Midday

Tom's Newsmaker guest today is Howard County Executive Calvin Ball. Howard County will open a mass COVID-19 vaccination site soon at the Mall in Columbia . Two other sites have been up and running for some time now. Like leaders in other jurisdictions, County Executive Ball will be addressing the negative economic impacts the pandemic has had on the county with the aid of funds from the $1.9 trill...

Before Gil Scott-Heron , the legendary singer, pianist, and poet known as a “godfather of hip hop,” passed away in 2011, he spoke with his cousin, Baltimore soul-jazz vocalist Navasha Daya. He suggested that they work on some music together. “I enthusiastically agreed!” Daya said. “Sadly, he transitioned before we could fulfill the original plan.” Now, ten years...

Tom's next guest is a leader in the socially responsible investment movement. Hazel Henderson describes herself as an "evolutionary" economist. She is the founder and CEO of an advocacy enterprise called Ethical Markets . She has written extensively about changing our basic understanding of money and rethinking the so-called "money meme." She is the author of several books, including Building A Wi...

Tom's Newsmaker guest today is a newcomer to town who is the first to occupy a newly-created position in City Government. Christopher Shorter is Baltimore’s first City Administrator. As Mayor Brandon Scott put it when he first announced Mr. Shorter's impending appointment, the city administrator's role will be to help the mayor "fix what’s broken in city government and restore the publ...

When Brandon Scott was running for Mayor last year, he promised several changes to the structure of city government that he asserted will improve the efficacy of city services and focus attention on the need for those services to be delivered equitably. Tomorrow, we will meet Baltimore’s new City Administrator, Christopher Shorter. Today, we meet the city’s first-ever Chief Equity Offi...

The Department of Public Works - the DPW - is one of the city’s largest agencies, employing more than 2,700 people, with an annual budget of $607 million dollars. Baltimore’s DPW director also sits on the Board of Estimates. Last month, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced a leadership change at the Department of Public Works. Jason Mitchell is the assistant city administrator for O...

For the continuing coronavirus pandemic, it is the best of times, and it is the worst of times. More than 61 million people have been vaccinated nationwide. Deaths are declining, but the US reports more than 64,000 new COVID cases every day. Yesterday, Maryland recorded the highest number of daily cases and hospitalizations since January, as the number of people who receive vaccines in MD has topp...

Time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck , who joins Tom today with her review of the new virtual theater production from Maryland's State Theater, Baltimore Center Stage. The filmed play is a world premiere of the latest work by journalist, screenwriter, Emmy-nominated producer and playwright Keli Goff. Her play is called The Glorious World of Crowns, Kinks and Curls. In...

It's another edition of Midday at the Movies , our monthly look at films and filmmaking. With the pandemic-delayed Academy Awards telecast finally happening later this month — Sunday, April 25, on the ABC television network — we'll get our annual Oscar predictions from our Midday movie mavens: Ann Hornaday is a film critic for the Washington Post and the author of the bestselling movie...

It’s chilly and windy and rainy and yucky in much of the listening area today, but believe it or not, spring sprang nearly two weeks ago. Temperatures will be in the 20s tonight, but there are signs that winter is making an exit: today is opening day for Major League Baseball. The Baltimore Orioles are at Fenway Park to play the Boston Red Sox. First pitch is at 2:10 this afternoon. The Os p...

(This conversation was originally broadcast on March 22, 2021) Tom's guest on this archive edition of Midday has written a thoughtful and insightful books on the subject of racial inequality. Heather McGhee is the former head of the think tank, Demos, an organization that focuses on inequality. She is now the chair of the board of Color of Change , an on-line racial justice advocacy group with 7 m...

Tom's guest on this archive edition of Midday is Alec MacGillis , an award-winning reporter for ProPublica whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and The Atlantic , among other publications. His latest book is about Amazon, and about the seismic shifts that it has caused not only in the American economy, but in American culture as well since Jeff Bezos started his o...

At the outset of the Coronavirus pandemic, it was widely assumed that African Americans and LatinX people were more reluctant to get the COVID 19 vaccine than White people. Since then, it is now apparent that while access to the vaccine is different for African Americans, rates of hesitancy between races is about the same. In fact, data shows that Republican men, most of whom are white, are more l...

Tom's next guest is an author whose debut novel explores the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a keen eye, a compassionate and insightful ear, and a large dollop of fearlessness. Rebecca Sacks presents a sprawling cast of characters that include university students and teachers, professional soccer players and soldiers, a cartoonist from Jerusalem, a journalist from Germany, a...

Many school-age children in Maryland and around the country are back in classrooms, as schools long shuttered by COVID-19 reopen, and educators and parents grapple with the stark reality that many students have experienced a significant learning loss during this pandemic year. On the other hand, some kids have been thriving in virtual school. Part of the funding earmarked for education in the $1.9...

Supplies of the three federally approved COVID-19 vaccines continue to grow, and in Maryland, the vaccination rate is accelerating. As of today, the state is officially in Phase 2A of its vaccination priority program. All Marylanders age 60 or older are eligible to receive a vaccine. As of next Tuesday, March 30, anyone over the age of 16 with an underlying medical condition will become eligible....

Tom's next guest today is Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry . He served on the City Council for 12 years, before unseating longtime comptroller Joan Pratt in last June’s Democratic primary. He ran unopposed in November to become the first new comptroller Baltimore has had in 25 years. The comptroller is the city's fiscal manager and watchdog, and in that capacity, he sits on the Board of...

Beyond the massive protests over last year's police killing of George Floyd, a remarkable reckoning on America's troubled racial history — especially the unresolved legacy of slavery — has been very much in evidence in our area over the past many months. Case in point: William Walters and his son Henry Walters , the namesakes of the Walters Art Museum here in Baltimore. Henry Walters&r...

Tom's Newsmaker guest today is Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison. While the Maryland General Assembly is considering multiple bills to reform policing, and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has introduced a public safety plan, the City Police Department continues to implement reforms mandated by the 2017 Consent Decree with the US Department of Justice. In the most recent Consent Dec...

Tom's guest today has written a thoughtful and insightful book on the subject of racial inequality. Heather McGhee is the former head of the think tank, Demos, an organization that focuses on inequality. She is now the board chair of Color of Change , an on-line racial justice advocacy group with 7 million members. Her new book is called The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Pro...

(This program was originally broadcast on March 3, 2021) Tom's guest in this archive edition of Midday is the American author, George Saunders . He’s published hundreds of short stories, and his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo , won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2017. Saunders’ short stories have been published in The New Yorker , Harper’s and many other magazines, and co...

(This program was originally broadcast on February 16, 2021)  Our topic today is in-laws, and how the relationship between children who are married, and the families of their spouses, are affected and informed by a number of different factors. Parents of the person you hold dear matter while you’re dating, they matter while you’re married, they matter when you have kids yourself,...

Democrats in the Maryland legislature are proposing an array of bills that will make voting easier and more accessible. But elsewhere in the country, Republican lawmakers have redoubled efforts to restrict and curtail voting. The Georgia Senate has voted to end no-excuse absentee voting and they are considering a measure that would prohibit passing out water and snacks to people who are waiting in...

Tom's guest today is Alec MacGillis , an award-winning reporter for ProPublica whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and The Atlantic, among other publications. He has written a book, out today, about Amazon, and about the seismic shifts that it has caused not only in the American economy, but in American culture as well, since Jeff Bezos started his on-line bookst...

Midday on Politics  continues now as Tom is joined by another experienced and acclaimed journalist,  Paul Glastris .   He has been the editor-in-chief of the  Washington Monthly   for 20 years.   The Monthly  has long been one of the country's most respected political journals.  Mr. Glastris also spent 10 years as a correspondent and editor of US News a...