Midday

WYPR 's news partner at the Baltimore Banner reports this morning that Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates has dropped the case against Keith Davis , who has already been tried four times for the murder of Kevin Jones in 2015.During his campaign for State’s Attorney, Bates had indicated that he would drop the charges against Davis. He recused himself from the review process of the case, which to...

Today on Midday, it’s Midday on Immigration.  Last week, the Biden administration announced new policies designed to help stem the surge of migration across the nation's southwestern border with Mexico. The policies include a combination of pathways to legal entry into the country and expanded expedited removal of those who cross into the US unlawfully. The President visited the border for the fir...

Midday on Medicine continues with a spotlight on a proposed new medical school at one of the nation's leading HBCU institutions. Only about 5% of the physicians in the United States are Black, and it has been nearly 50 years since an historically Black college or university has opened a medical school. Morgan State University is moving toward changing that, with plans for a proposed Maryland Colle...

It’s Midday on Medicine.   Tom's first guest today is Dr. Jeremy Greene , a physician and medical historian on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine . His new book chronicles the evolution of telemedicine. He makes the case that at various stages along the way of that evolution, telemedicine was seen as a panacea that was going to expand access and diminish disparities in...

Today on Midday, we're previewing the 2023 Session of the Maryland General Assembly , which gets underway on Wednesday in Annapolis. Governor-Elect Wes Moore will be inaugurated a week from tomorrow. Comptroller Brooke Lierman will take the oath of office next Monday. Attorney General Anthony Brown was inaugurated last week. Joining Tom live is Ovetta Wiggins , a veteran State House reporter who c...

The Maryland General Assembly begins its 2023 legislative session tomorrow in Annapolis. Thirty-eight members of the House of Delegates and eight members of the Senate are taking their seats in the chambers for the first time. A new governor, comptroller and attorney-general begin their first terms as well. Today on Midday , a preview of the legislative agenda for the 2023 Session. Later in this h...

Today on Midday on Politics, we’ve been talking about the goings-on in the House of Representatives, and the prospects for how Republicans will govern now that they have sorted out Kevin McCarthy ’s journey to the Speaker’s chair. Tom's next guest is Russell Berman , a staff writer for The Atlantic. Mr. Berman joins us on our digital line from Washington, DC. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us:...

Now, it's Midday on Politics , and we turn our gaze to Washington for a look at what transpired in the House of Representatives last week. It is not a pretty sight.\ A little after 1:00 in the morning on Saturday (January 7), the House of Representatives ended their stalemate over electing a speaker, finally giving the gavel to California Congressman Kevin McCarthy on the 15th vote. The House will...

Today, another installment of our monthly Midday with the Mayor ,   in which Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott  joins Tom to take questions on key issues facing the mayor, the city and the people of Baltimore. There were 40 fewer non-fatal shootings in our city last year than in 2021, but only four fewer homicides. More than 70 people in the Western district received help with housing, employment and...

It's time again for a visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins Tom each week with her reviews of the Maryland stage. Today, she tells us about the innovative production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, now on stage at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland, and directed by Aaron Posner and Teller (of Penn & Teller fame), The Tempest is a bold reimagining of Shak...

It's another edition of Midday at the Movies , our monthly look at films and filmmaking. Tom is joined once again by one of our favorite movie mavens — Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday . She's the author of the best-selling moviegoers' guide, Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies . Today, as we gear up for next Tuesday's 80th Golden Globe Awards for the year's best in film and television,...

Kevin McCarthy continues his quest to become Speaker of the House for a third day. After losing six votes over two days, and making yet more concessions to extremists in his party last night, he told reporters this morning he is, quote, “making progress.” The House is reconvening at this hour. Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol. January 6th, like September 11th o...

Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott was scheduled to join us today but at the last mintute was called away to respond to a violent incident in West Baltimore where five young men had been shot. Midday host Tom Hall opens the phones to discuss with listeners one of Baltimore's biggest challenges for the new year: curbing the city's relentless rates of homicide and other violent crime. What do you th...

Republicans on Capitol Hill regain control of the House of Representatives today. The GOP holds a small, four-vote majority, which includes George Santos , a newly elected Republican from New York who fabricated virtually everything about his life history. He is facing multiple calls to resign, and several investigations. An internecine battle for Speaker of the House is underway at this hour. The...

Happy New Year! It’s the Midday Healthwatch with Dr. Leana Wen , our monthly conversation about important current issues in public health. Rates of RSV and influenza (flu) are beginning to fall, but COVID-19 numbers are up around the country. The Maryland Health Department reported more than 1,500 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, and that number is almost surely an undercount. Thirteen people...

(This conversation was originally broadcast on November 16, 2022) Tom's guest today is an artist who defies categorization and whose creative outlets span a number of genres. Dessa is a rapper, a composer, a poet, a writer, and the host of Deeply Human , a podcast about science. She has given TED talks and speeches about entrepreneurship and art and other topics. She’s the author of a memoir in es...

(This conversation was originally broadcast on November 29, 2022) The elections last month produced historic results as regards representation of African Americans in the electoral hierarchy of Baltimore City and the state of Maryland. The governor, attorney general, state superintendent of schools and state treasurer are all accomplished Black men. Here in Baltimore City, Black male leaders inclu...

(This conversation was originally broadcast on November 2, 2022) Today, we’ll revisit a conversation Tom had in November with Brandi Collins-Dexter, a keen observer of politics, race and the cultural landscape. Historically, voter turnout in American elections is horrible, and turnout in midterm elections is particularly lousy. But the midterms in 2018 set records for turnout, and in some states,...

(This conversation was originally broadcast on November 22, 2022.) Welcome to Midday .  In November, Donald Trump announced his third candidacy for US president, amid growing calls from some Republicans to move past Trump and onto a new generation of leaders. If that happens, and we do move into a post-Trump era, will Maryland Governor Larry Hogan impress Republicans as a model for how the GOP can...

(This conversation was originally broadcast on September 30, 2022.) Welcome back to this encore edition of Midday.   Tom's next 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 this year's One Maryland One Book . That’s a program in which Marylanders all over the state read the same book, and have the opp...

(This conversation was originally broadcast on September 30, 2022) Welcome to this archive edition of Midday .  Today, we’ll revisit conversations Tom had last September 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. Naima Coster is the author of What’s Mine a...

Hello, and Happy Holidays! Welcome to the Midday Christmas Eve Special , with your host, Tom Hall . Today, we’ll spend the hour listening to some music and some poetry of the season, plus, a story by Baltimore writer Rafael Alvarez . Here's a playlist of our selections, in the order you'll hear them in the program: MUSIC: I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In . A carol arranged by Robert Shaw and Alic...

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today, she tells us about Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery ," a comic rendition of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective in one of his most notorious cases, now lighting up the stage at Baltimore's Everyman Theatre. Laura Kepley directs t...

Joining Tom now is Jason Gay . He’s the sports and humor columnist for the Wall Street Journal.   His new book touches on a sport or two, but leans heavily into the humor side of the equation. It’s a set of essays called I Wouldn’t Do That If I Were Me: Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs (but Mostly Blunders).   Jason Gay joins Tom in Studio A… Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR,...

On Wednesday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a joint meeting of Congress . Speaking in English, he delivered an impassioned twenty-minute speech in which he said that “Ukrainian courage and American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom.” The speech was greeted rapturously by most members of Congress, who gave the Ukrainian leader prolonged standing ovati...