Midday

As the final voters cast their ballots on this final day of this extraordinary and historic election, we want to turn our focus to one of the most crucial tenets of the political process: local journalism. In the words of the iconic media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, “News is what someone, somewhere, doesn’t want reported. All the rest is advertisement.” As The Washington Post media columnist M...

Of the 200 largest papers by circulation in the United States, 70% of them are owned by hedge funds. A number of ideas are being considered to help restore local ownership of local papers, including legislation that would provide incentives for hedge funds to sell their newspapers to local buyers. Tom's next guest today is Jon Schleuss, the national president of the NewsGuild, a division of the Co...

WYPR reporter Emily Sullivan joins us with the latest on the candidates making their final push before polls close tomorrow night John Willis, former Maryland Secretary of State discusses early voting numbers in a historical perspective and talk about a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by the gambling industry to push for sports betting. Plus, Sam Novey of Baltimore Votes and Ashiah Parker o...

African American participation in COVID-19 vaccine trials is critically low despite the pandemic's disproportionate impact on Black communities. From the Tuskegee Study to Henrietta Lacks, centuries of anti-black racism and discrimination in American healthcare have led to chronic distrust of medical research among African Americans. Tom’s guest is Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, president of University of...

Today, it’s another installment of Midday on Higher Education, our series of conversations with the leaders of the region’s colleges and universities. Tom's guest today is McDaniel College President Roger Casey, who announced recently that he’ll be stepping down next June after a decade at the helm of the 153 year-old institution. McDaniel is an independent, four year, co-educational college. Dr....

Now, a conversation with New York Times investigative reporter Chris Hamby about his new book, Soul Full of Coal Dust: A Fight for Breath and Justice in Appalachia, just pubished by Hachette Books (Little Brown). The book builds on Hamby's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning series of reports about how a resilient Appalachian mining community fought back against a resurgence of black lung disease, the ind...

A few weeks ago on this program, host Tom Hall spoke with the director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Christopher Bedford, about the museum’s plans to "deaccession," or sell, three major works in its collection to raise as much as $65 million dollars to fund the BMA’s diversity and equity programs. The proceeds of the deaccessioning will be used to purchase art by women and people of color, and t...

Yesterday, more than 161,000 Marylanders braved long lines and gloomy weather to cast their ballots on Day One of in-person early voting. WYPR reporter Emily Sullivan has an update. Plus, Midday on Ethics. President Trump declared himself cured of the coronavirus after receiving an experimental antibody treatment under the FDA compassionate use program. But the president's treatment is vastly diff...

It’s another in our series of Conversations with the Candidates. Today, a live debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes parts of Baltimore City as well as Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard Counties. Joining Tom on Zoom is the incumbent, Democratic Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, who has represented the 2nd District...

Last night, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden debated in Nashville. Mr. Trump interrupted Mr. Biden less, but he did not suspend his proclivity for a barrage of salient falsehoods and misleading statements. The US has 8.4 million confirmed cases of Coronavirus. More than 223 thousand Americans have perished because of the disease. Europe and the UK are experiencing a spike...

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom again today with updates on the nation's pandemic-era theater community, leading off with the 74th Annual Tony Award nominations anounced Thursday. Judy talks about some of the major contenders for theater's most prestigious honor, including the musical Jagged Little Pill, which garnered the most Tony nominations this season -- 15 - including Best Mu...

For the thousands of inmates released from prison every year, the transition out of jail and into society is often a transition to homelessness and unemployment. Ex-offender status presents perpetual obstacles for returning-citizens, who often lack access to critical resources and opportunities. A new organization called Return Home Baltimore is trying to make it all easier. It has created a websi...

There are less than two weeks to go before voting ends, and as we enter this critical stretch in the presidential race, the political and cultural divisions in our country appear more pronounced than they have ever been in modern times. And the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties are also more pronounced, when viewed over the past four decades. In his new book, We Should Have...

Across the country, ridership on public transit has declined precipitously. To adjust to the new financial realities, the MTA says it needs to trim $98 million dollars from its budget. The cuts it suggested to Baltimore’s bus system were met with fierce opposition, and the MTA backed-off the plan. Tom speaks to Kevin Quinn, the MTA Administrator, about what changes riders can expect, and plans to...

Today, we’re going to talk about voting: how to do it safely and correctly, and efforts to assure that the results are accurate and that the election is conducted fairly. The 2020 election ends two weeks from tomorrow. More than 28 million people around the country - about 20% of eligible voters - have already cast their ballots, either in person, by mail, or by depositing them at official drop bo...

Tom speaks to Sarah Hemminger, the co-founder of the mentoring program, Thread, about the challenges students and mentors face in the era of Coronavirus. If you're interested in becoming a Thread volunteer, you can find more information on their website. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Last night, Donald Trump responded to his Miami Town Hall questions with his trademark belligerence and bluster. Joe Biden's Town Hall was a much calmer affair. Answering questions from voters in Philadelphia, he promised to restore stability and reaffirm America's leadership on the world stage. PBS News Hour correspondent Lisa Dejardin joins Tom with a recap of the dueling broadcasts. Email us at...

You don't have to spend a lot of time on the Internet to know that these days, practically every move we make online is watched and recorded by marketers, security firms, scammers and a growing cast of unseen tech agents. People say they are worried about their privacy, but given how much personal data we routinely share on social media and online shopping sites, are we worried enough? In a soberi...

Tom's next guest is the urban planner, builder and architectural historian, Charles Duff. As the president of Jubilee Baltimore since 1987, Mr. Duff has helped to revive dozens of Baltimore neighborhoods and is an expert on the city's architectural evolution. He’s written a book about how the homes in Baltimore and cities in other parts of the world came to look as they do. The book is called The...

Today, it’s Midday on Politics with Dr. Mileah Kromer, the director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College, and political consultant Sophia Silbergeld, a partner at Adeo Advocacy, a public relations and communications firm. Three new Goucher College polls were released by the Hughes Center over the past few days, in which Marylanders were asked about a wide range of issues...

Last month, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that a grand jury had decided not to indict those officers with a crime. Was this decision solely in the hands of the grand jury? What was Attorney General Cameron’s role? Tom’s guest is Gregg Bernstein, the former Baltimore City State’s Attorney, who is now a partner with the Zuckerman Spaeder law firm. Email us at midday@wypr.org, tw...

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have identified far-right and racially motivated paramilitary-style groups as among the most significant national security threats facing our country. What is feeding the rise of vigilantism? And how effective are our local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies at combating the growing threat of far-right paramilitary violence? Guests: Michael...

The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the US Congress, ratified by 38 states, and enacted in 1967, to prepare for a situation in which a sitting U.S. president is no longer capable of performing his or her duties. It is divided into four sections. The last section begins: “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments o...

Today is the second Monday in October. Since the 1930s, the day has been recognized as a federal holiday commemorating the first arrival of Christopher Columbus and crew to the Americas in 1492. Last week, the Baltimore City Council passed a bill to rename Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples Day. Mayor Jack Young has yet to sign the bill into law. If the mayor signs the bill or allows it to become la...

The Maryland State Department of Health reports today that 10 people died of COVID-19-related illness yesterday, the highest death toll in the last couple of weeks. More than 3,800 people have died in our state since the pandemic began in March. More than 130,000 Marylanders have been infected with the virus. The coronavirus pandemic continues to dominate the national conversation as well. Since P...