Midday

Tom's first guest today is Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr. We check in with him every few weeks to keep tabs on what’s happening in Maryland's third largest jurisdiction. Topics for today's discussion with Mr. Olszewski include the county's response to reports of poor conditions at a county youth detention facility; how violent crimes in the county are being reported; school safet...

Today on Midday , a conversation about the arts: Not just about how they provide beauty, or an escape, or a thought-provoking experience that makes you think differently about the world, but how the arts, in a very real way, can make you healthier. The arts are now used as treatment for any number of conditions. When you strum your guitar, or read a poem, or color inside or outside the lines, you...

Today, it's Midday on Babies , and Tom talks with two of the city's top pediatricians about ways to help your babies and young children thrive. Recently, there has been a spike in the number of infant deaths in both Baltimore City and Baltimore County, related, it's now believed, to how babies are sleeping . Last Thursday, Tom spoke with Dr. Letitia Dzirasa , the Baltimore City Health Commissioner...

Today, a conversation about the idea of establishing a Land Bank as a way to solve the persistent problem of vacant and blighted properties that degrade many neighborhoods in Baltimore. It’s not a new idea; land banks have been set up in many cities around the country. They are typically quasi-government agencies whose mission is to acquire dilapidated properties, clear the titles, and speed up re...

Now, we turn our attention to Maryland's second largest city, Columbia , and a new report about the changing racial climate in the Howard County community that was planned as an inclusive and diverse place 55 years ago. Tom is joined by the co-authors of a report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) about Columbia, entitled “Creeping Segregation and Lack of Affordable Housing...

Tom's Midday Newsmaker guest today is Faith Leach . She has served in Baltimore City government as the Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health and Human Services since April, 2021. In that role, she worked on programs for squeegee workers and she oversaw the implementation of a pilot program to provide some young mothers with a guaranteed monthly income, among other initiatives. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Sco...

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic, J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins Tom each week with her reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today she tells us about Tuesday's opening night performance of To Kill A Mockingbird, at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theater. The touring company production is Aaron Sorkin 's acclaimed stage adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitizer Prize-winning novel about raci...

Midday on the Arts continues now with Tom's next guest, Tyde-Courtney Edwards . She is the founder and director of Ballet After Dark , an innovative dance company that uses movement to help people heal from sexual assault and other traumatic violence.. Tyde-Courtney Edwards joins Tom here in Studio A… Ballet After Dark will hold a Take Back the Night Cocktail Fundraiser next month to raise funds t...

Today, it’s Midday on the Arts.   A little later, we’ll meet a dancer/choreographer who uses movement to help people heal from trauma caused by violence, and our theater critic, J Wynn Rousuck, will share her review of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Hippodrome Theater. (These segments are posted separately) But we begin with Nicholas Feemster (on the left, in the photo). He's a rapper. And he’s also...

Today on Midday, Tom's guest is the award-winning novelist, Julie Otsuka . She has published three critically acclaimed novels. Her first, When the Emperor Was Divine was published in 2002, and over the past 20 years, it has been chosen by more than 60 colleges and universities as a “campus reads” book, in which everyone at those institutions reads and discusses it. In 2022, that same book was ban...

Tom's Midday Newsmaker guest today is Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, Jr. Last November, he was elected to a second term. Pittman has a history of working for progressive causes, but on some issues, he is more aligned with pragmatic centrists. A first-time office holder when he won election to his first term in 2018, he was tapped by another elective first-timer, Gov. Wes Moore , to...

We begin Midday today with an update on Baltimore City politics.... Last week, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott ’s nomination of Faith Leach to be the next Baltimore City Administrator was rejected by a City Council Committee in a contentious meeting at City Hall. Yesterday, the committee reversed itself and moved Ms. Leach’s nomination forward. Emily Sullivan , who covers Baltimore city government f...

Today on Midday , we’re talking about criminal justice and the best ways to reduce the violence that remains a huge challenge in our city, and in cities across the country. Joining Tom now are two guests with keen insights on the city's crime problem: Heather Warnken is the Executive Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore School of Law… Ray Kelly is with...

Midday begins today with Tom's Newsmaker guest, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates . He’s a Democrat, and he’s been in office for a couple of months after winning a three-way primary and facing no Republican opponent in the general election last November. He has been a vocal advocate for a bill under consideration in the General Assembly that would lengthen sentences for those over the age...

Today it's Midday on Pets! We begin with a Public Service Announcement. Do not send your pets through the X-ray machine at the airport! Last weekend, a cat was mistakenly sent through the X-ray unit along with carry-on luggage in Norfolk, Virginia. And last month, a four-foot-long alligator was found in a lake at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, NY. When it comes to exotic pets: Buyer beware. These anim...

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins Tom each week with her reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today, she tells us about the direct-from-Broadway production of Into the Woods , Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine 's Tony-Award-winning fairy-tale musical, now on stage at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, DC. The 1987 musical, featuring musi...

It's another edition of Midday 's Smart Nutrition, our occasional series of conversations about diet and health with our good friend, the Nutrition Diva, Monica Reinagel. Today, Tom asks Monica about new medical studies concerning two things that are a big part of many people's diets: alcohol and a popular lo-cal sweetener called erythritol. Monica Reinagel is a licensed nutritionist and the autho...

And now, a conversation about the crisis of opioid addiction . Last fall, Josh Siems suffered a fatal, fentanyl-linked overdose on his 31st birthday. Josh’s loved ones have thrown their support behind a bill in Annapolis that would require hospitals to play a new role in addressing our state’s opioid epidemic, by testing all opioid OD admissions for the presence of fentanyl, an often-lethal additi...

Today on Midday , a closer look at efforts in the Maryland legislature to rewrite state regulations governing the concealed carry of firearms in public. The move in Annapolis comes in response to last year's controversial 6-3 ruling by the US Supreme Court striking down New York’s restrictions on concealed-carry gun permits. Justice Clarence Thomas  wrote in the majority opinion that the state req...

Tom's next guest today is Daniel Hatcher . He’s a law professor in the University of Baltimore’s Saul Ewing Civil Advocacy Clinic . He's a former Maryland Legal Aid and Children's Defense Fund attorney, and has long been a scholar, advocate, and teacher on poverty and justice. Hatcher is the author of new book called Injustice Inc:  How America’s Justice System Commodifies Children and the Poor. ...

Tom's Midday Newsmaker guest today is Maryland Governor Wes Moore . A Democrat who bested a crowded primary field in his first run at public office, Moore won the general election handily in November 2022 to become the 63rd governor of the state of Maryland. He campaigned on a pledge to fight poverty across the state and build a more secure and equitable economy for all Marylanders. Moore is Maryl...

It’s another edition of the Midday Healthwatch , our monthly conversations about public health with Dr. Leana Wen. Today, we'll discuss the continuing controversy surrounding theories about the origins of the COVID 19 virus. Plus, some new research about the problem of child obesity . And has Sen. John Fetterman ’s hospitalization for clinical depression helped to remove the stigma from mental hea...

It's time again for a visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins us each week with her reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today Judy spotlights Dead Man's Cell Phone, a play by Sarah Ruhl that's getting a new production at Baltimore's Fells Point Corner Theatre. Ruhl's imaginative digital-age comedy, which explores the way today's digital technologies can both bring us togethe...

Welcome to Midday at the Movies , our monthly look at films and filmmaking. Today, it's our annual Oscars edition, when we invite our guests — and you, our listeners — to tell us which films and film artists will (or should) bring home Oscar statuettes when they're awarded in Hollwood on Sunday, March 12. For a convenient one-page Oscars Ballot , click here . Joining Tom in Studio A today are Jed...

Baltimore City's three top elected officials are clashing publicly over a deal that the Mayor Scott Administration negotiated with Baltimore Gas and Electric last month to manage the city’s elaborate underground conduit system , which houses electric and fiber optic cables for BGE and other companies. The City's Comptroller and City Council president are vehemently opposed to the deal. The draft a...