Midday

Midday talks education with guests Dr. Myriam Yarbrough, the Superintendent of Baltimore County Schools and Dr. Michael Martirano, the Superintendent of Howard County Schools.

School systems across the state and around the country are confronting a teacher shortage, declining test scores, and the challenge of keeping students and teachers safe. We discuss how Baltimore and Howard County are seeking to meet those challenges.

Yarbrough became superintendent for Baltimore County Schools less than a month ago. She began her career as a chemistry teacher in the County in 1996. She served as a principal in a couple of Montgomery County schools, and she returned to Baltimore County three years ago, serving most recently as the system’s Deputy Superintendent.

Martirano was appointed Interim Superintendent in 2017 and given the permanent position the next year. He has been in education as a teacher, principal and senior leader for three and half decades. In 2009, as the Superintendent of St. Mary’s County Schools, he was named Maryland's Superintendent of the year.

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Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joins Tom to discuss the nomination of Interim Police Chief Richard Worley to be the permanent chief of the BPD. He opted against a national search, instead tapping a local cop with more than two decades of experience in the department.

Worley was candid about the failings of the agency in preventing the horrific shooting at the Brooklyn Homes earlier this month. We ask the Mayor what his administration considers the lessons learned.

In the second half of our show, we are hosting a Community Conversation to get your take on the state of our city.

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Today on Midday, a musical treat; three vocalists from the acclaimed gospel ensemble, the Legendary Ingramettes. They are giving a concert tonight at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, and they’ve been kind enough to stop by with preview. Baltimore is one stop on a multi-city tour. In years past, they have performed at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the country, including Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

The Legendary Ingramettes are considered the “First Family of Gospel” in their hometown of Richmond, Virginia. They were founded by the family matriarch, Maggie Ingram in the 1960’s. After Maggie’s passing in 2015, her daughter Almeta Ingram-Miller took over leadership of the ensemble.Rev. Almeta Ingram-Miller, Carrie Ingram-Jackson and Cheryl Maroney Yancey join us.

(Photo by Pat Jarret)

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It's time again for a visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom each week with her reviews of Maryland-DC's regional stage.

This week, we discuss "What Was Done," showing at Spotlighters Theatre.

(Photo from Machpe Photography)

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

Today on Midday, a look at foreign affairs. President Joe Biden has been applauded for a successful NATO Summit in Lithuania last week. He secured additional military aid for Ukraine, and negotiated the thorny issue of when Ukraine will be admitted as a member of the Alliance.

Sweden took a huge step in the process of becoming a NATO member after Turkey dropped its opposition. Sweden’s inclusion in the alliance means that Russia has become ever more isolated on the geopolitical landscape. We also discuss the latest with Israel as their President Isaac Herzog addresses Congress.

We begin today with Eleanor Beardsley, who has covered Europe for NPR for nearly 20 years. She shares her reflections of the NATO Summit and the significance of its location in Lithuania.

While at the summit Beardsley spoke with NATO volunteer, Rima Olberkyte, who grew up in Lithuania when it was under Soviet rule. Olberkyte directly related to the Ukrainian struggle and expressed the importance of keeping Lithuania prosperous.

We also hear from Ishaan Tharoor, the foreign Affairs columnist at the Washington Post.  He’s also the anchor of Today's WorldView, the Post's daily column and newsletter on global politics.

Our last contributor is Eric Hontz, the Director of the Center for Accountable Investment at the Center for International Private Enterprise. He traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine last month and attended a conference in London focused on rebuilding Ukraine.

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A year ago, a squeegee worker shot and killed Timothy Reynolds, a motorist from Hampden, after an altercation near the inner harbor in downtown Baltimore. Reynolds is alleged to have confronted a group of squeegee workers with a baseball bat before he was shot, The trial of the alleged assailant, who was a day away from his 15th birthday at the time of the incident, began yesterday. A jury was seated and opening statements were scheduled for today.

Following the murder of Reynolds, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott asked community leaders from government, business and the nonprofit sector to work with young people who squeegee to form the Squeegee Collaborative, to develop a comprehensive strategy to create alternatives to squeegeeing.

We are joined by three people behind the collaborative. Joe Jones, the founder of the Center for Urban Families, joins us. He served as a co-chair of the Squeegee Collaborative.

Faith Leach now serves as the City’s Chief Administrative Officer. At the time of the formation of the Collaborative, she was served as the Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health, and Human Services, and she was a key player in the city’s response to the squeegee issue.

Dr. Andrey Bundley is the director of the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement, the city agency charged with overseeing the squeegee initiative.

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We started this program with a brief announcement. Starting in August, Craig Swagler will become the new General Manager and President of Your Public Radio. He joins our organization after 22 years at CBS Audio and Radio.

Following this brief announcement, Tom begins a conversation about the future of Social Security and if it is running out of money. Can seniors count on the promise that has been made to them over the next decades? The funding formula for Social Security was devised during the Great Depression and did not anticipate the dual problems of an increase in beneficiaries while seeing a decrease of payroll taxes to support retirees.

What can be done to right the ship, which is expected to run into very turbulent waters in as little as 10 or 11 years.

Joining Tom to talk about it is Dr. Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, an economist on the faculty of Boston College, and a Research Fellow at the Center for Retirement Research at BC.

Peter Coy covered financial issues for more than four decades. He writes about economics, business and finance for the Opinion section of the New York Times.

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It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the mid-Atlantic regional stage.

The Contemporary American Theater festival is at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.V., until July 30. This new festival tends to produce tough, edgy plays. Is that the case again this year? Are there any common themes?

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Two theater artists are attempting to revive something of a summer theater tradition here in Baltimore, Shakespeare’s plays in outdoor venues.

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company will present the bard’s wonderful comedy, "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" at four Baltimore parks this month in a series they’re calling “Shakespeare Beyond.”

Seamus Miller is the Associate Director of the production. Annie Montone is a Magic Consultant for the show.

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Baltimore is one of a dozen cities across the country that have re-instated youth curfews as a strategy to reduce crime. As the city discovered two weeks ago at the Brooklyn Homes, enforcing curfews is no easy matter.

In what is likely the worst mass shooting in the city’s history at a crowded block party, 11 girls and 9 boys under the age of 18 were injured. 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzales was killed, as was 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi.

A few months ago, following a shooting at the Inner Harbor, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced his intention to enforce curfew laws that have long been on the books, but ignored.

On June 29, a few days before the shooting in Brooklyn, Lakeidra Chavis and the Marshall Project published an article that surveyed curfew policies around the country, with a focus on the nascent stages of the initiative here in Baltimore. The Baltimore Banner, our news partner, published that reporting on its website as well.

Lakeidra Chavis, a staff writer for the Marshall Project, joins Midday for an update.

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