On The Record

At midnight, the General Assembly will wrap up its 2021 session, with its Democratic leaders claiming they delivered on their most important promises: financial relief for families and businesses struggling through the pandemic, and a rewrite of laws aimed at making policing more transparent and accountable. Over the weekend, lawmakers quickly overrode Gov. Hogan’s veto of part of the police...

Kids can be cruel. That was part of the school experience for Simone Ellin , a local writer who grew up in the toney New York suburb of Westchester County. The girls in her class at times bullied her, teased her, or just plain ignored her. Some of the words and the feelings stuck with her into adulthood, for decades. So she contacted her tormentors … and wrote about it. Do you have a questi...

Here's a Stoop Story by Dale Marie Prenatt, about life lessons learned growing up in the holler. 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 mgerr@wypr.org...

The  Juvenile Restoration Act , passed by the General Assembly, offers young people facing life terms a path to resentencing, after they serve 20 years. We speak with House bill sponsor Delegate Jazz Lewis . Then:  Calvin McNeill  was sentenced to life in prison in 1981. He was recommended for parole three times. Each time, Maryland’s governor rejected the parole board’s...

COVID-19 ripped through Maryland’s prisons and jails during the past year, and the danger continues. Ryan King  of the  Justice Policy Institute  calls for proactive testing and ramped-up vaccination. And he highlights the issue of vaccine hesitancy among those behind bars. Read the op-ed coauthored by King and Hopkins epidemiologist Dr. Chris Beyrer  here . Then, Baltimo...

Amid pandemic expenses, state and local officials braced for tough times. Some public employees were furloughed, agencies drew up shrunken budgets. Then Congress passed the American Rescue Plan last month, flipping the budget picture and sending billions of dollars to Maryland and its counties, cities and schools.  U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin: “I think this is as dramatic for many american fam...

When it comes to adding new perspective to the struggle for racial equality, poet Kondwani Fidel is uniquely suited for the job. His latest book is “The Antiracist: How to Start the Conversation About Race and Take Action.” Fidel reflects on his losing friends and family to gun violence in East Baltimore, and on uncovering how poverty and segregation are the intended consequences of em...

Holding a hand, offering a hug or a tender touch … all give comfort to those suffering a loss. But for the past year, many mourners have grieved in isolation. A new exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Maryland called ’in the absence of a proper mourning’ creates a communal space for grieving … and healing -- in any religious context. Sol Davis, the Jewish Museum’s execu...

Here’s a Stoop Story from Ben Doyle about the Easter bunny, Santa and other childhood musings. You can hear his story and many 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 mger...

The tide of gunshot, knife and assault victims to University of Maryland Shock-Trauma barely ebbs, not even during the pandemic. More than a third opt for the Violence Intervention Program. Social worker David Ross meets them at bedside and offers support, helping fix problems from a missing ID .. to finding a job or safe housing. Too often, Ross says, trauma survivors are invisible. “When w...

Just over a year ago, the need to ‘disinfect’ and ‘sanitize’ became a priority for every American. Mountains of Clorox wipes and gallons of hand sanitizer later … what long-term effects could increased use of anti-bacterials have on our health? Or for our water?    Dr. Amy Sapkota , professor of Applied Environmental Health at the University of Maryland stu...

The opioid overdose crisis accelerated over the past year, as fentanyl drove deaths. State lawmakers are considering whether ‘overdose prevention sites’ are the answer. We speak with two community outreach coordinators with the  Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition .  Ricky Morris  describes how the pandemic forced changes in on-the-ground activities. Such as, the coalitio...

Today we meet two Open Society Institute fellows working to make Baltimore healthier and safer in 2021.  Troy Staton is leveraging the trust between barbers and clients, and creating a network of hair salons that will bring health care screenings and other resources to their neighborhoods. And attorney EV Yost is recruiting L-G-B-T-Q volunteers to staff a hotline and mobile team to respond wh...

That was Stoop Story from Sheila McMenamin about the power of music to set you free. You can hear her story and many others, as well as the Stoop podcast, 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 Ge...

Musicians and fans have mourned the loss of that electrifying current that connects performers with audiences during a live concert. An die Musik, the small but mighty performing space in Mount Vernon stepped up during the pandemic to serve as a conduit. Owner Henry Wong describes how they had to pivot quickly to respond: " Our website is served by instant seats and they’ve never done live s...

60 years ago so many members of the Lumbee Indian Tribe migrated from North Carolina to East Baltimore, that the area was known as “the reservation.” Today folklorist Ashley Minner is working to preserve this history and the memories of Lumbee elders. She guides us through the walking tour she’s created, which includes the Baltimore American Indian Center and Heritage Museum .Che...

Even in pre-school, Jessie Dunleavy’s son Paul struggled to learn. His disabilities forced him to switch schools over and over. He turned to poetry, and eventually, after several mental-health diagnoses, to drugs. After he died of an overdose, his mother found a poem alluding to his addiction as a moral disgrace. In her memoir, "Cover My Dreams In Ink," Dunleavy recounts the sobering lessons...

The Open Society Institute tackles many inequities for Baltimore City residents -- from making fresh food available or healthcare accessible ... to housing rights and more. Each year its community fellows bring game-changing ideas. We hear from two — James Henderson helps young people in the city find paths toward college and entrepreneurship: “Education and owning businesses is the co...

The news that Laura Lippman’s latest mystery is headed to Apple TV screens is all the motive we need to listen again to Lippman discuss Lady in the Lake , set in Baltimore in the 1960s. The first figure we meet speaks from beyond the grave … apparently the victim of murder. She talks directly and scornfully to the main character, Maddie Schwartz, a housewife turned aspiring reporter....

Take a listen to this Stoop Story from Rick Wilson about his friend and coworker, Sam the Toucan. Listen to more Stoop Stories  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 Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Pro...

Shae McCoy   photographed vacant homes and abandoned buildings--capturing their brokenness in vivid color and compiling them into the new book, "West Baltimore Ruins." The book is a time capsule that preserves these buildings before they’re torn down or replaced. What will survive? What will Baltimore lose? Follow this project on Instagram at  west_baltimore_ruins . Check out the&n...

The Healing Youth Alliance is an ambitious project that trains Baltimore City teens about mental wellness and how to talk to professionals about what it’s like to be in young people’s shoes. The ultimate goal is a better path to healing for them, and their peers. Founder and director Professor Kyla Liggett-Creel and faculty member Nia Jones , from the Black Mental Health Alliance , exp...

A year after the pandemic hit, Maryland’s economy is crawling back to life but not quite yet on its feet. What is the plan to jumpstart it … and how long could that take?  Ashley Duckman,  vice president of government affairs the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, talks about policies and priorities to assist businesses in a strong comeback. And Caryn York , CEO of the Job Opport...

Shelter in place, stay socially distanced. What does that mean when you are homeless? We ask  Lawanda Williams,  Chief Behavioral Health Officer for Health Care for the Homeless, about connecting with clients during the pandemic. And the nonprofit’s Chief Medical Officer  Dr. Adrienne Trustman  describes vaccination efforts. Then,  Mary Slicher  of Project PLASE...

A year ago, life as we knew it abruptly stalled. Hundreds of thousands of Marylanders became sick. Eight thousand have died. Dr. Joshua Sharfstein , past city health commissioner and former deputy FDA chief, reflects on the public health response to COVID-19 -- the frustration of mixed messages from leaders and the triumph of scientific headway. And Hopkins professor  Cynda Rushton  desc...