Midday

Today, we resume a series that we've presented during every recent election cycle. Our Conversations with the Candidates 2022 interviews will allow voters to hear directly from the candidates for federal, state and city offices up and down the ballot. Tom Hall will sit down for extended discussions with candidates between now and the June 28th primary elections, and we’ll archive these conversations on this special WYPR Webpage.

Today Tom's guest is Del. Dan Cox, one of four candidates in the Republican Primary for Governor. He was elected in 2019 to represent Carroll & Frederick Counties in the House of Delegates. He serves on the Judiciary Committee. In 2016, he ran for Congress and lost to Rep. Jamie Raskin, who still holds that seat in the 8th district. Mr. Cox is a lawyer, who holds a degree from the University of Maryland University College, and a law degree from Regent University School of Law.Del. Cox has chosen Gordana Schifanelli, a lawyer from Queen Anne’s County, as his running mate.Del. Cox is 47 years old. He and his wife Melissa are the parents of 10 children. They live in Frederick County.Del. Dan Cox joins us on Zoom. We’ll take a few calls a little later in the program…

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

When Joe Biden was running for President, he promised that if given the opportunity, he would nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring at the end of the current term of the court, and on Friday, the President announced he would nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose career has taken her to many corners of the legal profession as a lawyer and as a judge.

Joining Tom to talk about this pick, and Judge Brown’s prospects in an evenly divided Senate, is Kim Wehle, a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, 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 an Instagram show called #Simple Politics, and she's a frequent contributor to The Bulwark, Politico and The Atlantic.

Kim Wehle joins us on our digital line from Bethesda, Maryland.

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

With Thursday's full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the world order has been shaken. Hours after the invasion began, President Joe Biden announced a second tranche of sanctions against Russia, which include measures against several more Russian banks and wealthy individuals. He asserted that the NATO alliance has never been stronger, and he warned that there will be hardships to bear throughout the world.

There are reports this morning that Russian forces are closing in on Kyiv, the capital and Ukraine’s largest city.

Today, analysis and reflections on the invasion.

Tom's first guest is Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a scholar of Eastern Europe, Russia, and Ukraine. She holds a Master’s degree in Regional Studies from Harvard University, and she’s a Penn PhD Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon joins us on Zoom from Richmond, Virginia.

Then, Tom speaks with Eric Hontz, a Baltimore businessman who works in Ukraine, and whose wife was born and raised in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Mr. Hontz, who serves as the Regional Director for Europe and Eurasia at CIPE, the Center for International Private Enterprise in Washington, DC, discusses the economic and personal impacts of the Russian aggression.

Eric Hontz joins us on Zoom from Baltimore.

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

Today on Midday, reactions to Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to launch a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

Ahead of by President Joe Biden's remarks from the White House Thursday afternoon on US and NATO responses to the invasion, Tom is joined by Senator Ben Cardin, Maryland's Democratic senior senator, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Finance Committees and chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission (for Security and Cooperation in Europe).

Senator Cardin joins us on Zoom.

Tom speaks next with Dr. Charles Gati, Senior Research Professor of European and Eurasian Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Dr. Gati was a former senior advisor with the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State and a former professor at Union College and Columbia University. He has written and spoken extensively on the former Soviet Union, Russia and Eastern European political affairs.

Dr.Charles Gati joins us on Zoom from Washington, D.C..

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

And now, Tom's Newsmaker guest is Al Hutchinson, the president and CEO of Visit Baltimore, the city's official destination sales and marketing organization.

Charm City is playing host for the first time to the annual CIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament this week (2/21-2/26). Visit Baltimore hopes the event will draw thousands of tourists and kickstart the return of local tourism.

Al Hutchinson joins us on Zoom (and his mobile) from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, venue for the CIAA tournament…

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

On today's Midday NewsWrap, an update on the situation in Ukraine.

Tensions in Ukraine continue to rise. Yesterday, the upper house of the Russian Parliament allowed President Vladimir Putin to take military action outside of Russia, and in defiance of international law, the Kremlin recognized the independence of two statelets in Ukraine, and sent troops there.

President Biden announced what he described as a “first tranche” of sanctions against two Russian banks and three wealthy Russian families in response to what the President described as “the beginning of an invasion” of Ukraine.

Joining Tom on our digital line from Odessa, Ukraine is NPR London correspondent Frank Langfitt.

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

Tom's guest for the hour today is Jabari Asim, one of the country’s most imaginative and versatile writers, whose body of work encompasses fiction and non-fiction, poetry, plays and children’s literature. He’s a former editor of The Crisis , the journal of the NAACP, and the Washington Post, where he wrote a syndicated column. He is the author of acclaimed non-fiction books, including The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn’t and Why and We Can’t Breathe: On Black Lives, White Lies, and the Art of Survival.

He is also the author of the novel, Only the Strong and a collection of short stories called A Taste of Honey. Professor Asim directs the MFA program at Emerson College in Boston, where he is also the Elma Lewis Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice.

Jabari Asim’s latest book is a historical novel set in 1852 in the American South. It chronicles the lives and loves, the longing for liberation, and the heartbreak and violence visited upon a community of enslaved people. This book is a profound masterpiece, peopled with a fascinating cast of characters who never lose touch with their dreams, in spite of unthinkable trauma. And one of the things that makes them so compelling is the fact that they never let the trauma of enslavement define them.

The novel is called Yonder.

Jabari Asim joins us on our digital line from Boston.

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

Tom's next guest is Imani Black. She is an oyster farmer who comes from a long line of oystermen from the Eastern Shore. Her degree is in Marine Biology, and her passion is bringing the story of African American participation in aquaculture to the next generation of Black women.

In 2020, she founded an organization called Minorities in Aquaculture to encourage women of color to pursue careers in aquaculture.

Imani Black joins us on Zoom from College Park, Maryland.

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

Joining Tom now is another gifted storyteller. Tara Roberts is a National Geographic Explorer and the host of Into the Depths, a 6-episode podcast that launched last month. It follows a group of Black scuba divers called Diving With a Purpose as they search for the wreckage of ships that were used to bring enslaved Africans to the Americas. Tara's account of the group's expedition is the cover story in National Geographic Magazine's March 2022 issue.

Tara Roberts joins us on Zoom from Durban, South Africa.

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

Happy President’s Day! Today on Midday, conversations with three groundbreaking chroniclers of African American history who are telling important stories in unique ways.

A little later in the program, I’ll speak with Tara Roberts, a National Geographic Explorer who hosts a podcast devoted to the search for lost slave ships. I’ll also speak with Imani Black, a marine biologist and oyster farmer who is bringing people of color into the world of aquaculture.

But we begin today with Evan Woodard. He’s a professional photographer, self-described historian, privy digger, and relic hunter based here in Baltimore who is the founder of a company called Salvage Arc. His discoveries include everything from 18th century pottery to 19th century out houses. Check out images of some of them on his Instagram site, @SalvageArc

Evan Woodard joins us on Zoom from Baltimore.

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