Midday

Today on Midday , it’s Midday on Cars . Tom's guest is John Davis , the creator, producer and host of MotorWeek , the weekly automotive TV magazine that's produced by Maryland Public Television (MPT) and syndicated on PBS stations across the country and on the Velocity Cable Network (now the MotorTrend Network) . The 41st season of MotorWeek kicked off last month. You can catch it on MPT at...

If you haven’t heard the latest news about the search for Gabby Petito , and the boyfriend with whom she was last seen, that information is not hard to come by. Ms. Petito and her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, embarked on a cross country trip in June. Ms. Petito was in touch with her parents throughout the summer until the end of August, when her communication stopped. Her parents reported...

Today, Indigenous Peoples Day is being observed in more than a dozen states. Maryland isn’t among them. But the movement to ditch the traditional Columbus Day holiday is growing, in favor of celebrating the unique contributions Native Americans have made, and continue to make to our nation. Several cities in Maryland have replaced Columbus Day with the holiday to honor Native American histor...

In 2026, the United States, Canada and Mexico will share the stage of the largest World Cup Soccer Tournament in history. It’s expected that 16 different North American venues will host matches between an expanded roster of teams from around the globe. Eleven of those venues will be in the United States. And maybe, one of them will be right here in Baltimore. Baltimore, Maryland is making a...

Tom's guest today is the writer Sarah Ruhl . She is among the top 20 most frequently performed playwrights in the country. She has been nominated for a Tony award and twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has also published a terrific collection of essays, a book of poems, and a memoir of her friendship with the poet Max Ritvo. Her new book is a memoir of sorts as well, which chronicle...

Now, a look at the problem of gerrymandering, or partisan redistricting, the widespread practice in the United States by which the political party in control of a state legislature redraws election-district boundaries to favor the election or re-election of that party's candidates. The Maryland General Assembly is scheduled to convene a special session in early December to consider a new congressi...

Tom's next guest is Maryland Sen. Jim Rosapepe . He represents Prince Georges and Anne Arundel Counties, and he was a longtime friend of former Baltimore County Executive Ted Venetoulis , who passed away yesterday at the age of 87. Venetoulis served as County Executive from 1974-1978, and ran unsuccessfully in 1978 to be the Democratic nominee for Maryland Governor. But even out of office, Venetou...

Today, it's another edition of Midday with the Mayor , and our monthly conversation with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott about key issues on the mayor's and the city's agenda. The Mayor, who has been vaccinated but tested positive for COVID this week (and is working from home during his 10-day quarantine) joins Tom to talk about the progress the city is enjoying in its COVID vaccination efforts. He...

It's time for our weekly visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins Tom today with her review of Wit, the multi-award-winning one-act play written in 1994 by Margaret Edson that's getting a new, live (and COVID-safe) production at Baltimore's Fells Point Corner Theatre. Directed by Lindsey R. Barr , and starring Kay-Megan Washington as Dr. Vivian Bearing, the play explores the in...

Tom's guest today is Richard Antoine White , an extraordinary classical musician with an extraordinary story. It begins in Sandtown-Winchester, on Baltimore’s West Side, in difficult circumstances, and bad, if not impossible odds. In his new memoir, wryly titled "I'm Possible," Richard chronicles how he beat those odds. How he smashed barriers. How he developed a career full of firsts. Richa...

Today, we welcome back to Midday a wonderful friend of the show, Dr. Miho Tanaka . She’s an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine expert who will answer your questions about training and exercise. We call our segments with Dr. Tanaka, What Hurts Today? If you’ve got something that hurts, feel free to give us a call… But first, the Baltimore Running Festival is back. On Saturday...

It’s Midday on Ethics .  Today, a conversation about vaccine mandates . Tom's guest is Dr. Jeffrey Kahn , the director of The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. To entice those who are reluctant to become inoculated, the private and public sector have tried education, trusted influencers and a range of incentives, from money to doughnuts to tickets to beer. But patience is wea...

Today on Midday , it's Midday at the Movies , our monthly look at films, filmmaking and the movie industry. Tom guests are our movie-maven regulars, Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday and Maryland Film Festival founder and former director Jed Dietz. We'll discuss the question of whether pandemic-weary filmgoers feel it's safe to return to movie theaters. And we get Ann and Jed's takes on som...

Today on Midday, it’s Midday on Politics , with a focus on local government .  Tom's guests today are three members of the Baltimore City Council : Phylicia Porter lives in Pigtown and represents the 10th district. Odette Ramos lives in Charles Village and represents the 14th District. Mark Conway lives in North Guilford and represents the 4th District. They were all elected in 2020. Th...

The Supreme Court will begin its new term on Monday, October 4th. For the first time since the COVID crisis began, the Court will hear oral arguments in person - though the Supreme Court building remains closed to the general public. It will hear those arguments in several cases that are reflective of some of America’s deepest cultural and political divides, including cases that concern repr...

Today is National Voter Registration Day . The record voter turnout in the 2020 Presidential election gave way to re-doubled efforts on the part of Republican state legislators across the country to make voting regulations more restrictive and to make voting more difficult. Most of the laws that have been enacted or proposed will affect, in particular, voters of color. Tom's first guest today is A...

Now, a conversation about the importance of global vaccine equity, the role that the United States is playing, and what else it could be doing. Last Wednesday, the White House convened a Global COVID 19 Summit with more than 100 leaders from governments and international organizations. President Joe Biden announced that the US would purchase 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine for underdevelop...

Today on Midday, it’s the Midday Healthwatch with Dr. Leana Wen , an emergency physician and former Baltimore City Health Commissioner who joins us each month to talk about public health issues, and who has been providing us with timely updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. Trends in the pandemic are headed in a relatively positive direction. Nationally, cases are down about 20% in the last coup...

It’s the Midday Newswrap .  Today, we’re going to focus on local stories with three members of WYPR ’s award-winning news team. John Lee covers Baltimore County for WYPR, and won a 2020 Chesapeake AP Broadcasters Association Award for his series of reports on COVID-19's impact on the Baltimore County Schools . He joins Tom today on our digital line to discuss the story he br...

It's time again for Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins Tom today with her review of Rapid Lemon Productions ' Rachel, a seminal, century-old play about racism that's been newly adapted for the stage by Baltimore playwright Aladrian C. Wetzel. Rachel was written in 1916 by Angelina Weld Grimké , one of the luminaries of the so-called Harlem Renaissance. She penned it as an art...

The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that there are about 2,000 Confederate Monuments in the United States. Baltimore took down four of its confederate monuments in 2017. In writer Clint Smith ’s hometown of New Orleans, the city has also removed four monuments. But as he reports in his recent book, at least 100 statues, parks, and streets in the Big Easy are still named after Confedera...

The actor Michael K. Williams passed away two weeks ago of an apparent drug overdose. Williams starred in Boardwalk Empire and Lovecraft Country , but he came to fame playing the role of Omar in The Wire , the award-winning HBO series produced by David Simon. When his death was announced on September 6, tributes poured in. On Sunday night, the Baltimore Ravens honored him at their game against the...

This has been a summer that President Joe Biden may just as soon forget. It’s been a rough ride for his 8-month-old presidency. He was ahead of the FDA on a decision to offer coronavirus booster shots to everybody. When those shots are offered, it will only be to older Americans and those with compromised immune systems. The Pentagon admitted it had made a mistake when it sent a drone to kil...

Tom's next guest is the author, Dawne Allette . She lives here in Baltimore. She’s a native of Grenada, in the West Indies. She has written seven children’s books, biographies of Barack and Michele Obama , a memoir, and a textbook about Henrietta Lacks. Her latest book is a novel called Mango Samba, first published in 2019. She’ll be talking about and reading from the book on the...

We have spoken many times on this show about incivility in the public square; the coarseness and vulgarity of much of what passes for public discourse; the dire need for basic politeness in an era of extreme political polarity; the ad hominem attacks that many employ as a substitute for reason and rational argument. As the insurrection on January 6th demonstrated, that incivility and willingness t...