Today is the first day of the new fiscal year for the City of Baltimore. The City Council beat their deadline to approve a budget by 10 days this year, but not without considerable acrimony. City Council president Jack Young and Budget Committee Chairwoman Helen Holton threatened to shut down city government if Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake didn’t restore funding for youth programs. Helen Holton (District 8) joins me, along with Councilman Brandon Scott (District 2) to talk about the Council,

This week, the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation has convened two groups of emerging arts leaders for workshops around the idea of Undoing Racism. Trainers from The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond explore how institutional racism has come to be so firmly ensconced in American culture, and what it will take to get rid of it. Tom speaks with Kimberley Richards and Rachael Ibrahim, trainers from The People’s Institute, and A. Adar Ayira, a local artist and poet who is on the advisory board

We begin this morning with another installment in our monthly series, Living Questions, in which we examine the role of religion in the public sphere. Retiring Executive Director Christopher Leighton, Catholic Scholar Heather Miller Rubens, Islamic Scholar Homayra Ziad, and Jewish Scholar Benjamin Sax from The Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies all join Tom in-studio to discuss leadership transition in the organization, as well as what it will take for the voices of tolerance

Ramifications, repercussions and ruminations on two decisions: the acquittal of Officer Caesar Goodson in Baltimore, and the exit from the European Union in Great Britain. Prosecutors have failed to get convictions in the first three trials of officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. What are their chances moving forward? How will the Goodson verdict affect the suits that five officers have filed against State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby? And what will the verdict mean for efforts

Dr. Carol Anderson, author of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, joins Tom in-studio to discuss the reasons behind the racial divide in America. While some argue that the Uprising in Baltimore was a result black anger bubbling over after years of systemic and institutionalized racism, Anderson argues that the chasm between whites and people of color has been animated, throughout American history, by white reaction and opposition to any and all progress towards equality made by

Culture Commentator Sheri Parks on reactions to the mass shooting in Orlando. Was the shooter a self-radicalized terrorist, a deranged abuser, a virulent bigot, a self-loathing gay man, or some combination thereof? As the dead are remembered and buried, what will we remember months and years from now about how this tragedy changed the conversation about the fight against terrorism, access to firearms, and bigotry against the LGBTQ community, Latinos, and Muslims? Sheri Parks is an associate

As Maryland Morning focuses on the arts, Liz Lerman, a MacArthur award winning dancer and choreographer joins Tom to discuss her new appointment as a Professor in the Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Then, Donald Hicken, longtime head of the theater department at the Baltimore School of the Arts is retiring. He joins to share his reflections after three and a half decades of changing young lives. And, Sharayna Christmas is a dancer, writer and the

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz joins Tom in a new segment called Focus on the Counties. Police in Baltimore County will start wearing body cameras on July 1, amid concerns about law enforcement transparency. Sparrows Point is taking a big step towards its transformation from a steel mill to an industrial complex. We’ll talk about what Kamenetz thinks the county’s role can be in helping Baltimore City bounce back from the uprising, and an unresolved school maintenance debate. Plus, a

In Baltimore City, approximately 25% of school-aged children drink one or more sodas per day. Should sugary drinks come with a label warning against the health risks? And, Prince’s death has been ruled an accidental overdose on the powerful drug fentanyl. In our monthly Healthwatch conversation, Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner Leana Wen, who is a leading voice against opioid abuse, joins Tom to discuss sugary drinks, prescription drug abuse and more. Tom then speaks with three local

The ambitious plan to transform Port Covington into a city within a city is just one of the many proposals that the Baltimore Development Corporation evaluates that often involve so-called public-private partnerships. Mark Reutter from the Baltimore Brew tells us that recent meetings of the BDC to discuss these projects have been a lot more private than public, despite clear guidelines from the MD Open Meetings Compliance Board. Today, the Accountability Index takes a look at transparency at