Midday

Midday hears from Baltimore Banner reporters Liz Bowie and Gregory Morton on the transit troubles for Baltimore City public school student

Local leaders in institutions of higher education discuss the Black experience in Maryland colleges and universities. Guests include Dr. Kimberly Moffitt is the Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at UMBC. E.R. Shipp is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and a Associate Professor of Journalism at Morgan State University. Dr. Raymond Winbush is an author and research profes...

Juvenile justice reform returns to the General Assembly as lawmakers consider legislation to change how young people are charged for violent crime. Senate Bill 422 would limit younger alleged offenders from adult court. If passed, the law would also reduce the types of crimes youths can be charged with as adults. A hearing for the House version of the bill is scheduled for tomorrow. Joining us to...

Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen addresses the surge in BGE rates and how the city should handle the millions of dollars coming from opioid lawsuits.

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, III, served as the President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for 30 years. His recent book, The Resilient University: How Purpose and Inclusion Drive Student Success, is a how-to guide for how higher education and equity on college campuses. In this episode, first aired in February 2024, Hrabowski joined Midday to discuss the book and his thoughts on attitude...

In a special Midday broadcast for Black History Month, we revisit our conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Scott Shane. He retired from the Times in 2019 and dove into a very different kind of project: a book that tells the story of the extraordinary Thomas Smallwood. The book is Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery’s Borderland. Born into slavery, Smallwo...

U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks defeated former Republican Governor Larry Hogan last November to win the seat held for 18 years by former Sen. Ben Cardin. Alsobrooks joins Midday to discuss a busy first 6 weeks in office, her outlook on Maryland federal workers and more. How does she think her Democratic Party can better appeal to working-class voters, who are shifting to the Republican Party in gr...

How are Black and Brown immigrant communities navigating policy and priorities at the state and federal level? Tom speaks with Cathryn Paul, the Policy Director for CASA which is an organizing group created to support immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C./Maryland region. She discusses CASA's legislative agenda for 2025. Paul is joined by Denis, a Cameroonian immigrant in Maryland, who per...

The legacy of a ground-breaking African American tap dancer from Baltimore is to be celebrated this weekend at the Creative Alliance in East Baltimore. Two performances revisit the work of Baby Laurence in the Baby Laurence Legacy Project: Tracing Steps. Two of the artists behind this project, Brinae Ali, a dancer, choreographer and vocalist, and Todd Marcus, an acclaimed bass clarinetist with the...

On Midday, a conversation about the increasing problem of road rage. In our state, there were 5 times the number of incidents involving shootings on Maryland roads than there were 10 years earlier. Maryland State Police began a special initiative last summer to investigate highway violence. 14 people have been arrested, so far. In Annapolis, lawmakers are discussing about legislation to make it ea...

Democratic Congressman Johnny Olszewski, Jr. represented Maryland's 2nd District for the these six tumultuous weeks of the Donald Trump Administration. His constituency includes federal workers who are facing layoffs, and he is working to address possible cuts in federal aid for the state, which itself is facing a $3 billion budget hole. Meanwhile, Democrats grapple with how to confront the new ad...

As we celebrate Black History this month, my next guest heads a museum which celebrates the achievements and the spirit of African Americans every day of the year. Dr. Joanne Martin, along with her husband, Dr. Elmer Martin, opened the Great Blacks in Wax Museum in a storefront in 1983, with some wax figures they had purchased with money they had been saving to buy a house. Today, the museum’s col...

A new book aims to rekindle the conversation about Black resistance to white supremacy in the history of the United States. We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, is an impassioned love letter to Black resilience in our past and present. The author, Kellie Carter Jackson, is an Associate Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College and a cohost of This Day in Esoteric P...

A local farmer and a restauranteur join Midday to discuss their experience of the first few eventful weeks of President Donald Trump's term. The pair say they are feeling the consequences of Executive Actions aimed at shrinking federal government and revamping immigration policy. Elisa Lane is the owner of Two Boots Farm in Hampstead, in Carroll County. Two Boots grows cut flowers and produce and...

It is Valentine’s Day, and Midday is marking the occasion with New York City’s premier cabaret couple. Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano are musical collaborators, and husband and wife. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a new album, Painting the Town.

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production. “Primary Trust” continues at Everyman Theatre through March 2. The play, from playwright Eboni Booth, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize.

President Donald Trump’s Executive Actions and some highly-publicized raids have targeted people without legal status who have been convicted or accused of criminal acts. There are multiple reports enforcement actions have swept up people who have no criminal record, and even some people who are American citizens. Refugees who are in the United States legally, too, have been among those targeted i...

Today on Midday, a conversation with two award winning authors about their efforts to bring Black history to life for young readers. Later in the program, Carole Boston Weatherford joins us to talk about her award-winning works for young adult and children, including Kin: Rooted in Hope and Becoming Billie Holiday. She was recently named 2025 Young People’s Poet Laureate. The conversation begins w...

A new documentary follows a man's return to the neighborhood where he grew up. Sandtown: A Community Collage follows filmmaker Isaiah Smalls as he attempts to rediscover his past and the people who remained in West Baltimore. Sandtown is screening at the Parkway Theatre on February 12 and 13.

The chaotic first three weeks of President Donald Trump's administration have led to more than 40 lawsuits challenging Executive Actions as unconstitutional or illegal. One action with particular resonance in Maryland are efforts to reduce the federal workforce. Maryland is home to more than 300,000 federal workers. In January, an e-mail sent to 2.2 million civil servants offered an arrangement fo...

This week is the end of the beginning for lawmakers at the 2025 General Assembly in Annapolis. With one month through, they have two more months to get legislative work done at the State House. Del. Melissa Wells, the Chair of the Baltimore City Delegation, discusses what the city’s 5 state Senators and 13 Delegates want to accomplish this year.

As the General Assembly continues the 2025 session in Annapolis, we talk to the chair of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus. Del. Ashanti Martinez was appointed to represent District 22 in Prince George’s County in February of 2023, filling the seat vacated by Alonzo T. Washington, who was appointed to the state Senate. We ask Martinez about his caucus' priorities, including immigration protec...

The Baltimore Peace Movement is a community-based non-profit group that works to end violence in Baltimore. On four weekends each year, they hold events to encourage those who would do harm to act peacefully, and to help those who are in danger or who are in mourning. Midday checks-in with the Peace Movement, and hear the latest from co-organizer Darnyle Wharton. He is also the Deputy Director Bal...

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production. This week, a review of Schmigadoon! at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., through February 9.

Edmond Dédé, a free person of color was born in New Orleans in 1827. A gifted violinist, conductor and composer, he fled to France during the Civil War. In 1887, he composed an epic, four-act grand opera, which was never staged in his lifetime, and languished in complete obscurity for more than a century. The Opera is called Morgiane and the two artists responsible for bringing Edmond Dédé’s maste...