Midday

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joins Midday to discuss his 10-year plan for the city's coffers and renewed tensions with State's Attorney Ivan Bates over anti-violence initiatives.

Yesterday, Scott released a 10-years Financial Plan for the city that aims to improve delivery of city services, invest in infrastructure, and make its tax rate more competitive with surrounding jurisdictions.

From the city's fleet of vehicles, to worker compensation to renovations at the Convention Center, the initiatives in the Scott's plan touch many corners of city government.

And a new chapter in the tense relationship between Bates and Scott unfolded earlier this week. On Tuesday, our news partner the Baltimore Banner broke the story that Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates has sent a letter to Mayor Scott announcing that his office would no longer coordinate its efforts to reduce violence with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

The efforts to cut down the number of homicides and nonfatal shootings have yielded very positive results. To date this year, nearly 60 fewer people have been victims of homicide than at this time in 2024. The city is on track to have the fewest number of homicides in almost 50 years.

Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act were intended to keep the economy afloat during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Baltimore received 631 million dollars, which could be spent on paying essential workers, disaster relief, infrastructure or in response to other negative consequences of the pandemic.

83 percent of those funds have been spent as of November 2025, according to Mayor's Office of Recovery Programs online dashboard.

Elizabeth Tatum is the Chief Recovery Officer of the City of Baltimore, which oversees ARPA funds. She joins Midday for an update as 2026 approaches, final year to spend the funds.

Big changes are coming to Midday.

After hosting the program for the past 10 years, Tom decided it is time to step down from the host chair and transition into a new role here at WYPR.

Here is his on-air statement from today's episode:

I want to let you know about some changes here at Midday that will take place in the next couple of months. It has been my great honor and privilege to host this program for the past 10 years. I have decided that now is the time for me to step down as the host of the show, and transition into a new role here at WYPR.

This will, I hope, accomplish two things. First, it will create an opportunity for another voice, a different perspective, and a new take on the issues of the day. I don’t own Midday. I’ve been its steward for the last decade, and I think it’s important that I make room for others to step forward and be heard.

Second, it will allow me the opportunity to do some different things and to serve listeners in a new way. I’ve been on the air at WYPR for more than 22 years, and my roles have changed from time to time. In the new year, my role will change again, when I’ll become WYPR’s Senior News Analyst.

It’s a position last held here by my dear friend and mentor, Fraser Smith, who died four years ago. Like Fraser, I hope to deliver commentaries, report on critical issues, and offer my perspective on Midday, in special projects, and on other shows that WYPR may develop in the future.

In the immediate future, in January, I’ll begin hosting Midday three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

And when the WYPR management chooses a new host, I’ll explore other ways to continue the conversation that you and I have been having all these years. It’s a conversation I’ve been honored to have, and which I am very excited about continuing.

I am proud and humbled to be part of the history of Midday, a history that my friends Marc Steiner, Dan Rodricks and Sheilah Kast created and sustained. Whoever takes the reins of Midday to continue that history will do so with my support and encouragement.

And I will offer that support with deep gratitude to you, for what you and all the people who listen to this show bring, each and every day, to the Midday community.

Thank you for your interest and attention throughout my tenure as the Midday host, and thank you for sticking with Midday, and with me, as together, we navigate the future.

I’m Tom Hall. I’ll be back with you tomorrow. Thanks for listening. Have a great day.

Dr. Michelle Taylor is from Memphis, Tennessee, where she previously ran the region's public health department.

Ivan Bates has long been a critic of MONSE, the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.

The National Aquarium is approaching a half century on Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Retiring CEO John Racanelli joins us to discuss what comes next.

Ernestina Simmons, Director of the Mayor's Office of Homeless Services, joins us to discuss her agency's efforts to provide shelter and resources for the growing numbers of unhoused in Baltimore.

At President Donald Trump’s insistence, the legal apparatus of the US government has been employed to aggressively pursue his political enemies.

James Comey, Letitia James, and John Bolton have been indicted. A judge threw out the charges against the former FBI director and the New York Attorney General, but their legal entanglements with the president are not yet over.

Senators Adam Schiff and Mark Kelly, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, former Special Counsel Jack Smith, former Gov. Chris Christie and others are under investigation.

The President is using the power of the US military to conduct extra-judicial killings in open waters. Since September, more than 80 people, in nearly two dozen attacks, have been killed because they are suspected of trafficking drugs. Congress has vowed to investigate reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the killing of two survivors of one of those attacks, an order that could constitute a war crime.

Kim Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and the host of the Substack The Little Law School, joins Tom to talk about the rule of law and the foundations of our democracy in the age of Trump.

Kim Wehle joins us on Zoom.

For twenty-five years, an organization started by a former star player for the Baltimore Orioles has been helping individuals with autism and their families.

BJ Surhoff played for the Os from 1996–2000 and again from 2003–2005. In 2000, with his wife, Polly, he founded Pathfinders for Autism.

Public perceptions of those with autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, have changed over the years, and so has the range of services that have been made available to people with autism and those who love them.

B.J. Surhoff serves as the president of the Pathfinders for Autism board. Rebecca Rienzi is the group's executive director.

They join Tom on Zoom…

Pathfinders will hold a Mock Traffic Stop workshop with Baltimore County Police on December 3. For more information and to register for the free event, click here.

John Shields and Damian Mosely, two of Baltimore's most successful chefs, join Tom in Studio A to share favorite Thanksgiving recipes and answer listener questions about fixing the big holiday meal.