Midday

The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 is the conservative think tank's plan for federal policy if the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump wins the presidential election. Midday hosted several conversations this election season  about Project 2025 and its consequences for Marylanders . Today, Charles Kaiser, a writer for  The Nation , joins  Midday  to talk about the consequences fo...

A new exhibition of Indigenous art at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) is called Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum.   Dare Turner and Leilia Grothe are the curators of the huge show. Turner is a member of the Yurok Tribe and Curator of Indigenous Art at the Brooklyn Museum. Grothe is the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the BMA. They joined Tom Hall to discuss the importance of includi...

Constitutional law expert and Professor at University of Baltimore School of Law Kim Wehle joins Midday to breakdown the latest criminal cases surrounding former President Donald Trump. Wehle also discusses challenges to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on president immunity, plans for reform of that court and how the legal branch of government might respond to efforts to steal the 2024 election....

Gabe Ortis is the newest addition to our staff of on-air personalities. He brings a wealth of previous experience of work in radio, politics to the position. Also on his resume; starring in a reality television show. Ortis is a contestant on a the new season of Survivor, which premieres tonight. Ortis joins Midday to talk about being a castaway and what its like to compete on one of television's o...

John Davis , the creator, producer and host of  MotorWeek , joins  Midday on Cars . Now in season 44,   MotorWeek  is the longest running automotive show on television. The show is produced at Maryland Public Television and syndicated on PBS stations across the country. Davis discusses plug-in hybrids, new labor contracts for auto workers and the best way to take care of your car as temperatures s...

Today on  Midday , Maryland’s public schools are at a critical juncture. Test scores—one way of grading student performance— made modest gains  following a COVID-19 pandemic-era slump. But scores remain stubbornly low—ranking among the bottom 10 states in 4th-grade reading and mathematics. Dr. Carey Wright , Maryland's new State Superintendent of Schools, joins  Midday.  She is seeking to make las...

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday  to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production. This week, she reviews POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive . The smart, fast-paced political satire continues at Everyman Theatre through September 29, 2024 . (Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography) Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayW...

Josh Kurtz , founding editor of news site Maryland Matters , joins Midday for an update from the campaign trail. A close race between Democrat Angela Alsobrooks and Republican Larry Hogan is drawing millions of dollars from PACs as control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance. Abortion remains a contentious subject in this race. One ad, funded by a PAC connected to Democrat Gov. Wes Moore, ques...

Maryland's Sen. Ben Cardin holds an influential role as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee's work has been stalled for months over a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court over decisions to pursue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials for their prosecution of the war in Gaza. We ask him...

Gut, Wind, and Wire , a trio formed by longtime Baltimore Consort members Mark Cudek , Ronn McFarlane and Mindy Rosenfeld join Midday for a performance. The band is named for the elements that bring their instruments to life: gut strings, wire strings and the musicians' breath. Their performances explore a wide variety of music from the 16th and 17th centuries, music from folk traditions and origi...

Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller took office following a successful campaign beside Gov. Wes Moore in the 2022 election . On Midday , we ask her about the ongoing initiatives of the Moore administration. Several state transportation projects are in the works, even as budget cuts threaten work on the state's roads, railways and other infrastructure. We ask Miller about the latest on the Red Line, and how her...

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris met for the first time on the debate stage last night . Did either candidate accomplish their goals for the night? How might undecided voters respond to the discussion? We discuss the debate. Our guests are Brandi Collins-Dexter,  Media Fellow at the Center for Race and Digital Justice, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy...

If you turn on your local public radio this week, you are likely to hear stories about Americans working on solutions to the myriad of problems presented by human-induced climate change. The theme of this NPR's Climate Solutions Week this year is, "the future of food." Today on Midday , we talk to Marylanders working to forge a sustainable paths through the climate crisis, with an eye to how, and...

David Rubenstein joins Midday to discuss his latest book The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency . Rubenstein is the majority owner of The Baltimore Orioles and Co-Founder of The Carlyle Group. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Summer is wrapping up, were box offices able to make up for low returns earlier in the season? Plus, we dig into a pair of comedies, the return of Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Between the Temples . Program guests are  Jed Dietz, the founding director of the Maryland Film Festival , and Max Weiss , film critic and Editor-in-Chief of Baltimore Magazine .   (Photo Courtesy Warner Bro...

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday  to look ahead to the next year of exciting local productions. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

CJay Philip, the founder and artistic director of Dance & Bmore, won the 2024 Tony Award for excellence in theater education. This weekend she spearheads the Waterfront Partnership's Baltimore by Baltimore festival. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The signs summer is ending; school is back in session, the birds return from migration and WTMD presents the final First Thursday Festival of the year. Tyler LaPorte , afternoon host and Interim Program Director at WTMD and one of the organizers behind First Thursdays. We ask him what festival-goers can expect later today. The First Thursday Festival begins at 6:00 tonight at the Canton Waterfront...

Host Tom Hall speaks with Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott about the latest in City Hall, including a safety review of the Department of Public Works and governance of opioid settlements. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Presidential power is on the ballot this year, according to University of Baltimore law professor Kim Wehle . In her new book, Pardon Power: How The Pardon System Works And Why , the legal scholar writes about the history of the president's pardon and the potential future abuse of the executive power. The pardon could be exponentially more grave in light of the Supreme Court’s July 1, 2024, ruling...

Tom's guest is Mary Jo Salter, a Professor Emerita in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. She has published nine volumes of poetry and has written essays, lyrics, and children’s books. This year, she’s been chosen as the guest editor of an anthology of verse called The Best American Poetry 2024.  Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

On this September edition of Healthwatch, Tom and Dr. Leana Wen discuss leadership of the Baltimore City Health Department, governance of the city's opioid settlements, the reoccurrence of West Nile virus and challenges for asthmatics.   Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

On  Midday  today, a look at the life and legacy of Senator Charles Mathias. He was a liberal Republican popular in Maryland for more than two decades and was known by his colleagues as the “conscience of the Senate.” A collection of essays about Sen. Mathias has been released called Mathias of Maryland: Remembering a Lincoln Republican in the Senate. Frederic Hill , a co-editor and contributor to...

Today on Midday , a conversation about the work of Philip Berrigan, whose writing has been assembled in a new collection, A Ministry of Risk, edited by Brad Wolf.  Philip Berrigan was an iconic peace activist, a soldier, a priest, a scholar, and a protester who came to international prominence as part of the Catonsville 9, a group that burned draft cards in 1968, during the Vietnam war. In 1973, B...

Debbie Hines is a former prosecutor in Baltimore, and a former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland. In her new book, she focuses on the unfair treatment of people of color by prosecutors at the state and local level. The book is called Get Off My Neck: Black Lives, White Justice, and a Former Prosecutor’s Quest for Reform . Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or ca...