Midday

Anne Wiggins Brown — whom we hear at the opening of this segment singing "Summertime" from the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess — is one of the many great artists to come out of Baltimore’s rich musical community.

Porgy and Bess composer George Gershwin chose the then-23 year-old Brown to sing the title role of Bess in his opera, a role that helped launch her storied career. This weekend, Opera Baltimore will celebrate the great soprano with a festival and concert. Among the featured performers will be the great soprano, composer and educator, Adrienne Danrich.

Joining Tom now in Studio A with a preview is the Artistic and General Director of Opera Baltimore, Julia Cooke.

The Opera on the Avenue festival begins at 10:30 Saturday morning just off Pennsylvania Ave on Cumberland Street. The performance by Adrienne Danrich is tomorrow night at 7:30 at University Baptist Church in Charles Village here in Baltimore. Click the link for more info.

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

Today, we begin the hour with another installment of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking. We're pleased to have with us again movie mavens Ann Hornaday, film critic for the Washington Post, who joins us on Zoom, and Jed Dietz, the founder and former director of the Maryland Film Festival and Parkway Theater. He's with us in Studio A.

Today, they spotlight several new films, including The Woman King; Don't Worry, Darling; and Catherine Called Birdy, and review some of the other new movies showcased at last month's Toronto International Film Festival.

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 us each week with her reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today, she tells us about the new production of Pulitzer Prize- and Obie Award-winning playwright Katori Hall's 2007 drama, Hoodoo Love, on stage now through October 9th at Baltimore's Spotlighters Theatre.

Directed at Spotlighters by Rain Pryor, the play tells the story of Toulou, a Black woman who flees the Mississippi cotton fields of the 1930s to pursure her dream of becoming a blues singer in Memphis. It's a love story laced with magic, and stars Sharon Carter Brown as Toulou, Andromeda Bacchus as Candy Lady, Mark Wallace as Ace of Spades, and Nikolas Hubbard as Jib.

Hoodoo Love continues at Spotlighters Theatre through October 9. Follow the link for more information.

NOTICE: The play contains depictions of sexual assault, rape, and sexual violence, and mature subject matter in dialogue and action. Parental discretion is advised.

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

Tom's next guest is Alice Volpitta, a water quality and monitoring scientist who has served since 2019 as Harbor Water Keeper for Blue Water Baltimore, the local not-for-profit clean water watchdog group.

She has an update on the status of the State’s oversight of Baltimore City's troubled wastewater treatment plants.

Alice Volpitta joins us on Zoom.

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

We begin the hour today with Midday with the Mayor, and another of Tom's monthly conversations with Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott about key issues facing the city and residents of Charm City.

Among the topics on the agenda today: the city's new police districts; some progress in reducing gun violence; continuing concerns about the city's wastewater treatment facilities; and the mayor's latest allocations of funds from the federal American Rescue Plan.

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

Today it's Midday on the Law.

The U.S. Supreme Court kicked off its new term on Monday, a term that many expect will include some blockbuster rulings on par with the overturning of Roe v Wade, the controversial decision from last term. This year, cases on voting rights, the environment, gay rights, freedom of speech and other issues may result in the court swinging US law farther to the right.

Joining Tom to talk about the High Court's agenda and other legal news is University of Baltimore law professor Kimberly Wehle. This year, she is a visiting professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. She’s a former Assistant US Attorney, and 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. 

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

Kim Wehle joins us on our digital line from Washington, DC.

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

Come January, the State of Maryland will have three new elected officials in three key statewide offices: Governor, Attorney General and Comptroller. Governor Larry Hogan is term-limited and cannot run again. Attorney General Brian Frosh is retiring, and the incumbent Comptroller, Democrat Peter Franchot, did not seek re-election to a fifth term, opting to run for Governor instead.

Today, it’s another installment in our series of Conversations with the Candidates 2022, with the two contenders who are running to succeed Mr. Franchot as Maryland State Comptroller.

Republican Barry Glassman is completing his second term as Harford County Executive. He joins us on Zoom…

Democrat Brooke Lierman is completing her second term as a Delegate in the Maryland House representing Baltimore City. She joins Tom here in Studio A…__________________________________________

Del. Lierman and County Executive Glassman will appear together in a forum sponsored by the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Maryland Bar Association on Tuesday morning, October 18, at 8:00am at Goucher College. Tom Hall will be moderating that event. The public is invited, but you need to register, and you can do that by clicking here.

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

And now, another edition of the Midday Healthwatch, Tom's monthly conversation with public health advocate Dr. Leana Wen. She's an emergency physician and visiting professor at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. She’s also a former Health Commissioner of the city of Baltimore, and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, as well as a commentator for CNN and a columnist for the Washington Post. Her latest book is called Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health.

Today, Dr. Wen discusses whether the pandemic is really over, as President Biden recently asserted in his 60 Minutes interview on CBS. His statement stirred controversy. Health officials noted that nearly 400 people are still dying every day, and stocks of the three companies that produce vaccines tumbled down 9%. But does he have a point?

The new bivalent booster that targets the omicron variant certainly presents an opportunity to enter a new phase in handling the disease. Who should get it, and when? And, what’s the best way to handle the side effects of the boosters that some people experience?

Plus, the nursing shortage persists in hospitals across the country. Dr. Wen has some observations about how to attract and retain these vital health care professionals.

Dr. Leana Wen joins us on Zoom.

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

Joining Tom now is Naima Coster, the author of the New York Times best seller, What’s Mine and Yours, which has been chosen by Maryland Humanities as this year’s One Maryland One Book. That’s a program in which Marylanders all over the state read the same book, and have the opportunity to talk about it with other readers, and with the author.

Naima Coster’s novel explores the dynamics of family and community, and the divisions that course through the lives of sisters and their circle in a story that pivots from North Carolina to California, France, and elsewhere.

Ms. Coster will be appearing throughout the state next week, beginning this Sunday afternoon, when she’ll talk about What’s Mine and Yours at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture.

Naima Coster joins us today on Zoom from New York…

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

Today on Midday, conversations with two novelists who have written books about racial inequality, liberation and integration. They are very different stories, but they are both insightful, provocative, and compelling. Naima Coster is the author of What’s Mine and Yours.  We’ll talk with Naima a little later in the program.

We begin with Dr. Wendy Shaia, who serves on the faculty of the University of MD School of Social Work, and as the Executive Director of the Social Work Community Outreach Service. For years, she’s done anti-racism work, and she’s written numerous scholarly articles.

Her first novel is set in Baltimore in the near future. It imagines a secret organization of Black men and women who train and organize for armed resistance to white supremacy. It is part dystopian fiction, and part ripped from the headlines. Part Wakanda and part Consent Decree. Part Black Panther Movement and part Unite the Right.

It's called The Black Cell, and it’s been chosen as a finalist in the 2022 American Fiction Awards.

Tomorrow at 4pm, Dr. Shaia will talk about it at Busboys and Poets in Baltimore. Click the link for more info.

Wendy Shaia joins us here on Midday today, on Zoom, from Gambrills, Maryland.

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