Midday

It's time again for a visit with Midday theater critic  J. Wynn Rousuck ,  who joins Tom each week with her reviews of Maryland-DC's regional stage. Today she spotlights "1776" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. where the directors took a very different approach to diverse and multicultural casting. "1776" continues at the Kennedy Center until July 16.  (Photo credit: Joan Marcus) Email us...

Wesley Lowery , the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former correspondent for the Washington Post, Boston Globe and CBS news, has written a thoughtful, imaginative and sobering book about the rise of white nationalist violence. While violence against people of color has long been a staple of the American story, Lowery examines the pernicious increase in racial violence since the years of the Obam...

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court  released a flurry of opinions , including rulings changing the landscape of higher education, LGBTQ rights, and loan relief to tens of millions of American students. In the weeks before, the court issued rulings on immigration, native American rights, voting rights, environmental protection, and other issues. Today, an overview of the court’s decisions. Some were...

Tom's guest is Naima Coster, the author of the New York Times  best seller, What’s Mine and Yours , which has been chosen by Maryland Humanities  as 2022's One Maryland One Book .  This program allows Marylanders all over the state to read the same book and have the opportunity to talk about it with other readers, and with the author. Naima Coster ’s novel explores the dynamics of family and commu...

Today on Midday,  conversations with two novelists who have written books about racial inequality, liberation and integration. They are very different stories, but they are both insightful, provocative, and compelling. We begin with Dr. Wendy Shaia ,  who serves on the faculty of the University of MD School of Social Work , and as the Executive Director of the Social Work Community Outreach Servic...

Americans love to eat, without doubt, but we also have a terrible penchant for throwing away a lot of food. About 4% of all Green House Gas emissions comes from the food we toss into landfills, some $400 billion dollar’s worth every year. Tom's guests are Margaret and Irene Li. A few years ago, these Chinese-American sisters wrote an award winning cookbook called Double Awesome Chinese Food.  The...

Governor Wes Moore took office five months and 12 days ago. He has brought a sense of urgency to the job while championing  a number of initiatives  involving transportation, crime reduction, eliminating poverty and climate change. The governor joins Tom for the full hour to discuss his term thus far. But this time, the questions come directly from WYPR listeners across the region. Email us at mid...

It's time for another visit with  Midday  theater critic   J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins us each week with her reviews of the mid-Atlantic regional stage. Today, we look at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s production of “Macbeth,” which continues at the Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park in Ellicott City through July 2 Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-87...

On Saturday, July 1, a very special event is set to honor two very special people at the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District in West Baltimore. The great saxophonist  Carl Grubbs  and the arts advocate and educator  Barbara Grubbs , will be honored for their important work with their organization, Contemporary Arts. The event is being organized by the acclaimed bass clarineti...

Tom's guest is the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, Vincent Schiraldi . Schiraldi came to Maryland after four decades in New York, at the New York City Dept of Corrections, and as a researcher at Columbia University. Known as a juvenile justice reformer, he oversees the agency that operates juvenile detention centers, and runs programs for at risk youth. Schiraldi joins M...

In the introduction to her fascinating new book,  Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins  writes, “I've never known a winner, not one, who wasn't irritated by the lame idea that they were God-kissed with fortunate gifts.” The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life.  is a rumination on why athletic icons have risen to the top of their respective sports, and what lessons can be...

In 2015,  Former Gov. Larry Hogan made the controversial decision to cancel the Red Line . The state had already spent $300 million developing the east-west transit project. Calling it a “boondoggle,” Hogan returned $900 million to the federal government and spent the state portion of Red Line funds on roads in rural jurisdictions. Hogan was one of a group of governors to cancel federally funded m...

Pride parades took place throughout the country over the weekend, including in Baltimore. Local leaders who attended the Baltimore event included Gov. Wes Moore and Mayor Brandon Scott. Scott marked the occasion by signing a bill protecting LGBTQ+ individuals regardless of HIV or AIDS status, other characteristics or association with people who have those characteristics and status. The bill also...

Today is the last scheduled conference day for the U.S. Supreme Court this term. The court and its justices have been in the news a lot lately. A number of recent controversial decisions is drawing the public's ire. Additionally, a flood of ethics questions that have been raised concerning Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts. Midday's guest is vetera...

When he was running for office last year, attorney Ivan Bates pledged that if elected, he would rescind the policy of then States Attorney Marilyn Mosby regarding the prosecution of low level crimes. Mosby announced her office would not prosecute a specific list of so called “quality of life” crimes during the COVID outbreak, but continued that policy when many COVID restrictions were lifted. Now,...

It is time for another visit with Midday  theater critic   J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins us each week with her reviews of the mid-Atlantic regional stage. “The World Goes ’Round” is a musical revue, a collection of songs. It isn’t a new show, but this production has made some changes. The ArtsCentric production of The World Goes ‘Round is at the Everyman Theater in Baltimore until July 2. (Photo by...

Today we’re talking about problems and potential at Maryland’s prisons. The Goucher Prison Education Partnership was formed in 2012 to bring Goucher College instructors into correctional facilities to teach the same liberal arts classes they offer on Goucher’s Towson campus. Back in 2014, Tom spent the day at the MD Correctional Institution for Women , and the Jessup Correctional Institution for M...

Every two years, the Division of Corrections and the union that represents staff at Maryland prisons are required by law to issue a report that assesses the staffing needs of the state’s 19 correctional facilities. The 2023 report was issued in April, and it found that staff vacancies in prisons are at an all-time high, and that more than 3,400 positions need to be filled. The President of AFSCME...

A couple of weeks ago, during her monthly appearance on our show for the Midday Healthwatch , Dr. Leana Wen, a former Baltimore City Health Commissioner, discussed an essay she published in the Washington Post about the health effects of cannabis. The essay garnered more than 5,000 responses in the Post, and when we talked about it here on Midday, lots of listeners called and e-mailed us to weigh-...

On this Juneteenth edition of Midday, we also take a look at the future of Black culture and history. Tom's guests are Terri Lee Freeman, the director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of MD African American History and Culture, and Myrtis Bedolla, the owner of Galarie Myrtis here in Baltimore. Myrtis has curated an exhibition at the Lewis Museum focused on Afro Futurism. Presented in conjunction wi...

Happy Holiday and welcome to this Juneteenth edition of Midday.  In 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the measure that established this date as the Juneteenth National Independence Day holiday. Tom begins today's show on Juneteenth in a conversation about Black history's past and present with Brandi Collins-Dexter. She’s the associate director of research at the Technology and Social Chang...

And now, a public service to our listeners. Two local experts on books offer advice on what you might want to consider reading this summer. Our guests actually make their living recommending books to the customers of the terrific bookstores they own and manage. Emma Snyder  is the owner of the  Ivy Bookshop  in north Baltimore and  Bird in Hand  in Charles Village. Julia Fleischaker  is the owner...

The Baltimore City Council approved the city’s $4.4 billion budget on Wednesday. The council exercised its new power to make amendments to Mayor Brandon Scott’s spending proposals. City councilmembers put their stamp on the fiscal 2024 city budget by canceling some items proposed by Mayor Brandon Scott in order to fund projects of their own. The Council withheld money for the Baltimore Office of P...

The advocacy group Disability Rights Maryland has filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Department of Human Services over the housing and treatment of youth with behavioral health issues. Many are hospitalized for long periods of time, without the services they need. Rachel Baye of the WYPR news team has been covering this controversy . She joins Tom in Studio A. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet...

" Eroding History " tells the story of two Black communities on Deal Island, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, that are finding themselves at the intersection of sea level rise, historic racism and the disappearance of Black communities. It is a climate justice story, made by two Black filmmakers and a Jewish grandchild of refugees. Sean Yoes was born, raised and currently resides in West Baltimore. He...