Tuesday, a very heated City Council public committee hearing on a bill that proposed a mandatory one-year sentence for people caught carrying illegal handguns erupted into chaos and confusion when several area university representatives were invited to testify before members of the public who had been waiting to speak for hours. Two people were arrested in a confrontation with police in the cha...

A little touch of Broadway comes to Baltimore tonight when the acclaimed New York cabaret team, Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano , return to Germano?s Piattini in Little Italy. They?ll present a show called Downton Abbey Road: The Best of Britain . Known for their imaginative interpretations of the American Songbook as well as more contemporary fare, Comstock and Fasano are award-winning artists w...

It's another edition of Smart Nutrition, our regular series of bi-monthly conversations with the Nutrition Diva , Monica Reinagel . Today, she and Tom talk about whether there's any such thing as a "disease proof" diet. We?ve all heard the expression: we are what we eat. Study after study suggests that if people would only eat more of this and less of that, they would be less likely to develop can...