Midday

The Maryland State Board of Elections will meet this afternoon to certify the results of the state's November 8 midterm elections, so the results should be official by about 3:00.

Tom's guest for the hour today is Sen. Chris Van Hollen. The Democrat from Montgomery County won a resounding victory on November 8, being re-elected to a second term and besting his Republican challenger, Chris Chaffee, by about 30 points.

Sen. Van Hollen’s margin of victory was slightly larger than that of Governor-elect Wes Moore, who also garnered sizeable support in reliably Republican districts throughout the state. What does an electoral result like this mean, in terms of the mandate the Senator and his fellow Democrats have been given, as he returns to a Capitol Hill that will be markedly different than it’s been during his first term?

Republicans will control the House and House Democrats will have new leadership. Democrats still control the Senate, and their majority could be increased by one, if Sen. Raphael Warnock is able to hold off a challenge in the Georgia runoff race with the Republican nominee, Herschel Walker.

Senator Chris Van Hollen joins us on Zoom from his office on Capitol Hill.

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

Now, we turn to a grammarian who has written a terrific book that recounts her experience at the Grammar Table, a pop-up resource about grammar questions she set up at a card table in the park near her Manhattan apartment in 2018, and which she has since carried to all 50 states. The book is called Rebel With a Clause:  Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian. 

We're delighted that the book's author, Ellen Jovin, is with us, and that we’re setting up the Grammar Table, virtually, here on Midday. 

So, word-nerds, let’s hear from you! What are your questions about grammar and usage? How do you handle the Oxford comma? Are you a single-spacer or a double-spacer in-between sentences? And most importantly, how do feel about or my personal favorite: the distinction between the restrictive and nonrestrictive appositive?

Ellen Jovin joins us on Zoom, from New York…

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

Yesterday, a judge blocked the plea deal that had been reached between the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office and defense attorneys for the teenage squeegee worker charged in the murder of Timothy Reynolds on July 7th.

We begin the hour today with David Jaros, a law professor and faculty director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Dave Jaros joins Tom here in Studio A…

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It's time again for a visit with Midday's peripatetic 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 Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Katori Hall's 2019 Broadway hit, Tina: the Tina Turner Musical, currently in the middle of a 6-day run at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre.

The show, co-written by Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, is filled with Tina Turner's greatest hits, and portrays the singer's many challenges on her journey to becoming the Queen of Rock n Roll.

Acclaimed director Phyllida Lloyd leads the show's 30-member cast, with Zurin Villanueva and Naomi Rodgers sharing the title role. Music direction is by Alvin Hough, Jr.

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical continues at the Hippodrome Theatre through Sunday, November 20. Follow the show link for more information.

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

With Thanksgiving just a week away, we thought it was a good time to touch base with Monica Reinagel, the Nutrition Diva. She can set us straight about some myths concerning weight gain and weight loss, and she can offer some tips for not inflicting too much damage to the waistline at Thanksgiving and throughout the holidays.

Monica Reinagel is a licensed nutritionist and the author of six books, including Nutrition Diva’s Secrets for a Healthy Diet.  She’s the host of the Nutrition Over Easy website, and the creator of the weekly Nutrition Diva podcast, which has been one of Apple Podcasts/iTunes' most highly ranked health and fitness podcasts since it debuted in 2008.

She also co-hosts a podcast called Change Academy, with fitness and movement coach Brock Armstrong.

Monica Reinagel joins us on Zoom, and she welcomes your questions and comments as well...

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

Tom's guest today is an artist who defies categorization and whose creative outlets span an array of genres.

Dessa is a Minneapolis-born rapper, composer, poet, writer, and the host of Deeply Human, a podcast about science. She has given TED talks and speeches about entrepreneurship and art. She’s the author of a memoir in essays called My Own Devices.  Her latest book is a collection of poetry called Tits on the Moon.

Here's a link to a Dessa composition called Velodrome, in a recording of a live performance with the Minnesota Orchestra.

Dessa is spending a few days at Johns Hopkins University here in Baltimore as an artist in residence. She’s giving a concert at the Ottobar at 8pm this Thursday night, sharing the bill with a great local band, Outcalls.

Dessa joins Tom today in Studio A …

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Yesterday, the Baltimore Banner reported that the teenager currently charged as an adult with first degree murder in the killing of Timothy Reynolds would be offered a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter, and have his case transferred to juvenile court. A judge must approve the deal. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Mr. Reynolds was wielding a bat during an interaction with some squeegee workers in July near the Inner Harbor, which ended with his murder.

Following that tragic incident, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott convened a group of business leaders, city officials, health care workers and young people who squeegee to develop recommendations as to how to move those who squeegee off city streets and into alternatives.

The group is called the Squeegee Collaborative, and they have released an action plan that Tom discusses today with two of the co-chairs of the Collaborative.

Joe Jones is the founder and CEO of the Center for Urban Families…

John Brothers is the President of the T Rowe Price Foundation…

They join Tom in Studio A.

The Collaborative's recommendations, like many that have been suggested in the past, are designed to create alternative opportunities for squeegee workers. A little later in the program, we hear from Donte Johnson, the general manager of the Revival Hotel, recently rated by Fodor’s as one of the 21 best hotels in the United States. Johnson, as part of his "squeegee diversion program," has hired several squeegee workers to offer them training in the hospitality industry.

Donte Johnson joins us on Zoom.

And we invite listener comments and questions as well.

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

Tom's next guest is a young singer from Los Angeles who is taking the jazz world by storm. Her name is Tawanda Suessbrich-Joaquim, who performs as Tawanda.

Tawanda is the co-winner of the 2021 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. She’s singing a set here in Baltimore at Keystone Korner on Wednesday night, and she joins us here on Midday today on Zoom, from Los Angeles…

Tawanda's new album is called Smile. She will be performing one set only on Wednesday night at 7:30 at Keystone Korner.   Click here for ticketing info.

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

And now, a segment we call Midday in the Neighborhood.  Before the COVID pandemic, we took the time, now and then, to introduce listeners to various neighborhoods throughout the city of Baltimore. There are 278 named communities in our city, and many of them are not well known to folks city-wide.

Our series went on hiatus after COVID struck, and we're leased to revive it today with the help of our partner news organization, the Baltimore Banner. 

Banner reporter Jasmine Vaughn-Hall joins us. She covers West Baltimore, and along with her colleague, Clara Longo de Freitas, she has posted a story this morning on the Banner website about two neighborhoods in Baltimore: Allendale in the Southwest part of the city, and Little Italy, just east of the Inner Harbor.

Jasmine Vaughan-Hall joins us on Zoom.

Also with us is Betty Fenner-Davis, a fashion and costume designer who has returned to Allendale, the community she grew up in, and who is featured in Jasmine's and Clara's story today.

Betty Fenner-Davis joins us by phone.

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

We begin the hour with Midday on Politics.

The US Senate will stay in Democratic hands, following the victory of incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada. She beat a Trump-endorsed and heavily financed Republican opponent, Adam Laxalt.

Attention has turned to the House, where control hinges on several races in California that are yet to be decided. And, any time attention turns away from Donald Trump, he tends to do his best to redirect it back where it belongs. For more than a week, he has hyped a big announcement for tomorrow, when he may announce his candidacy for president.   

A whole bunch of Republicans want him to keep that decision out of the headlines until the Senate runoff election in Georgia between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and the Trump-backed Republican, Herschel Walker, is over. But Mr. Trump doesn’t have a long tradition of accepting the counsel of many Republicans. And he certainly doesn’t have a very successful history in advocating for Republicans in the House and Senate.

Tom's guest is Eugene Scott, a national political reporter with the Washington Post.

Eugene Scott joins us on our digital line from Washington, DC.

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