Midday

On the Midday Newswrap, WYPR 's Emily Hofstaedter discusses her recent reporting on the first audit of Baltimore’s Safe Streets program . The first biennial audit for MONSE, which oversees Safe Streets, found the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement had weak processes to prevent duplicate payments and overpayments to contractors. Ultimately, the audit found no evidence of fraud but...

Two public servants who represent change on the Baltimore City Council join Midday . Kristerfer Burnett was elected to represent the 8th district in 2016. He has decided to retire from the council at the end of this term, which is in a couple of weeks. His successor is Paris Gray , who served in Councilman Burnett’s office for four years as a community outreach coordinator. We ask the pair about t...

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday  to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production. Today we discuss Frozen , on stage at the Olney Theatre Center through January 5 . The theatre was one of the few regional venues that Disney asked to produce their own take on this animated classic. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Enrollment in Baltimore City schools continue to decline, in parallel to the city's shrinking population over the past few decades. There are nearly 10,000 fewer kids in city classrooms this year than there were 10 years ago. With funding for schools tied to the number of students in classrooms, less students represents a challenge for school officials. Chronic absenteeism, which afflicts Baltimor...

Midday revisits Tom's conversation with political scientist Tom Schaller , a professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and former Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman. In February they published, 'White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy.' Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Donald Trump’s penchant for fabrication and malicious claims against immigrants and others did not seem to matter to voters in the last election. A majority of voters chose Trump to serve a second term. My guest has been chronicling lying in politics for the past 17 years.  Bill Adair  is the creator of  PolitiFact . We’ll talk about his latest book,  Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political...

Today on  Midday on the Arts,  a rare, Reconstruction-era masterpiece by the groundbreaking African American composer Scott Joplin is on stage at Morgan State University. Opera@Morgan artistic director  Marquita Lister  tells us about  Treemonisha . Plus, the violin virtuoso  Qing Lee  of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra joins  Midday  to preview her appearance  at Emmanuel Church tomorrow night a...

First District Baltimore Councilman  Zeke Cohen  dominated the primary and general election to become the next President of the Baltimore City Council, succeeding Nick Mosby. Cohen is a Democrat who has been on the council since 2016. Cohen joins  Midday  to talk about his priorities as he assumes one of only three city-wide offices. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us a...

It is the  Midday  Newswrap on today's show. Baltimore’s go-it-alone approach to holding companies accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic continues to pay off. This week, the city won yet another huge judgment . WYPR’s Health Reporter Scott Maucione has the latest. Plus, Aman Azhar of Inside Climate News reports on efforts to end Maryland’s use of energy generated by trash incineration...

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday  to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production. This week, we discuss Into the Woods, at the Vagabond Players through Sunday, Nov. 17 . Then we briefly take a look at another Broadway musical in town, MJ , at the Hippodrome through Sunday. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today, a conversation about how immigration policy will change when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. He says his intention is to hire or nominate immigration officials who have long taken hardline positions. Tom speaks with  Krish O’Mara Vignarajah , the President and CEO of Global Refuge, which provides asylum services and assists refugees with resettlement. He also talks...

More than one in five people in Baltimore live in a food desert, which the city calls “Healthy Food Priority Areas.” More than 30% of people who live a quarter-mile from an affordable grocery store in the city are African American. A quick trip to a full-service grocery store, or a trip for a week's worth of food, is made harder when supermarkets are farther away. Convenience stores and small corn...

WYPR Reporter John Lee  joins  Midday  to discuss an eventful time in Baltimore County politics. The Baltimore County Council  is set to expand in 2026  after voters approved a measure to add two members to the 7-member body. And with Johnny Olszewski heading to Washington, D.C.,  the county also needs to find a new county executive . Plus,  the Baltimore County Council decided to keep a district...

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott  joins  Midday  to discuss his priorities as he enters a second term. What are the prospects for projects planned with federal assistance? While President Joe Biden made promises to Baltimore, the administration of President-elect Donald Trump may not offer continued support. We also discuss Baltimore Safe Streets, a prominent part of the city's violence reduction str...

2024 has been a transformative year for women’s sports with the prominence of Baltimore's own Angel Reese, along with Caitlin Clark, in the WNBA. Plus, the summer Olympics in Paris saw the women's soccer team and gymnastics team earning gold. Two sports journalists join Midday to discuss the breakout year in women's sports in advance of a symposium being held Tuesday at The Shirley Povich Center f...

On today's  Midday Healthwatch ,  our monthly conversations about public health with  Dr. Leana Wen , we discuss the future of public health policy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to begin his second term. Given his administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic during his first term, what can we expect in the case of a future health crisis? And what will the fate of agencies like the...

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday  to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production. This week Rousuck reviews the Maryland premiere of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals , at Notre Dame of Maryland University through November 10th.   Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Maryland was one of several states where residents reported receiving racist text messages from anonymous sources. The messages appear to be part of a nationwide campaign targeting Black people in the wake of the election, according to the office of the Maryland Attorney General. Recipients of the message included young people and college students. Maryland Attorney General  Anthony Brown  joins ...

Many Americans experienced anxiety related to this week's election. And following the election's results, millions of Americans are finding no release from uncertainty and fear. As some Americans nervously confront the reality of a return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, we seek advice from  Dr. George Everly . He is a psychologist who specializes in trauma and disaster mental h...

When we have elections,  Midday  turns to former Maryland Secretary of State  John Willis  for insight into how Marylanders exercised their right to make their voices heard. After serving as Secretary of State from 1995-2003, and for many years has been the Executive in Residence at the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us...

Khalil Zaied is the newly sworn-in Director of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works. He takes over an agency that has been rocked by scandal, and roundly criticized by workers and people outside of DPW for ineffective and hostile organizational culture. A lack of training and accountability and insufficient emergency protocols even contributed to the death of a DPW worker, Ronald Silver I...

The make-up of the Maryland congressional delegation will be significantly different when the new Congress is sworn in in January. Angela Alsobrooks and Sarah Elfreth will be the first two women to join the delegation since Barbara Mikulski and Donna Owens left Congress in 2016. Senator-elect Alsobrooks becomes only the third African American woman to be elected to the US Senate. The election saw...

Americans are heading to the polls today to cast their vote charting the course of the country, amending state constitutions and deciding local issues like development in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The political scientists Dr. Lilliana Mason of the Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Flavio Hickel, Jr. of Washington College join Midday with their perspectives. Plus, we are joined by...

On November 1, legislation went into effect that expands the list of nonviolent crimes that children as young as 10 years old can be charged with. When the General Assembly reconvenes in January, advocates will propose changing state laws to disallow any minor to be charged as an adult, for even the most violent crimes. Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates joins Midday  to discuss the latest...

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. The organization's co-organizer Darnyle Wharton joins Midday to discuss November's Peace Promise Weekend and the key partnerships h...