Midday

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

Today, she tells us about Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery," a comic rendition of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective in one of his most notorious cases, now lighting up the stage at Baltimore's Everyman Theatre.

Laura Kepley directs the high-energy comedy, which stars Danny Gavigan as Sherlock Holmes and Tony Nam as his loyal co-investigator, Dr. Watson, with Megan Anderson, Bruce Randolph Nelson and Drew Kopas playing multiple supporting roles.

Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery continues in an extended run at Everyman Theatre through January 8.

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

Joining Tom now is Jason Gay. He’s the sports and humor columnist for the Wall Street Journal. 

His new book touches on a sport or two, but leans heavily into the humor side of the equation. It’s a set of essays called I Wouldn’t Do That If I Were Me: Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs (but Mostly Blunders). 

Jason Gay joins Tom in Studio A…

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

On Wednesday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a joint meeting of Congress. Speaking in English, he delivered an impassioned twenty-minute speech in which he said that “Ukrainian courage and American resolve must guarantee the future of our common freedom.”

The speech was greeted rapturously by most members of Congress, who gave the Ukrainian leader prolonged standing ovations. President Biden announced another tranche of aid for Ukraine. Earlier this week, the administration committed, for the first time, to send a Patriot missile defense system. US aid totals more than $100 billion dollars so far. Some Republicans have signaled an unwillingness to continue aid at current levels.

Zelensky’s brief appearance in Washington, which lasted less than 10 hours, overtook other big news in the nation’s capital.

The long awaited final report from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the US Capitol was to have been released yesterday, but that release has been delayed until today. On Monday, the Select Committee held its last public meeting and made four referrals to the US Department of Justice recommending that former President Donald Trump be prosecuted for four crimes. The committee also released a 160-page executive summary of its final report, recapped some of the testimony they have heard over the course of their public and private hearings, and introduced some new testimony by Hope Hicks, a former advisor to the former president.

Also this week, the House Ways and Means Committee discovered that unlike other US presidents, Mr. Trump's tax returns while he was in office were not audited, as required by law.

Joining Tom now is Kimberly Wehle, a visiting law professor at American University and the author of several books, including How to Read the Constitution-And Why.  Kim Wehle joins us on our digital line…

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

Tom's guest today is LaFontaine Oliver, the current president and CEO of Your Public Radio.

His achievements here in Baltimore over the past three years are significant. Since his appointment in 2019 as general manager of WYPR, he has merged this station with Towson-based public music station WTMD and engineered a unique partnership between WYPR and the online news organization, the Baltimore Banner.

Those two initiatives have irrevocably changed the media landscape of this community.

LaFontaine also served for six years on the Board of Directors at National Public Radio, including two terms as board chair. In his work both nationally and here at our stations, LaFontaine has raised up diversity and equity as central, animating operating tenets. As one of the few African Americans in senior leadership positions in the NPR system, he has served as a model and a mentor to public media professionals of color across the country.

Before he became the president and general manager of WYPR, he led WMFE in Orlando, Florida for six years. Prior to that, he was the general manager of WEAA at Morgan State University here in Baltimore.

Next month, LaFontaine Oliver will take the helm at New York Public Radio, the nation's largest public radio organization.

LaFontaine Oliver joins Tom today in Studio A for a kind of exit interview, to reflect on his tenure, and to look ahead to where public media is headed in the future.

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

Tom's Newsmaker guest today is Erek L. Barron. He is the US Attorney for the District of Maryland, which makes him the chief federal law enforcement officer in our state. He supervises a staff of nearly 100 attorneys who investigate and prosecute national security threats, terrorism, narcotics trafficking, organized crime, gang violence, public corruption, cybercrime, financial and healthcare fraud and civil rights violations.

Prior to his appointment as US Attorney by President Biden last year, Barron served in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing District 24 for six years, and before that, he was a prosecutor in Prince George’s County and in Baltimore City, with a focus on violent crime.

Mr. Barron is the first African American to hold the post of Maryland US Attorney, and the first Democrat to be nominated for the position in the last 20 years. By this time next month, several important offices at the state and local level will be held by newly elected Democratic officials. Anthony Brown will become the Maryland Attorney General. Wes Moore will become Governor. And Ivan Bates will be sworn in as Baltimore City State’s Attorney.

Coordination with these and other officials is key to addressing the scourge of violence that has plagued cities like Baltimore for years.

US Attorney Erek Barron joins Tom today in Studio A.

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

Now, a conversation about maintaining our mental health in this holiday "season to be jolly."

The thing is, not everybody feels jolly, despite one song’s assertion that it’s the most wonderful time of the year. With the days at their shortest, and the pressures that the holidays can bring, it can be a challenge keeping things in perspective and staying psychologically healthy.

Joining Tom now is Dr. La Keita Carter. She’s a psychologist and the vice president of the board of directors of the Black Mental Health Alliance. She’s the owner of the Institute for HEALing, a wellness agency that provides comprehensive and culturally sensitive mental health treatment.

Dr. La Keita Carter joins us on Zoom…

If you or a loved one is facing a mental health crisis, you can find help in Central Maryland by calling the Mental Health & Suicide Hotline at 988.

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

Happy Hanukah!

In every election cycle, candidates for offices at the statewide and local levels promise to fund their legislative and programmatic priorities, in part, with savings from identifying waste, fraud and abuse.

In recent months, audits have found plenty of waste in various state and local agencies.

In October, our colleagues Rachel Baye of WYPR and Brenda Wintrode of the Baltimore Banner reported on an audit of the state health department that showed a contractor had cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments and millions in lost federal dollars.

Brenda also reported on multiple problems at the Maryland Department of Human Services in their system of distributing benefits. It appears that thousands of people received benefits who did not qualify for the programs they were enrolled in.

And in Baltimore City, a recent “Fiscal Report Card” for Fiscal Year 2021 revealed several areas of concern about how the city processes federal grants, inaccuracies in timesheets for city employees and other problems.

Joining Tom to talk about the findings related to the city are Baltimore City Comptroller Bill Henry and the City’s Director of Finance, Michael Moiseyev.

Both guests are with us in Studio A…

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

On 88.1, WYPR, broadcasting and streaming live from the performance studio of our sister station, WTMD in Towson, it’s the annual Midday Holiday Concert with Helicon and Friends.

On Saturday, Helicon and a host of other traditional artists will present their 37th annual Winter Solstice Concerts at Goucher College's Kraushaar Auditorium, with shows at 3:30 and 7:30pm.

For many of the past 37 years, the musicians have been appearing here on WYPR the day before those performances with a special musical preview.

Helicon, an acoustic trio formed in 1987 by guitarist Robin Bullock, flutist Chris Norman and master hammer dulcimer player Ken Kolodner, will be joined tomorrow by members of the Ken and Brad Kolodner Quartet, which also includes Alex Lacquement and Rachel Eddy, with special returning musician, Scottish National Fiddle Champion Elke Baker.

And Charm City Junction bandleader Brad Kolodner will be joined by Alex Lacquement, Sean McComiskey and Elke Baker.

The Winter Solstice Concerts will also feature six-time North American Step-Dance Champion Jonathon Srour and step-dancer Katie Ortel.

Many, if not quite all, of those folks join host Tom Hall this afternoon here at WYPR's sister station, WTMD.

In addition to today's live radio broadcast and our audio livestream at the WYPR home page, we also streamed live video of today’s Holiday Concert on the WYPR YouTube page, so you can check us out there, too.

Special thanks to Audio Engineer Charlie Hughes, WTMD Assistant Chief Engineer Megan Amoss, WTMD/WYPR Director of Events and Community Engagement Sam Sessa, and the staff of WTMD for hosting Midday at their performance studio in Towson.

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 the North American touring company production of Jagged Little Pill, now on stage at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre.

Based on singer Alanis Morissette's hit 1995 album of the same name, this new Tony and Grammy Award-winning Broadway musical tells a more complex story of "a perfectly imperfect American family," wrapped in renditions of songs from the potent, platinum-selling album.

With lyrics credited to Alanis Morissette, music & lyrics credited to Morissette and Glen Ballard, and book by Diablo Cody, the high-energy musical is directed by Diane Paulus, with music supervision by Tom Kitt.

Jagged Little Pill continues at The Hippodrome through Sunday, December 18. Click the links for more information.

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

How important is customer service to you? In addition to valuing the quality of the product you’re buying, how much do you value the quality of service you received when buying that product?

Tom's first guest today developed a research tool that is used to track people’s overall satisfaction with their consumer experience. Claes Fornell is the Distinguished Donald C. Cook Emeritus Professor of Business at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and the founder and chairman of the CFI Group. The tool Professor Fornell and his team developed is called the American Customer Satisfaction Index, or ACSI.

Claes Fornell joins us on Zoom from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Then, Tom speaks with Angie Barnett, the president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland. From porch pirates who steal packages, sometimes within seconds of their being delivered, to internet scams designed to take over your computer and/or your wallet, to all manner of other larcenous schemes, the holidays present opportunities for nefarious characters to prey on folks, especially older folks. We'll talk about what we can do to guard against these scams.

Angie Barnett joins us on Zoom from Baltimore.

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