On The Record

Author Laura Lippman is out with her 29th or 30th novel, depending how you count. 'Murder Takes a Vacation' is a cozy mystery that follows a plus-sized Baltimore widow in her late 60s who is breaking out of her shell… at the same time she becomes the target of ruthless international criminals. A book launch event is on June 17th in the Penguin Room at Whitehall Mill.

Lola tells a stoop story about how a queer awakening. The next live Stoop Storytelling event is called "Unleashed: No muzzles, no collars, just real stories about animal companions." Information about the event, more stories, and the Stoop podcast is at StoopStorytelling.com. The 50th Year Anniversary of Baltimore Pride is this weekend, with the Pride Parade starting at noon on Saturday, and Pride...

The paved 1½ mile trail that around the lake at Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park (aka the loop) has reopened! It’s been out of commission for years because of a federally mandated infrastructure project that broke ground in 2017... a project that put two massive water tanks underground to protect drinking water for Baltimore residents. Now that this project is nearly complete, another project is about...

Democratic opponents of the cuts Congress intends to make in SNAP -- the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for people with low incomes, what used to be called ‘food stamps,' say it’s the biggest rollback in an anti-hunger program ever. In Maryland, more than one-tenth of the 684-thousand people who now get SNAP benefits may lose them, and another one-fifth may see their benefits reduced. I...

Every day in the Free State, 120-thousand people who might otherwise be hungry get a meal through the Maryland Food Bank. The nonprofit has been distributing food for 45 years— it was the first food bank on the East Coast — and a lot has changed. These days it’s serving more working families, children and older adults. It’s paying more attention to nutrition, distributing millions of pounds of fre...

The arts can provide an outlet of expression that other ways of communication cannot. Making art can foster expanded thinking, creative problem solving, empathy, and more. And: art can help kids learn in ways that traditional education cannot. Enter Arts for Learning Maryland. The non profit provides schools with programming across all creative disciplines, and has based its work on these fundamen...

From the middle of 2013 to the end of last year, more than 1,300 reports of alleged child sex trafficking were screened by Maryland Child Protective Services. Last week hundreds of people working to stop child trafficking gathered in Towson to raise awareness and focus on partnerships to protect vulnerable kids. We talk with conference organizer Nadine Finigan-Carr, executive director of the Unive...

Think “homeless in Baltimore.” Think “healthcare”. Right away, your brain may paint a picture of the nonprofit Health Care for the Homeless, reaching out to people on the street, without housing, connecting them to healthcare. Except that until this spring, Health Care for the Homeless wasn’t actually delivering medical care on the street. It has always reached out to unhoused people, it operates...

Here's a Stoop Story from Luke Wesby about his journey to becoming a homeowner and what it has meant to him. The next live Stoop event happens Friday, June 20th, at 7pm at Checkerspot Brewing. In partnership with the Maryland SPCA, the theme is “Unleashed: No muzzles, no collars, just real stories about animal companions!”

Professionals worry there’s a mental-health crisis among young people; some say social media and excessive screen time makes it worse. We ask Dr. Ernestine Briggs-King, a licensed psychologist in charge of its Department of Family and Community Interventions at Kennedy Krieger Institute, how parents can safely curb its use and build “digital resilience.’’

Picture this. You’re in middle school, dealing with all the issues that beset middle-school kids: will anyone in your new class like you? What if the cool kids are mean to you or someone you like? Will you stand up for them? What are you good at-- and what if the cool kids don’t think that’s cool? On top of that, imagine that your mother is a “momfluencer” -- an influencer with thousands of follow...

Coard Bounds, an eastern shore farmer and co-owner of Couldbourn Farm, talks about what it takes to get his corn and soybean crops in the ground and some of the issues of modern farming today.

The Maryland State Park Service is rolling out a “day pass” system to keep its most popular parks from overcrowding. Angela Crenshaw, the Director of the Maryland Park Service, explains the policy, and offers tips for hiking and camping. 

Here's a Stoop Story from Tom Ritter about the power of the clipboard … and believing in miracles. You can find more information about li ve events and the Stoop podcast at Stoopstorytelling.com.

Ospreys are one of the largest birds of prey in North America, with a wingspan of up to six feet. Many spend their summers catching fish, building nests, and having babies around the Chesapeake Bay. But they’ve developed an affinity for nesting on utility poles. That can be life-threatening for the birds, and can cause power outages that impact us. Baltimore Gas and Electric has developed a progra...

An audit of a decade-and-a-half of rulings by Maryland medical examiners on the causes of deaths of people restrained while in custody found a pattern that could be racial or pro-police bias. We ask state Attorney General Anthony Brown: What now?

Here's a Stoop Story from Thomas Dotstry, executive officer of the USS Louisiana, about the power of being present in the moment, and the gift of human connection. You can hear more stories, find out about live events and the Stoop podcast at stoopstorytelling.com

We go On the Record with Paula Davis, treasurer of Maryland Gold Star Mothers. The group honors and preserves the memory of their children who died during conflict -- by offering their continued service and support to the military community.

The handsome young actor who shot President Lincoln was a proud supremacist from Maryland. Matthew Weiner, famous for Mad Men, has written a play that finds some humor in John Wilkes Booth’s monstrous ego.

Here's a Stoop Story from Dario DiBattista about the continuing journey of his military service. You can hear more stories, find out about live events and the stoop podcast at stoopstorytelling.com .

Among the many laws passed by the General Assembly this year is the “Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act.” Its goal: to improve environmental health while promoting economic growth. The measure will have widespread effects: supporting agriculture, bolstering aquaculture, improving bay health, and streamlining watershed restoration. And more! Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources Josh Kurtz provides an ove...

Medicaid covers a million and a half Marylanders -- half of Maryland’s children, 40 percent of its births, 80 percent of nursing-home charges in the state. Mental-health and substance-abuse care for 325,000 people. The state health department says thousands of those Marylanders may lose coverage if the federal government follows through on plans to tighten who’s eligible for Medicaid and how they...

We talk with evolutionary biologist Dr. Nathan Lents, about his book “The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships”. The book explores sex, gender, mating, and more in dozens of species -- from insects, to birds, to fish… to the primates most closely related to us humans. Lents is a Professor of Biology at John Jay College of The City University...

Each week nearly two hundred people drop their worries at the door and raise their voices in song. We meet members of Charm City Sings, and its driving force, Heidi Ackerman. Also featured are tenor Patrick McGroarty, soprano 1 Renee Bourke, bass Mark Newsom, soprano 1 Pearl Laaveg, tenor Eric Zhunio, soprano 2 Kathy Helzlsouer and of course the other 190 or so choir members. Hear Charm City Sings...

Here is a Stoop Story from Kevin Griffin Moreno about hitting the road and reinvention by redemption. You can reinvent yourself, or just treat yourself to more free music this weekend: Lafayette Gilchrist and his 10 piece band the New Volcanoes -- with opening guest Eze Jackson. It all starts at 4pm at Beth Am Synagogue, celebrating 50 years as an anchor in the Reservoir Hill neighborhood. Free to...