Midday

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

Today she tells us about Tiny Beautiful Things, writer Cheryl Strayed's bestselling digest of her "Dear Sugar" personal advice columns, retold in a compelling stage adaptation by "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" writer and actor Nia Vardalos, and in production now at Baltimore Center Stage.

Tiny Beautiful Things — directed by BCS's new interim artistic director Ken-Matt Martin — continues at Baltimore Center Stage through April 2. Click the show link for more info.

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

It's Midday on the Arts today, and we open the hour with the great jazz vocalist, Tierney Sutton, singing Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend from her ambitious 19-track CD, Screenplay, a 2019 collection of great songs written for movies.

Sutton has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album 8 times, and a 9th time for arranging — that's one for every CD she has released over the last 10 years. And for more than two decades, she's been touring and recording with the Tierney Sutton Band, currently featuring Christian Jacob on piano, Trey Henry on bass and CV Dashiell on drums.

Tierney Sutton and her band will be appearing this Saturday, March 25 and Sunday, March 26 at Baltimore’s wonderful jazz club, Keystone Korner in Harbor East.

But she joins us now, right here in Studio A...

Tierney Sutton's performances at Keystone Korner are slated for 7 and 9:30pm Saturday night and again on Sunday at 5 and 7pm. Click the club link for more information.

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

Next on Midday, we're going to take stock of the numerous criminal and civil investigations into former president Donald Trump’s actions before, during and after his White House stint.

The government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reports that as of late last year, Mr. Trump had been accused of committing at least 56 criminal offenses in the period between the launch of his campaign in 2015 and now.

There was news this week of an extraordinary legal finding by a DC Appeals Court pertaining to the criminal investigation into Mr. Trump's unauthorized retention of classified federal documents at his Florida resort.

Joining Tom now to help us sort through all of Mr. Trump's current legal problems is Kim Wehle. She’s a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. This year, she is teaching at the American University Washington College of Law. She’s a former Assistant US Attorney, and is the author of three excellent books, one on the constitution, one on voting, and her latest offering: How to Think Like a Lawyer--And Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas. 

In addition to her scholarly work, she writes regular columns for Politico, The Atlantic, The Bulwark, and The Hill. She also provides frequent legal commentary for CNN, MSNBC, NBC, BBC, NPR, and numerous other media outlets (including this one).

Kim is also the host of a YouTube show called #Simple Politics with Kim Wehle.

Kim Wehle joins us on Zoom…

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

Tom's first guest today is Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr.

We check in with him every few weeks to keep tabs on what’s happening in Maryland's third largest jurisdiction.

Topics for today's discussion with Mr. Olszewski include the county's response to reports of poor conditions at a county youth detention facility; how violent crimes in the county are being reported; school safety and student overcrowding concerns, and priorities for next year's County budget.

Johnny Olszewski joins us on Zoom.

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

Today on Midday, a conversation about the arts: Not just about how they provide beauty, or an escape, or a thought-provoking experience that makes you think differently about the world, but how the arts, in a very real way, can make you healthier.

The arts are now used as treatment for any number of conditions. When you strum your guitar, or read a poem, or color inside or outside the lines, you are reducing your stress level, lowering your anxiety, and strengthening your cognition.

The research in this area comes from a relatively new scientific discipline called neuroaesthetics, which is the subject of a new book by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross called Your Brain on Art:  How the Arts Transform Us.

Susan Magsamen is the founder and director of the International Arts and Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics in the Pederson Brain Science Institute at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She’s also the co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint….

Ivy Ross is vice-president of Design for the Hardware Product area at Google. She is also a jewelry designer whose work is exhibited in the permanent collections of 12 international museums…

Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen are Tom's guests for the hour in Studio A.

Tom Hall will join Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen at the Baltimore Museum of Art tonight (Wednesday, March 22) from 6-8pm to continue their discussion with a panel that will include some of the folks featured in the book. The event is free but registration is encouraged. For more information, click here.

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

Today, it's Midday on Babies, and Tom talks with two of the city's top pediatricians about ways to help your babies and young children thrive.

Recently, there has been a spike in the number of infant deaths in both Baltimore City and Baltimore County, related, it's now believed, to how babies are sleeping. Last Thursday, Tom spoke with Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, the Baltimore City Health Commissioner (and board-certified pediatrician) about this alarming trend. She joined us on Zoom. (Because the conversation is recorded, we can't take any live questions or comments during this segment.)

Then, Midday on Babies continues with Dr. Ashanti Woods, who joins Tom for a live conversation about baby and child care. Dr. Woods is a pediatrician with Mercy Family Care Physicians, at the Mercy Medical Center here in Baltimore.  Dr. Ashanti Woods joins us on Zoom…

Put this event on your calendar:

The Baltimore City Health Department will be sponsoring its 14th Annual B'More Healthy Expo this Saturday, March 25th, from 10am to 4pm at the Baltimore Convention Center.The B’More Healthy Expo will connect you with community resources to help you reach your health and wellness goals! Click the link for more info.

And one other note related to babies and parenting...

The Baltimore-born actor Lance Reddick, known for his roles in the John Wick films and on The Wire, died last week in Los Angeles at the age of 60. His family has asked fans to honor his memory with donations to MOMCares, a local non-profit that assists Black mothers with prenatal and postpartum care. Last Saturday, after just one day, the organization had raised $12,000, the most it had ever raised in one day since its founding in 2017. Click the link for more info, and if you’d like to help.

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

Today, a conversation about the idea of establishing a Land Bank as a way to solve the persistent problem of vacant and blighted properties that degrade many neighborhoods in Baltimore.

It’s not a new idea; land banks have been set up in many cities around the country. They are typically quasi-government agencies whose mission is to acquire dilapidated properties, clear the titles, and speed up redevelopment. But it’s an idea that has never quite gotten off the ground here in Baltimore. Back in 2009, Mayor Sheila Dixon proposed a version of a Land Bank, but the city council nixed the idea.

Baltimore's vacant housing crisis has not gone away, however, and the city's estimated 15,000 vacant properties still pose enormous challenges to adjacent communities, businesses and city leaders eager to erase the blight.

So what would a Land Bank look like in Baltimore City? Who would run it, and what would it cost?

Baltimore City Councilwoman Odette Ramos, who represents District 14 on the Council, has co-sponsored legislation that would establish a Land Bank. She joins Tom in Studio A to explain how it would work, and what it would mean for our city.

Then, we're joined by a housing advocate and non-profit developer with a unique perspective on land banks. Bree Jones left her job as a Wall Street analyst to work instead to halt the gentrification she saw destroying neighborhoods in her hometown of New Rochelle, New York. After some success there doing non-profit housing redevelopment, she moved to Baltimore, where she felt the need for equitable housing restoration was especially acute. In 2018 she founded Parity Homes, which is currently working to renovate and reclaim houses - without displacing residents - in Harlem Park, on Baltimore’s West side.

Bree Jones joins us on Zoom.

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

Now, we turn our attention to Maryland's second largest city, Columbia, and a new report about the changing racial climate in the Howard County community that was planned as an inclusive and diverse place 55 years ago.

Tom is joined by the co-authors of a report from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) about Columbia, entitled “Creeping Segregation and Lack of Affordable Housing Threatens a Legacy of Black/White Integration.”

Dr. Bruce Mitchell, NCRC's Senior Research Analyst, and Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, NCRC's Chief of Organizing, Policy and Equity, co-wrote the study, and they join us now on Zoom.

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

Tom's Midday Newsmaker guest today is Faith Leach. She has served in Baltimore City government as the Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health and Human Services since April, 2021. In that role, she worked on programs for squeegee workers and she oversaw the implementation of a pilot program to provide some young mothers with a guaranteed monthly income, among other initiatives.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has now tapped Ms. Leach to be the next City Administrator. Scott championed the creation of the administrator position while running for Mayor in 2020, saying there was a need to “professionalize” city government with a non-political manager who runs the day to day operations of the city. Voters approved the creation of the position by referendum.

The position may have been envisioned as non-political, but politics were very much on display during Ms. Leach’s confirmation hearings. Last Thursday, after praising her job performance as Deputy Mayor and commending her for her responsiveness and competence, the Rules and Legislative Oversight Committee of the City Council, chaired by Councilman Yitzy Schlieffer, promptly voted against her confirmation.

One of the members of the committee, Councilwoman Sharon Green Middleton told Ms. Leach, “This isn’t about you.”

You may ask, if a confirmation hearing isn’t about the nominee, then who, or what, is it about?

Perhaps the Council, in their wisdom, will answer that question at some point. But after a weekend of reported arm twisting, the committee re-convened on Monday and reversed itself, approving the nomination of Ms. Leach. A vote of approval by the full Council followed that evening.

As Baltimore’s City Administrator, Ms. Leach will reportedly be paid just under $200,000 a year, making her one of the city’s highest paid officials. She replaces Christopher Shorter, who left the city for a job in Virginia after less than two years as Baltimore's first City Administrator.

Faith Leach joins us on Zoom from City Hall.

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

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

Today she tells us about Tuesday's opening night performance of To Kill A Mockingbird, at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theater.

The touring company production is Aaron Sorkin's acclaimed stage adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitizer Prize-winning novel about racial justice in the Jim Crow South. It's directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, and stars Richard Thomas in the role of attorney Atticus Finch, who works to defend a Black man who has been wrongfully accused of raping a White woman.

To Kill A Mockingbird continues at The Hippodrome through March 19. Click the play's link for ticketing and showtime information.

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