Midday

WYPR Reporter John Lee joins Midday to discuss an eventful time in Baltimore County politics.

The Baltimore County Council is set to expand in 2026 after voters approved a measure to add two members to the 7-member body. And with Johnny Olszewski heading to Washington, D.C., the county also needs to find a new county executive.

Plus, the Baltimore County Council decided to keep a district map it drew for nine council seats, but the issues is not resolved. Councilman Julian Jones, a Democrat, said is it likely the County Council will be sued over the nine-district map.

Lee catches us up on the latest.

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Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joins Midday to discuss his priorities as he enters a second term. What are the prospects for projects planned with federal assistance? While President Joe Biden made promises to Baltimore, the administration of President-elect Donald Trump may not offer continued support.

We also discuss Baltimore Safe Streets, a prominent part of the city's violence reduction strategy, the passing of the influential Mary Pat Clarke and the status of repairs following underground fires in the city near the electrical infrastructure.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

2024 has been a transformative year for women’s sports with the prominence of Baltimore's own Angel Reese, along with Caitlin Clark, in the WNBA. Plus, the summer Olympics in Paris saw the women's soccer team and gymnastics team earning gold.

Two sports journalists join Midday to discuss the breakout year in women's sports in advance of a symposium being held Tuesday at The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland. 

Guests for this conversation are USA Today Sports columnist Christine Brennan and Ringer staff writer Mirin Fader.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

On today's Midday Healthwatch, our monthly conversations about public health with Dr. Leana Wen, we discuss the future of public health policy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to begin his second term.

Given his administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic during his first term, what can we expect in the case of a future health crisis? And what will the fate of agencies like the FDA or CDC be?

Wen will answer your questions about your health concerns, including bird flu, COVID-19 and more.

Wen was the Health Commissioner of Baltimore City from 2014 to 2018. In addition to being a columnist on health matters for the Washington Post, she also writes on medical topics for CNN, and she serves as a scholar at George Washington University and the Brookings Institution.

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Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production.

This week Rousuck reviews the Maryland premiere of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, at Notre Dame of Maryland University through November 10th.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Maryland was one of several states where residents reported receiving racist text messages from anonymous sources.

The messages appear to be part of a nationwide campaign targeting Black people in the wake of the election, according to the office of the Maryland Attorney General. Recipients of the message included young people and college students.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joins Midday to discuss his call for Marylanders who received these messages to make a report to his office online, or through the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention's hotline at 1-866-481-8361.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Many Americans experienced anxiety related to this week's election. And following the election's results, millions of Americans are finding no release from uncertainty and fear.

As some Americans nervously confront the reality of a return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House, we seek advice from Dr. George Everly. He is a psychologist who specializes in trauma and disaster mental health, on how to cope with the range of feelings many people are experiencing in the election’s aftermath.

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When we have elections, Midday turns to former Maryland Secretary of State John Willis for insight into how Marylanders exercised their right to make their voices heard.

After serving as Secretary of State from 1995-2003, and for many years has been the Executive in Residence at the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Khalil Zaied is the newly sworn-in Director of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works.

He takes over an agency that has been rocked by scandal, and roundly criticized by workers and people outside of DPW for ineffective and hostile organizational culture. A lack of training and accountability and insufficient emergency protocols even contributed to the death of a DPW worker, Ronald Silver II, last summer.

Zaied joins Midday to discuss how he intends to address the questions surrounding DPW.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

The make-up of the Maryland congressional delegation will be significantly different when the new Congress is sworn in in January.

Angela Alsobrooks and Sarah Elfreth will be the first two women to join the delegation since Barbara Mikulski and Donna Owens left Congress in 2016. Senator-elect Alsobrooks becomes only the third African American woman to be elected to the US Senate.

The election saw voters decisively pass a plan for Harbor Place, while turning down an amendment to shrink the size of the City Council.

Statewide, voters statewide overwhelmingly voted to enshrine in the Maryland Constitution the right to access to reproductive health care.

Today on Midday, how are you feeling? What do you think? We discuss the latest with analysis from WYPR's Ashley Sterner, the co-host of On the Record, and WYPR News Director Matt Bush.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.