Midday

This past weekend, August 6th through 8th, was a Ceasefire Weekend, one of four observed each year by Baltimore Ceasefire 365, the grassroots, community-led non-profit organized in 2017 in response to Baltimore's epidemic of violence. The Weekends, held annually on the Mother's Day weekend in May and the first weekends of February, August and November, are designed to galvanize community interest in the quest to end the killings in the city, and to generate positive and healing energies in response to the negativity of violence.

One of Baltimore Ceasefire 365’s original co-organizers is Darnyle Wharton. He joins us today to bear witness to our weekly reading of the Names of the Fallen — Baltimoreans who lost their lives to violence during the past week — and to describe some of the uplifting events he and the rest of the Ceasefire Organizing Squad helped to stage for this past Ceasefire Weekend.

Darnyle Wharton joins us on Zoom from his home in Baltimore.

If you're interested in supporting the work of Baltimore Ceasefire 365, click here.If you feel like jumping in and actually joining them in the work, check out this link.

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Almost everybody these days has a horror story about the US Postal Service. The medication that was late arriving, or which never arrived at all. The New Yorker magazines that arrive three at a time, months after their publication dates. The Christmas card, the Mother’s Day card, the birthday card that arrives weeks or months after being dropped in the mail.

Once the most popular institution in American society, the postal service is no longer that reliable bastion of American dependability. The mythical motto of the USPS is: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” But for most of us, the rounds of the post office are left incomplete with maddening regularity.

Congress has taken note, ever since former President Donald Trump appointed a mega-donor and ally to the position of Postmaster General. Louis DeJoy has been a controversial figure for more than a year.In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, there were howls of protest when DeJoy ordered the selective removal of high-speed mail-sorting equipment and mail drop boxes from communities across the country. Many Democrats feared those actions were part of a Trump strategy to impede mail-in voting.

Mr. DeJoy countered that they were efforts to reduce Postal Service costs and improve efficiency. He has had to defend his actions repeatedly at Congressional hearings. His 10-year reform plan for the Service has met with stiff opposition. Last Friday, the full slate of governors on the Postal Board met for the first time in a decade, a meeting that included for the first time three recent appointees to the board by President Biden.

To help us understand what's ailing the USPS and what's being done to fix it, we're joined today by Congressman Kweisi Mfume, who represents Maryland’s 7th District. Rep. Mfume sits on the US House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which has held numerous hearings on the Postal Service. Congressman Mfume joins us on Zoom…

Then, we talk with journalist Eric Katz, who has been covering the problems at the Postal Service extensively for years as senior correspondent for Government Executive, an independent news journal reporting on the federal government.

Eric Katz joins us now on our digital line from Washington, DC.

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

We begin today with another edition of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and the filmmaking industry.

Tom is joined once again (on Zoom) by our movie regulars: Ann Hornaday, a film critic for the Washington Post and author of the bestselling movie-goers’ guide, Talking Pictures: How To Watch Movies, and Jed Dietz the founding director of the Maryland Film Festival, and the restored Parkway Theater.

We’ll talk about the ongoing argument over streaming vs theatrical film releases, and the lawsuit filed against the Walt Disney Company by actor Scarlett Johansson for the studio's decision not to limit the release of her latest action film, Black Widow, to theaters.

We also discuss the ethical and artistic concerns raised by the undisclosed use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to generate some of Anthony Bourdain's voice in Roadrunner, Morgan Neville's new documentary about the late chef and host of CNN's "Parts Unknown" series.

And some summer movie nods to David Lowery's fantastical The Green Knight, with Dev Patel as a medieval knight confronting a supernatural challenge, and Tom McCarthy's Stillwater, a complex and somewhat muddled drama about truth and justice, starring Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin.

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We open this segment with a recording of internationally acclaimed opera star Denyce Graves, singing "American Anthem" in the Rotunda of the US Capitol at the memorial service for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in September of last year.

Justice Ginsberg was a big fan of opera, and a big fan of Denyce Graves, and in that regard the Justice is most certainly not alone. Denyce Graves has sung in the major opera houses and with the major symphony orchestras of the world.

And as she continues to perform and teach, she has recently undertaken a project to restore the original home of the National Negro Opera Company, located in Pittsburgh, and to rescue from historical neglect the many influential African Americans who distinguished themselves in the world of opera.

This week, she is at the Glimmerglass Festival, a longtime summer destination for opera lovers in upstate New York, appearing in a play with music about the founder of the National Negro Opera Company, Mary Cardwell-Dawson.

Denyce Graves joins us on Zoom from Cooperstown, NY…

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On this month's edition of Midday with the Mayor, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joins Tom to discuss the city's latest response to the increasing COVID-19 infection rate and efforts to get more Baltimoreans vaccinated against the virus, plus plans for allocating the funds from the American Rescue Plan, local prospects for federal infrastructure assistance, how the city is preparing for the end of the COVID-era tenant eviction moratorium, and the continuing work to reduce gun violence.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions for the mayor.

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

Now, we’ll try to sort-out the back and forth that’s been going on with the new order issued Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conditionally extending the moratorium on housing evictions.

It’s been quite a rollercoaster ride, with the White House throwing it in the lap of Congress late last week, just before the previous CDC order expired on Saturday. Rep. Cori Bush, a freshman Congresswoman from Missouri, camped out on the US Capitol steps for several days until action was taken. By Tuesday, the CDC had re-instated the moratorium for people in certain areas, until October 3rd. But the criteria for who qualifies is a moving target, and there’s plenty of confusion.

To help us make sense of what’s going on, Tom is joined by Carol Ott. She’s the Tenant Advocacy Director for the Fair Housing Action Center of Maryland, a program of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition.

She joins us on Zoom, and as always, we welcome listener comments and questions.

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

It's time once again for a visit from Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us today with her review of An Almost Holy Picture, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1995 play by Baltimore playwright Heather McDonald, which is getting a new virtual production by Baltimore's Everyman Theatre.

Noah Himmelstein directs Everyman's resident company star, Bruce Randolph Nelson, in this reflective one-man drama about confronting challenges to our spiritual faith. The production's set design is by Page Hathaway, costumes are by David Burdick, lighting is by Harold F. Burgess, and sound design is by Megumi Katayama.

Everyman Theatre's An Almost Holy Picture will be streaming for ticketed patrons until August 22nd. For information and tickets, follow the theater links above.

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

During the year and a half that Americans have been homebound by the COVID 19 pandemic, pet adoptions soared, and sales of houseplants have gone through the roof, increasing tenfold in some parts of the country.

It makes sense: With unusually long stretches of time at home, many of us have discovered the simple joys of living things: be they four-legged, or placed in pots. Plants bring color and texture and sometimes sweet smells, and yes, occasionally, heartbreak.

Newly christened plant lovers have any number of “houseplant savants” available to offer guidance and inspiration. Lots of green-thumbed entrepreneurs have taken to social media to teach folks how to care for their plants.

One of the most successful of these plant influencers is my first guest today, Hilton Carter, a Baltimore-based filmmaker, editor and fine artist.His Baltimore apartment is filled with more than 200 plants. He shares his art and his knowledge of plant care and styling on his Website-store, ThingsbyHC.com, and with his more than half a million Instagram followers @hiltoncarter

He’s currently hosting house plant workshops on the new online Magnolia Network. Target stores recently featured Hilton Carter’s Signature Collection of artfully designed houseplant fixtures and accessories, and he’s just published his third book on house plant design. It’s called Wild Creations: Inspiring Projects to Create, Plus Plant Care Tips & Styling Ideas For Your Own Wild Interior.

Hilton Carter joins us today on Zoom...

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Tom's guest today is Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency room physician who is the former Health Commissioner of Baltimore, a columnist for the Washington Post, a professor of public health at George Washington University, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a medical analyst for CNN.

She is also the co-author of a book called When Doctors Don’t Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests, published in 2013. She joins Tom today to discuss her new book, a critically acclaimed, important and timely reflection on her life, her career, and the state of public health in America. It’s part memoir and part prescription for elevating and improving public health.

Leana Wen has long been one of this country’s most imaginative and innovative thinkers about public health policy; this book demonstrates the ways in which her masterful grasp of the pressing issues in public health is informed by a host of challenging personal experiences, a searing intellect, and unyielding compassion. It’s called Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.

We are grateful to Dr. Leana Wen for having been such a wonderful friend of Midday for many years. She has shared her expertise and advice so generously and we are delighted to welcome her back to the show, via Skype, to talk about her new book.

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Dr. Wen and Tom Hall will talk more about the book this Thursday, Aug. 5th, beginning at 6:30pm, as part of the Enoch Pratt Library’s Writers Live series. WYPR is a media partner for this free, on-line event. For more info and to register, follow this link.

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

Tom's Newsmaker guest today is Maryland's senior US senator, Ben Cardin.

Back in March, President Joe Biden had a big victory when Congress passed his enormous $2 trillion dollar American Rescue Plan. Since then, Democrats have suffered setbacks with legislation around voting rights and police reform.

But Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has expressed confidence that an infrastructure bill can make it through, perhaps as early as this week. The White House and a bipartisan group of Senators spent months negotiating an infrastructure blueprint. The Senate was in session over the weekend, and an infrastructure bill, totaling about $550 billion dollars in new spending, was delivered to the floor last night.

Schumer has now undertaken the complicated task of shepherding both the bi-partisan infrastructure package and another package which does not have any Republican support through the closely divided Congress. The second bill, a Democratic-only led effort, would fund massive increases for education, child care and climate programs.

Sen. Ben Cardin will be with us for the hour on Zoom. We’ll take your calls and comments a little later in the broadcast.

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