Midday

Now, another in Midday's series of Conversations with the Candidates, 2022, produced as a service to Maryland voters in the runup to the November 8 general election. 

Midday host Tom Hall speaks with The Working Class Party of Maryland's nominees for Maryland Governor, David Harding, and for Maryland lieutenant governor, Cathy White.

David Harding has lived and worked in Baltimore for many decades, as a steelworker, shipyard worker, and as a computer operator for the Maryland Department of Health. He has been active in two unions.

Cathy White has worked in many different jobs, babysitting and cleaning other people's homes, working in a pizza joint, a pet hotel, a nursing home, and a warehouse. She has worked at a photofinishing factory for the last 35 years.

Both candidates helped gather the signatures needed to win certification of the Working Class Party as Maryland's newest political party. The party was certified by the State Board of Elections in March, 2020, after submitting more than 10,000 valid petition signatures to the state elections office. David Harding was the chairman of the petition effort.

Our interview was conducted on September 16, 2022. Mr. Harding spoke with Tom in the WYPR studio, while Ms. White joined on Zoom. This conversation is being distributed exclusively on Midday's Web and podcast platforms.

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

Joining Tom now is LaFontaine Oliver, the president of the Your Public Radio Corporation and the General Manager of WYPR.  He has also just completed a term as chairman of NPR's Board of Directors.

LaFontaine Oliver joins Tom in Studio A to talk about some of the issues facing Your Public Radio as WYPR wraps up its Fall Membership Campaign.

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 Baltimore Center Stage's new production of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Our Town, often described as the finest American play ever written.

The classic 1938 theater piece, which tells the story of the people in a fictional American small town, is reimagined in the new production in a way that draws inspiration from our own town, Baltimore.

Directed by Obie Award winner Stevie Walker-Webb (who directed BCS’s acclaimed The Folks at Home), Our Town chronicles a community, in their "growing up, their marrying, their living and their dying," and shines a poignant light on the beauty of the individual.

Our Town continues at Baltimore Center Stage through October 9th. Follow the links for more information.

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

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol last year delayed the hearing it had originally scheduled for yesterday due to hurricane Ian, which began slamming parts of Florida yesterday. Severe damage and flooding are making Ian one of the worst storms in US history. No new date for the committee hearing has yet been announced.

Today on the Midday Newswrap, we focus on what the committee is expected to cover in what could be its final public hearing, as well as what else is going on in Congress as the midterm elections draw ever closer.

Election Day is November 8th.

Tom's guest is Theo Meyer. He’s a national political reporter for The Washington Post and a co-author of the Post's The Early 202 newsletter.

Theo Meyer joins us on our digital line from Washington…

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

On Midday today, Tom's guest for the hour is an award-winning news anchor who has been a fixture on local television for decades. Stan Stovall will be retiring soon as an anchor at WBAL Television. In 1971, as an anchor at a station in Phoenix, Arisona, Stan was the youngest anchor in the United States. He was 18 years old.

His career as a newsman — behind the desk and in the field — has taken him to Philadelphia, St. Louis, and as a journalist with a keen interest in international affairs, he has reported from Southeast Asia, Central America, Russia, Ukraine, and Italy.

But it is his work at WMAR and WBAL that has endeared him to generations of viewers in the Baltimore metropolitan area. This past weekend, he was honored with a prestigious Gold Circle award by the National Capital/Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for his 50+ years in TV broadcasting -- an honor that has been bestowed on only 23 people.

And having made the decision to step away from the anchor desk, we thought we would take a minute to ask Stan to reflect on his career, and give our listeners a chance to share their reflections as well.

Stan Stovall joins Tom today in Studio A.

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

Today on Midday, we’re going to follow-up on a Midday exclusive story we brought you last week about Question K, a voter referendum issue that will appear on ballots in Baltimore city in the November election.

Question K asks voters to decide whether or not city officials should be limited to two terms in office, beginning in 2024. Sounds simple enough, right? You hold an office for two terms, and you can’t run for that office again unless you wait four years.

When we first read the Question on a draft of the city ballot posted recently on the Maryland Board of Elections website, it never dawned on us that a candidate who is term-limited in one office would not be allowed to run for another office.

For example, if someone serves as City Council President, after two terms, one assumes she could run for Mayor.That is exactly the intention of the organization who collected signatures to get the Question on the ballot. Last week, Tom spoke about the merits of term limits with former Mayors Sheila Dixon and Kurt Schmoke, who served as Mayor for three terms in the late 1980s and 1990s. Mayor Schmoke pointed out that the language of the Question on the ballot disallows a person from running for any office after having served 8 years.

That’s not what term limit proponents said when they wrote the actual language that will become part of the charter if this Question passes. That language specifically says that this provision “shall not preclude an elected official from seeking other elected office” in Baltimore City.

So what are we voting for?And who is calling for the vote?

That organization is called People for Elected Accountability & Civic Engagement. It’s chaired by Jovani Patterson, a former Republican candidate for Baltimore City Council President, and the effort is largely funded by David Smith, the chair of Sinclair Broadcasting, a media company that owns Fox 45 and other stations around the country.

So, today, let’s talk about three things:

Are term limits a good idea?

It’s legal, but is it proper for a media organization to actively promote changes to Baltimore City law?

What happens when the language of what we’re voting for is different than the statute that will result from that vote?

We’ll take the last question first. Tom spoke this morning with Jim Shea, the Baltimore City Solicitor, and we begin with their recorded conversation.

Then, two veteran political observers weigh in on Question K.

Larry Gibson of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Carey School of Law, who joins us in Studio A; and Jayne Miller, who retired recently from WBAL Television, who joins us on Zoom.

During the conversation, we are also joined on the phone by Question K proponent Jovani Patterson, chair of People for Elected Accountability & Civic Engagement, which is sponsoring the ballot initiative.

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

It’s Midday on Education.  Students in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, as well as throughout the state, have been back at the books for about a month now. As is our custom, we like to check in with school leaders at the beginning of the school year to see how the academic year is going so far.

Tom's first guest is Dr. Sonja Santelises. She was appointed CEO of the Baltimore City Public Schools in 2016, making her the longest-serving schools chief in the City in the past 30 years. Dr. Santelises joins us on Zoom…

Later in the hour, Tom speaks with Dr. Darryl L. Williams, the Superintendent of Schools for Baltimore County Public Schools. He was appointed to his position on May 21, 2019, by the County Board of Education. Dr. Williams also joins us on Zoom.

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

We open with a selection from Albeniz's Granada...as performed by Tom's next guest, Emmanuel Barrueco. He is an internationally acclaimed performing artist and teacher. He lives here in Baltimore, and he serves on the faculty of the Peabody Institute. He has toured the world and recorded many albums. He and his wife are the founders of the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, which is sponsoring a prestigious competition this weekend.Emmanuel Barrueco joins us on Zoom…

The Final Round of the Baltimore International Guitar Competition continues this weekend, tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon. For more information about the public concerts, follow the link.

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

We begin today with the Mexican American poet, novelist and essayist, Erika L. Sánchez.

Her book, I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is being made into a film. It was a New York Times best selling young adult novel, and a finalist for the National Book Award.

Ms. Sánchez is the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Chair, and Writer-in-Residence in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at DePaul University in Chicago.

Her latest book is a fascinating memoir, a collection of essays that chronicles her childhood in a poor immigrant household, through her journey to become a successful writer, and a happily married mother.

It’s called Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir. 

Erika L. Sánchez joins us on Zoom from Chicago…

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

Next, an exclusive update to a conversation Tom had on Wednesday's Midday show with former Baltimore mayors Sheilah Dixon and Kurt Schmoke, about an important November ballot initiative.

Mayor Schmoke, a seasoned attorney who now serves as president of the University of Baltimore, pointed out something very interesting about Question K, the ballot referendum that if approved this November, would impose a two-term limit on city office holders in Baltimore.

Here’s what Articles 3-5 of the actual charter amendment (the law) will say regarding term limits if the ballot measure passes:

"Term Limit.

(City Council members, City Council President, Mayor and Comptroller) shall not hold office for more than two (2) consecutive full terms of office and in no event shall hold the office for more than eight (8) years during any twelve (12) year period. This provision shall not preclude an elected member / President / Mayor / Comptroller from seeking other elected offices within Baltimore City after two consecutive terms as member / President / Mayor / Comptroller.  In the event that an elected [official] takes office as a result of a removal or vacancy as described in §§ 2 or 6 of this Article, that elected [official] shall only be eligible to hold that office for the remainder of the predecessor’s unexpired term and one (1) consecutive full term thereafter."

Here’s what’s on the ballot summary provided to the Board of Elections, and that voters will see:

"Question K is for the purpose of establishing a two-term limit for Baltimore City elected officials, including the Mayor, Comptroller, City Council President, and City Council members. None of these elected officials shall hold office for more than eight (8) years during any 12-year period. In the event that an elected member takes office as a result of a removal or vacancy as described in §§ 2 or 6 of this Article, that elected member shall only be eligible to hold that office for the remainder of the predecessor’s unexpired term and one (1) consecutive full term thereafter. This amendment would be effective beginnin g with persons elected to the 2024 Baltimore City Election."

The language highlighted in bold in the charter amendment above is omitted from the ballot summary.

Tom explains why, when it comes to voting on charter amendments, what it says on the ballot isn’t always a complete summary of what would end up being law.

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