Midday

On Midday today, another in our series of Conversations with the Candidates: 2022. Tom's guest is Harford County Executive Barry Glassman. He is a Republican who is running unopposed in the Republican primary for Maryland Comptroller, the agency executive elected to serve as steward of the state's tax and financial affairs. There are two Comptroller candidates in the Democratic primary: Del. Brooke Lierman and Bowie Mayor Tim Adams. Tom will be speaking with them in the coming weeks.

Maryland Comptroller is an office that doesn’t change hands very frequently. Louis Goldstein had the job for nearly 40 years. The current Comptroller, Peter Franchot, was first elected to that office in 2007. He is running in the Democratic primary for Governor.

Barry Glassman is a sheep farmer who began his political career in 1990 when he was first elected to the Harford County Council. He served in the MD House of Delegates from 1999-2008, and in the MD Senate from 2008-2014. He has served as the President of the MD Association of Counties. He will soon complete his second term as County Executive.

Mr. Glassman holds a Bachelor’s Degree in political science from Washington College. Before entering politics, he was a claims adjuster for BGE. He has been active in the Harford County 4-H Club, the Harford County Farm Bureau and the Level Volunteer Fire Company.Barry Glassman is 60 years old. He and his wife are the parents of an adult son, and the grandparents of a young grandson.

Barry Glassman joins us on our digital line from Bel Air, MD.

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

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

It's Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking. Tom is joined again today by two of our favorite movie mavens: Ann Hornaday is film critic for the Washington Post and author of Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies, now available in paperback; she joins us on our digital line.

And joining us on Zoom is Jed Dietz, the founder and retired director of the Maryland Film Festival, which is about to begin its first IN-PERSON festival since 2019.

On today's program, we're also joined by the MD Film Festival's Artistic Director Christy LeMaster, who helps us spotlight some of the many short films, docs and features being showcased this year.

The Festival opens on April 27 and runs through May 1 at the Parkway. Check out the Festival schedule here.

Among the films highlighted today is HBO Max's new limited series, We Own This City, a 6-part dramatization of reporter Justin Fenton's best-selling book about the Baltimore Police Department's infamous Gun Trace Task Force scandal. A special Festival screening of the first episode of the series, on Thursday at 7pm, will be followed by a community panel discussion, including executive producers and writers George Pelecanos and David Simon (The Wire), writer D Watkins, and reporter Justin Fenton, author of the book We Own This City.

We get a sneak preview of Episode One of host and series co-writer D Watkins' official We Own This City Podcast, (which drops Monday), in which he interviews actor Jon Bernthal, the actor who portrays GTTF's Sgt Wayne Jenkins in the HBO Max series.

We also discuss Navalny, the new documentary by director Daniel Roher about jailed Russian dissident and Vladimir Putin rival Alexei Navalny. The doc is being screened at MFF at 9:30 Thursday night.

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

Today on Midday, we continue our series of Conversations with the Candidates: 2022. Tom's guest is Thiru Vignarajah, who is running in the Democratic primary for Baltimore City State’s Attorney.

This is his third try for public office. He ran for State’s Attorney in 2018, and he ran for Baltimore Mayor in 2020. His opponents in the 2018 race are the same people he is facing this time around: the incumbent, Marilyn Mosby, and former prosecutor and defense attorney, Ivan Bates. A fourth candidate, Roya Hannah has announced her intention to run in the general election as an independent.

Mr. Vignarajah served as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore. He also headed the Major Investigations Unit in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, and he was the Deputy Attorney General for Maryland for about two years. He was a partner at the law firm, DLA Piper, and since August of last year, he has been the CEO of Capital Plus Financial, a community development financial institution (CDFI) that works to close the wealth gap for people of color.

Mr. Vignarajah is 45 years old. He attended Yale University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review. He was also a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Thiru Vignarajah joins us on Zoom.

You are welcome to join us as well…give us a call at 410.662.8780. email us: [email protected], or Tweet us: @MiddayWYPR

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

Today on Midday: strategies to help people who are homeless.

Tom's first guest is Dr. Sam Tsemberis, a clinical psychologist and the founder of Pathways Housing First Institute. He is the creator of what’s come to be known as the “Housing First” model, which Tsemberis calls the “vaccine for homelessness.”

Sam Tsemberis joins us on Zoom from Los Angeles, California.

Then, Tom speaks with Katie Allston, the president and CEO of Marian House, a Baltimore organization that has been helping formerly incarcerated women with housing and support services since 1982. On Friday night, they will celebrate their 40th anniversary with an event at the R House Garage in Remington, hosted by the actor Rachel Hilson and Denise Koch of WJZ Television.

We also hear from recent Marian House graduate Juanita “Nita” Bowie.

Juanita Bowie and Katie Allston join us on Zoom from Baltimore...

The United Nations estimates that more than 11 million people have been displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Roughly half of them have fled their homes to other places in Ukraine, but nearly 5 million people have fled to other countries, including the United States.

Airbnb is coordinating with federal officials to provide free, temporary housing for refugees from Ukraine here and throughout Europe.

Tom's next guest is Liz DeBold Fusco, the Communications Lead for North America for Airbnb. She joins us on Zoom from Colts Neck, New Jersey.

BTW, local musicians are collaborating to help Ukraine. Tomorrow night, members of the Baltimore Symphony will partner with The Creative Alliance for a concert at the Meyerhoff. For more info, click here.

And on Saturday night, An Die Musik in Baltimore will present pianist Lisa Weiss, hammer dulcimer virtuoso Ken Kolodner, klezmer clarinetist Seth Kibel, and mandolin master Joel-Michael-Schwartz in a concert to benefit Ukraine.

For information on that concert, click here.

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

It's time again for a visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom each week with her reviews of the regional stage.

Today, she spotlights a mostly faithful and lively new adaptation of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 adventure novel, Treasure Island, in a world-premiere production on stage at the Classic Theatre of Maryland (formerly Annapolis Shakespeare Company).

CTM's founder and artistic director Sally Boyett and resident director Donald Hicken wrote the streamlined new adaptation. Their family-friendly play runs about two hours, including an intermission.

Treasure Island continues at Classic Theatre of Maryland in Annapolis through April 24. Follow the theater link above for showtimes and ticketing information.

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

Today on Midday, a conversation about public safety and strategies for ending the gun violence that plagues so many Baltimore neighborhoods.

Tom's first guest is Maryland Delegate Chanel Branch. She is a Democrat. In 2020, she was appointed as one of three delegates to represent Baltimore City in District 45, replacing Cheryl Glenn, who went to jail when she was convicted on corruption charges.

Del. Branch served alongside her father, House Majority Whip Talmadge Branch, who was first elected in 1995. On Friday, Talmadge Branch announced he will not seek re-election. Chanel Branch is running to retain her seat, as is the other incumbent, Del. Stephanie Smith.

Other challengers in the 45th district include Jackie Addison, George Johnson and Caylin Young.

We’ve invited Del. Branch to the show today to talk about a bill she introduced (HB 1430) during the 2022 session establishing Gun Courts. The Delegate has personal experience with the tragedy of gun violence. Her son, Tyrone Ray, was murdered in 2017.

Del. Chanel Branch join us on Zoom…

Then, Tom speaks with Shantay Jackson, the head of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), about the city's new efforts to create a Community Violence Intervention Ecosystem in Baltimore.

Shantay Jackson joins us on Zoom from her office in City Hall.

Join us…

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

Today, it’s another installment in our series of Conversations with the Candidates: 2022. Tom's guest for the hour is Judge Katie Curran O’Malley. In October, 2021, she retired after 20 years as a Baltimore District Court judge to run in the Democratic primary for Maryland Attorney General. The incumbent AG, Democrat Brian Frosh, will retire at the end of this term.

Judge O’Malley was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1991, and she began her legal career that year as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Baltimore County. She was appointed as a Judge on the Baltimore District Court in 2001 by Gov. Paris Glendening.

Her opponent in this year's primary election is Congressman Anthony Brown, who served for eight years as Lt. Governor in the administration of Judge O’Malley’s husband, Gov. Martin O’Malley. Judge O’Malley’s father, J. Joseph Curran, Jr. also served as Lt. Governor (with MD Governor Harry Hughes) and won election five times to serve as Maryland Attorney General, from 1987 to 2007 — the longest tenure of any Attorney General in the state's history.

Katie Curran O’Malley holds an undergraduate degree in international studies from Towson University and a law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

She is 59 years old. She and her husband live in Baltimore. They are the parents of four grown children.

Judge O’Malley joins us on our digital line from Baltimore.

And you are welcome to join us as well…Call: 410.662.8780. email: [email protected]Tweet us: @MiddayWYPR

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

Tom's Newsmaker guest today is Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, who has served as the president of University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) for 30 years. He will retire from that position at the end of June. He will be succeeded by a scholar and Dean from Duke University, Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby.

Dr. Hrabowski is UMBC’s fifth president, and by far, the most impactful. For years, he has been regularly included on the lists of the world’s most influential people and top leaders. He has been an unparalleled visionary as an educator, and a joyful and tireless champion of diversity and equity in academia and in society at large.

He transformed UMBC’s modest, somewhat sleepy Catonsville campus into an academic powerhouse, which is now recognized as one of only 146 R1 institutions, the highest ranking afforded to the country’s most prestigious research institutions. And he has created opportunities for students from diverse and non-traditional academic backgrounds. For years, UMBC has produced more Black M.D. and Ph. D. degree-earners than any other college in the country.

Freeman Hrabowski’s commitment to civil rights and social justice has been life-long. He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Before he was a teenager he was marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and he counted among his friends the girls who were murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963.

Dr. Freeman Hrabowski joins us on our digital line from the UMBC campus in Catonsville.

You're welcome to join us as well, by phone: 410.662.8780 email: [email protected] or Tweet: @MiddayWYPR

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

Today, we're going to talk about Title IX.

What's Title IX? It's a statute within the Education Act passed by the US Congress in 1972 which states that:

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

That has been the law of the land for 50 years. And in recognition of that milestone, a group of journalists from the University of MD have spent four months looking closely into whether Title IX is doing what it set out to do when it comes to high school sports. They have published a series of reports called “Unlevel Playing Fields.”

Three guests join me today to talk about this investigation and what it has revealed.

Sandy Banisky is a former editor at the Baltimore Sun, and the Abell Professor in Baltimore Journalism for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. And, full disclosure, Sandy also serves as a member of the board of directors of WYPR…

Mark Hyman has been a good friend of Midday for many years. He is a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun and other publications, and he’s written three books on youth sports. He is the director of The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of MD…

Lauren Rosh is a senior at the University of MD, and the managing editor of Testudo Times, which covers sports at the school. She is one of more than 20 student reporters who contributed reporting to this project.

The report was a collaborative effort by the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

All our guests join us on Zoom from College Park, Maryland.

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

Last month, to the surprise of many, the United States Senate passed, by voice vote, a measure that would keep Daylight Saving Time year round. No more falling back in November and springing forward in March. The bill still has to clear the House. Neither Speaker Nancy Pelosi nor President Biden has said whether or not they support it.

We tried this once before. In 1974, Congress tried permanent Daylight Saving Time in an effort to save energy, by increasing daylight hours at the end of the day. Americans hated it, and we’ve been changing our clocks twice a year ever since. Recent polling, however, indicates much broader support for the idea.

Today on Midday, a conversation about the merits and pitfalls of permanent daylight saving time, or the counter proposals: making standard time permanent, or staying with the system we’ve got.

We begin our discussion with a Delegate from the Maryland General Assembly who has introduced a bill that would keep the clocks set to Daylight Saving Time all year in Maryland.Del. Brian Crosby represents District 29B, in St. Mary’s County. He's a Democrat who serves as the vice chair of the Economic Matters Committee in the House of Delegates.

Delegate Crosby joins Tom on Zoom from St. Mary's County.

Later in the hour, Tom talks with Dr. Beth Ann Malow, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who has studied what happens when we switch back and forth between standard and daylight time. She's also the director of Vanderbilt’s sleep division.

Dr. Malow joins us on Zoom from Nashville, Tennessee.

Then, for another perspective on the issue of making Daylight Saving Time permanent, Tom speaks with Lisa VanBuskirk. She's the Maryland and Anne Arundel County chapter leader of Start School Later, a nonprofit advocacy group that is concerned with kids starting their school day in the dark.

Lisa VanBuskirk joins us on Zoom…

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