Midday

This week brought news of some positive signs in the area of real estate development in Baltimore. As five buildings near completion in the Port Covington Project on the city’s Southern tip, it was announced that two development firms have been chosen to lease and provide marketing for the next phase of the project. MAG Partners is based in New York. It is a woman-owned firm. MacFarlane Partners is a Black-owned firm based in San Francisco.

And on Monday, the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore released its annual report that shows a slight uptick in the number of businesses and residents in the area around the Inner Harbor.

But when it comes to the other 276 neighborhoods in Baltimore, the story is often not about growth, but decay. Tom's guests today lead two organizations that are turning that trajectory around.

Sean Closkey is the founding president of ReBUILD Metro, which is working to transform neighborhoods on Baltimore's East side.

Bree Jones is the founder and CEO of Parity, a development company that restores abandoned properties on the West side of town.

Sean Closkey joins us on our digital line; Bree Jones joins us on Zoom.

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

For decades, political discourse in Baltimore has included condemnation of the fact that there are “two Baltimores,” one in which opportunity abounds and the other in which systemic racism and inequity create insurmountable barriers.

Tom's guest today has lived in both Baltimores, and he has written a fascinating memoir that paints a vivid portrait of these two disparate worlds, and of himself. It is a portrait that is richly detailed, expertly researched, and beautifully enlarged by insight, candor and a fair dollop of iconoclasm.

Dr. Lawrence Jackson is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of English and History at Johns Hopkins University, and the founding director of the Billie Holiday Center for the Liberation Arts. He’s the author of several books on the history of African American writers and critics, the Black crime novelist Chester B. Himes, and the author Ralph Ellison. He also wrote a book about his family’s history in Virginia after the Civil War. His latest book is, in part, another work of family history. It's called Shelter: A Black Tale of Homeland, Baltimore.

Dr. Lawrence Jackson joins us on Zoom from Baltimore.

Dr. Jackson will discuss the book (again) with Tom Hall Wednesday night (May 11) with an audience at The Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, a place that figures prominently in the book. The event is co-sponsored by The Ivy Bookshop, and starts at 7:00. For more information, click here.

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

This past weekend, Baltimore Ceasefire 365 coordinated a number of events to call attention to the pain and trauma caused by the excessive levels of violence in our city. Ceasefire Weekends are held four times a year, and after each one, we pause here on Midday to reflect on how all of us can act to reduce violence and heal those who are broken by it.

Joining Tom today are Erricka Bridgeford. She’s a co-organizer of Baltimore Ceasefire 365 and the Executive Director of the Baltimore Community Mediation Center, which she co-founded in 1995 with Tom's other two guests:

Letrice Gant is another co-organizer of Baltimore Ceasefire and the Mediation Center’s Deputy Director…

Michelle Herring is also a co-organizer of Baltimore Ceasefire and the Mediation Center’s Neighborhood Peace Coordinator…

They all join us on Zoom from Baltimore.

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

It’s been two weeks since the stunning announcement that one of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk, has entered into a deal to purchase Twitter for roughly $44 billion dollars. The deal will take three to six months to close. If either side backs out, the other side gets a billion dollars as a breakup fee. Financial analysts have pointed to some potential problems with the way Musk is financing the deal, but there are no clear indications at this point that he won’t be able to pull this off.

As to what will happen after that, it’s hard to say. But that won’t stop us from trying today...

Tom's guest is Angelo Carusone, the President and CEO of Media Matters for America, a media watchdog. Mr. Carusone has joined a large chorus of observers who fear that Musk, who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist,” will open the platform to all manner of hate speech and disinformation.

What do you think? Is this good news or bad news for the world’s nearly 300 million Twitter users?

Angelo Carusone joins us on our digital line from Los Angeles.

You can join us as well: Call 410.662.8780 email: [email protected]. Or Tweet us: @MiddayWYPR.

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

Today, it’s another installment in our election-year series, Conversations with the Candidates: 2022. Tom's guest is John B. King, Jr.. He is an educator who served as the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2015-2017, during the last couple of years of the Obama Administration. Following that, he was appointed President and CEO of the Education Trust, a national non-profit that advocates on behalf of students of color and students from low-income families.

From 2011-2015, Dr. King was the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York.

Dr. King holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a master’s degree and doctorate in education from Columbia, and a law degree from the Yale Law School.

He is 47 years old. He is married to a fellow educator, Melissa Steel King. They have two school aged children, and they live in Silver Spring.

This is John King’s first campaign for public office. He is one of ten contenders in the Gubernatorial primary.

Dr. King has chosen Michelle Siri, the Executive Director of The Women’s Law Center of Maryland, as his running mate for Lt. Governor.

John King joins us on Zoom from Silver Spring, Maryland.

You are welcome to join us as well…call 410.662.8780; email: [email protected]; Tweet: @MiddayWYPR

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

Now it's time for a visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the Maryland stage. Today, she spotlights the new touring company production of Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations, lighting up the stage this week only, at Baltimore's historic Hippodrome Theatre.

The smash-hit 2019 Broadway musical — nominated for 12 Tony® Awards and the winner of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography — follows The Temptations’ extraordinary musical careers from their Detroit roots to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. During a decade of civil unrest and political turmoil, their smart-stepping, smoothly harmonized performances won the group 42 Top Ten Hits — with 14 reaching number one.

Ain’t Too Proud was written by three-time Obie Award winner Dominique Morisseau, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys), and features the Tony-winning choreography of Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys, On Your Feet!). The musical also features many of the group’s greatest hits, including Ain't Too Proud to Beg, My Girl, Just My Imagination, Get Ready, Papa Was a Rolling Stone, and others.

Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations continues at the Hippodrome Theatre through Sunday, May 8. For showtimes and ticket info, click here.

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

Joining Tom now is the songwriter and spoken word artist Wordsmith. His music is heard on Netflix hits like Russian Doll and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and in performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, where he is an artistic partner. He is performing a concert tomorrow night here in Baltimore that’s part of a multi-city tour that takes him coast to coast.

He’ll be collaborating with Kory Caudill, a recording artist, composer and pianist from Nashville, in a show called A Concert for the Human Family, at 6pm Friday night at the Church on the Square in Baltimore. Follow the links for more information.

Here's a sample of the work Kory and Wordsmith do together: "I Pray," (from Wordsmith's new album, "Progressions," Music by Kory Caudill and Words by our guest, Wordsmith and by Marc Costanzo.

And on June 1, Wordsmith performs with the Baltimore Symphony in a special Symphony in the City concert in Baltimore's Patterson Park. Again, check the links for more info and tickets.Wordsmith joins us today on Zoom from Baltimore.

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

A report on the political news website Punchbowl yesterday examined how prominent the issue of abortion has been in the midterm primaries. The answer is, “Not so much.” In December 2021 and January and February of this year, when Gallup asked respondents what they thought the most important problem was facing the United States today, fewer than half of one percent answered “abortion.” In March, that number went to zero.

If reaction to the leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court about its upcoming decision in an abortion case is any indication, that number has probably gone up this week. From an issue barely mentioned in primary races to what some are hoping will be the defining issue of the midterm elections, the future of abortion rights is on everybody’s minds again.

Joining Tom to discuss the political ramifications of this week’s stunning developments at the Supreme Court is Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent for National Public Radio.

Domenico joins us on our digital line from Washington, DC…

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

Time now for Midday on Personal Finance. Tom welcomes back the award-winning syndicated personal finance columnist for the Washington Post, Michelle Singletary. Her column is called The Color of Money. She is also the author of several books. Last year, we spoke about her latest, a hands-on, step by step guide to navigating out of financial problems when our money plans are upended by unexpected things like a pandemic, for example. It’s called What to Do With Your Money When Crisis Hits: A Survival Guide.

And, as recent events have demonstrated, global medical crises aren’t the only reason people find themselves behind the eight ball. Inflation, supply chain issues and war create trouble that is reflected in many aspects of our economy and our lives.

If you have questions about how to save, how to invest and how to handle the challenges of debt, or anything related to personal finance, this is your chance to ask an expert!

Join us…Call 410.662.8780. email: [email protected] Tweet: @MiddayWYPR

Michelle Singletary joins us on our digital line from Bowie, Maryland.

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

Politico's publication Monday night of a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion in a Mississippi abortion rights case set off a firestorm of criticism from abortion-rights supporters, and paroxysms of joy from abortion rights opponents. In a 98-page draft of an opinion that was not supposed to made public until the Court majority signed off on a final version, Justice Samuel Alito stated bluntly, “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision....”

He's referring, of course to the two landmark Supreme Court cases that have defined laws about abortion access: Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood.

Reaction from Democrats on Capitol Hill was swift. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to call a vote on legislation that would codify in law a woman’s right to end her pregnancy.

Joining Tom now is Sen. Chris Van Hollen. He is a co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, a version of which passed in the House last September.

Sen. Van Hollen was first elected to the Senate in 2016. He is standing for re-election this year. His opponent in the Democratic primary is Michelle Smith, a policy analyst at USAID and an audio engineer. Ten Republicans will appear on the ballot in July in the race to be the nominee to oppose Sen. Van Hollen in November.

Sen 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.