On The Record

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away … galaxy 3C 186, to be precise … two black holes merged, creating one supermassive black hole and propelling it at great speed away from the galaxy’s center.  Eileen Meyer , an associate professor of physics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, explains how this observation bolsters theories about how galaxies and black holes behave, "Galaxies t...

Baltimore’s public schools start the new year in just 25 days … and  the system is still looking to hire hundreds of teachers for vacancies.  How will classrooms be affected and what’s being done to get educators in place? The schools’ chief of staff, Alison Perkins-Cohen , says the system has been recruiting energetically and still is. But, she warns Baltimore and Maryland are not alone in the te...

While people in state prison come from all over Maryland, new Census data reveal the lopsided burden on some communities - the southern Eastern Shore, Hagerstown, and most acutely, Baltimore City. The report, produced by the Justice Policy Institute and the Prison Policy Initiative , is titled, "Where people come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Maryland." Keith Wallington of the Justi...

Divorce is hard for adults. Children are more fragile. The National Family Resiliency Center holds a special place to protect the mental and emotional well-being of kids, and works to keep whole families communicating and supportive through transitions. Executive Director Risa Garon describes how parents, lawyers, therapists and judges work together to make that happen. And Meg Sreenivas, a client...

D. Watkins is tired of the lies. Lies about being tough, about not feeling pain … or loss … or rejection.  In his latest book, ‘Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments,’ Watkins shows how he learned to face those lies and push through to the truth. He hopes everyone, especially young Black men and boys, find that strength from his stories: “I want them to understand that we all have the power to writ...

Andy Lowrie wants you to wear his sculptural works of art, and also to think about how they are made. His exhibit, titled “Fulfillment,” now up at the Baltimore Jewelry Center, plays upon several interpretations of that word. For instance, choosing a piece of jewelry is personally fulfilling, he says. It’s a mode of self-expression and self identity:  “ It’s also the word that is used for having g...

Here’s a Stoop Story from Julie MacDonald about a friendly rat companion … and the power of magical thinking. You can hear her story and others at StoopStorytelling.com Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mg...

Twenty thousand Baltimore children have a parent behind bars or on parole or probation. A new program called B’More Reconnects aims to solidify the bonds between a parent and child and reduce trauma.  Kate Sweeney co-directs the Parent, Infant, Early Childhood Program at the Institute for Innovation and Implementation at the University of Maryland School of Social Work . She describes B’More Recon...

Heat waves, wildfires, air-quality alerts… Undeniably we’re hit with more of these--and people where there’s limited investment are hit harder.  We hear from Professor Sacoby Wilson , co-founder of  the University of Maryland’s ‘Center for Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health’, about the need to work from the bottom up to equitably and efficiently fight climate change: “We have t...

Votes from the primary election are still being counted, but the trend lines are so clear that Democrat Wes Moore claimed victory in the race to carry his party’s banner in the race for governor. He drew a sharp contrast between himself and Republican nominee Dan Cox, saying, "It’s a choice between unity and division. It’s a choice between a future built on hope and optimism versus a future built...

About 24 hours into counting mail-in ballots cast in the primary election, we speak with WYPR Baltimore County reporter John Lee . We’ll ask: what’s the latest in the contests for County executive and council, as well as the extremely tight race to be Democratic nominee for state’s attorney -- where progressive Robbie Leonard is challenging four-term incumbent Scott Shellenberger. And we talk thro...

Here’s a Stoop Story from Shira Laden about his pranks at summer camp. Find more from the Stoop Storytelling Series -- including upcoming live events and the Stoop podcast. Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/her...

Music can soothe, motivate and stir feelings. Can music heal? Dr. Alexander Pantelyat , who runs the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine, develops therapies and conducts research with patients who have Parkinson’s disease and other ailments. He says it’s not one-size-fits all, and can be tailored to each patient just like other medications. Plus, Senior Music Therapist Kerry Devlin , who w...

With thousands of mail-in ballots still a mystery, author and activist Wes Moore is ahead in the votes counted so far to be the Democratic nominee for governor. In the Republican primary, Trump-endorsed state Delegate Dan Cox declared victory. We’ll talk about it with WYPR’s Rachel Baye and pollster Mileah Kromer . Listen to Rachel Baye's story: "Dan Cox, an election denier, wins the Maryland Repu...

Since March 2020, the Maryland Food Bank’s statewide food assistance network has distributed the equivalent of 100 million meals in response to the pandemic. But the uncertainty of the pandemic led right into the stress of inflation.  Maryland Food Bank CEO and President Carmen Del Guercio says rising demand for food is coupled with rising costs, "Today we’re purchasing about 25 million pounds of...

Who is the American health system for? A new book, Health for Everyone, edited by primary-care physician and bioethicist Dr. Zackary Berger --calls for revolutionizing the system by putting patients at its center.  His Johns-Hopkins colleague, adolescent-and-child psychiatrist Hal Kronsberg , told of a young Baltimore man who stayed strong for his family when his mother was murdered, without proce...

Jim Burger is an avid collector of artifacts, a creator of images and a teller of tales. Those all come together in his book: “What’s Not to Like: Words and Pictures of a Charmed Life.”  His experience includes a decade shooting for the Sun Papers in the late 80s -- so he also sees the importance of his role as documentarian:   “I was walking around the building one day and I was just taking pictu...

Here is a Stoop Story from Petula Caesar about identity, speaking one’s truth and when not to take parental advice. You can hear her story and others at Stoopstorytelling.com . Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her...

The city of Baltimore has been losing population for seven decades. What made the 38,000-person loss disclosed in the 2020 census so heartbreaking was not just its size--the city had seen bigger, even multiple, losses in previous decades. But Baltimore was the only city on the East Coast to shrink: New York, Boston, Atlanta all expanded. Nearby Philadelphia grew by 4 percent, Washington DC by 17 p...

As new variants drive COVID infections and hospitalizations, antiviral drugs are an important tool to prevent serious illness or death. Dr. Amesh Adalja is an infectious disease physician and a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security . He says more studies are needed to determine if antiviral drugs can prevent long COVID.Plus, is another pandemic on the horizon? We ask Dr. B...

Opioid overdoses take thousands of lives. And now Xylazine, a tranquilizer meant for large animals, has been discovered as a cutting agent, through a rapid analysis program led by Maryland’s Opioid Operational Command Center. A whopping 80 percent of drugs tested show additives, says OOCC director Robin Rickard : “Fentanyl is in absolutely everything-- it’s in cocaine, it’s in pills, and you’re pl...

Lawrence Jackson grew up in West Baltimore. Returning to the city as a “distinguished professor” at Johns Hopkins after building his career elsewhere … called him to navigate the city’s streets and neighborhoods with a discerning eye, calculating what works for his sons and for him, finding answers in the distant as well as recent past, digging into the patrimony he’s earned and what he can hope t...

Maryland citizens who have made a choice about who they want as their next governor, or person in congress, or any of the scores of other public offices up for election this year, have started voting in the party primary -- either in person or by mail or dropbox. They have until 8 p.m. July 19 to vote. Recent polling hints that many MORE citizens are still making up their minds. WYPR politics repo...

Take a listen to this Stoop love story from Taylor Binnix about finding her match during the pandemic. Find out more about the Stoop Storytelling Series --including live events and the Stoop podcast-- here . Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior...

There hasn’t been a Republican in the Maryland Attorney General seat in seven decades. But Jim Shalleck , running in the GOP primary, believes his highest priority -- stomping out violent crime -- appeals to Democrats and Independents, too. His plan is to shift 40 or 50 lawyers who work for the AG to prosecuting serious street crime: “You know it’s an army! The Attorney General is an army. And it...