Midday

Yesterday, more than 161,000 Marylanders braved long lines and gloomy weather to cast their ballots on Day One of in-person early voting.

WYPR reporter Emily Sullivan has an update.

Plus, Midday on Ethics. President Trump declared himself cured of the coronavirus after receiving an experimental antibody treatment under the FDA compassionate use program.

But the president's treatment is vastly different than what most COVID patients receive.

As the rate of new infections continues to rise worldwide, who will be in line for the Trump treatment and for a preventative vaccine?

Dr. Jeffrey Kahn of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bio-Ethics joins Tom to discuss the ethics of compassionate use in the fight against the pandemic.

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

It’s another in our series of Conversations with the Candidates. Today, a live debate between the Democratic and Republican candidates for Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes parts of Baltimore City as well as Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard Counties.

Joining Tom on Zoom is the incumbent, Democratic Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, who has represented the 2nd District in the US House for the past 18 years. A Baltimore native, he earned his law degree at The University of Baltimore Law School Before entering Congress, he served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Baltimore County, and as Baltimore County Executive. Representative Ruppersberger is a member of the House Committee on Appropriations. He also spent 12 years on the Intelligence Committee.

Congressman Ruppersberger is 74 years old. He and his wife of 50 years have two grown children and five grandchildren…

Also with us on Zoom: Maryland State Senator Johnny Ray Salling. He is the Republican candidate in the 2nd Congressional District. A native of Dundalk, Mr. Salling is a US Army veteran. He spent 30 years working at the Bethlehem Steel plant in Sparrows Point, where he was an active member of the United Steelworkers of America Union. He has been representing District Six in the MD Senate, which includes Dundalk, Essex, and Rosedale, since 2015. He has served on the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. He is currently assigned to the Budget and Taxation Committee.

State Senator Salling is 58 years old. He is the father of five and he’s also a grandfather...

A word about the format for today’s debate. There are no opening statements. Tom poses questions on a range of topics to each of the candidates, who will have two minutes to answer. Each candidate also has one minute to respond to their opponent’s statements. There are two breaks during the course of the hour. We invite listener questions a little later in the show, with preference given to comments from voters in the 2nd District.

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

Last night, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden debated in Nashville.

Mr. Trump interrupted Mr. Biden less, but he did not suspend his proclivity for a barrage of salient falsehoods and misleading statements.

The US has 8.4 million confirmed cases of Coronavirus. More than 223 thousand Americans have perished because of the disease.

Europe and the UK are experiencing a spike in cases as well. Governments across the continent have implemented new restrictions to combat the surge.

Plus, we’ll hear about the Londoners protesting against police brutality in Nigeria.

GUESTS

Dr. Christina Greer is a political scientist on the faculty of Fordham University, and the author of Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream.

Frank Langfitt is NPR's London correspondent. He covers the UK and Ireland, as well as stories elsewhere in Europe.

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

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom again today with updates on the nation's pandemic-era theater community, leading off with the 74th Annual Tony Award nominations anounced Thursday. Judy talks about some of the major contenders for theater's most prestigious honor, including the musical Jagged Little Pill, which garnered the most Tony nominations this season -- 15 - including Best Musical; and Slave Play, which was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Play -- a record-breaking number for a non-musical.

And as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep the nation's theaters dark, Judy spotlights some of the continuing efforts by local and national companies to present inspiring performances in filmed and live online streaming productions...


Among these is the new film production of musician David Byrne's American Utopia, a cinematic rendition of the currently suspended hit Broadway musical that was, in turn, based on Byrne's album and concert concepts. Byrne, a native Baltimorian and former Talking Heads band leader, teamed with director Spike Lee on the new film, which begins streaming on HBOMax this Saturday at 8pm.


Judy also describes Baltimore Center Stage's announcement that it's partnering on an hour-long streaming production next Thursday designed to encourage voter engagement in the crucial November 3rd elections. An evening of spoken word, song and dance written, directed, and performed by some of the most important voices in the American theatre, Act Out: Vote 2020 will be available to stream on October 29 at 9:00 PM ET at www.ActOutVote2020.com.

Here are links to all the productions Judy and Tom discussed today:

American Utopia https://www.hbo.com/specials/american-utopia

Act Out: Vote 2020 www.ActOutVote2020.com

The Discourse Project https://www.quarrytheatre.com/the-discourse-project

Cabaret Macabre https://www.theatreproject.org/upcoming-shows/

Death of a Salesman https://playbill.com/playbillplayback/salesman

Shakespeare trilogy https://stannswarehouse.org/show/donmar-trilogy/

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

For the thousands of inmates released from prison every year, the transition out of jail and into society is often a transition to homelessness and unemployment.

Ex-offender status presents perpetual obstacles for returning-citizens, who often lack access to critical resources and opportunities.

A new organization called Return Home Baltimore is trying to make it all easier. It has created a website that provides access to information and critical resources.

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

There are less than two weeks to go before voting ends, and as we enter this critical stretch in the presidential race, the political and cultural divisions in our country appear more pronounced than they have ever been in modern times. And the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties are also more pronounced, when viewed over the past four decades.

In his new book, We Should Have Seen It Coming: From Reagan to Trump -- A Front-Row Seat to a Political Revolution, veteran journalist Gerald Seib, the executive Washington Editor of The Wall Street Journal, observes that for 20 of the 36 years after Ronald Reagan was elected, “someone pledging loyalty to his precepts occupied the Oval Office.”

In Reagan’s first term, Republicans controlled 14 state legislatures. By the Clinton years, that number had increased to 25. By the time Donald Trump was inaugurated, it had grown to 30.

But Trump’s brand of conservatism bears little resemblance to Reagan’s...

It is that evolution of the Republican Party that Gerald Seib calls “the most important political story of the new millennium.” He asks, “Is [the] turn toward nationalism and populism permanent or a passing fad?” We’ll find out sometime in the next several weeks.

Today on Midday, Gerald Seib joins Tom to discuss the remarkable transformation of the Republican Party, a story that has unspooled over the forty years that Seib has been covering politics.

Gerald Seib joins us on Zoom. We welcome listener comments and questions.

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

Across the country, ridership on public transit has declined precipitously.

To adjust to the new financial realities, the MTA says it needs to trim $98 million dollars from its budget. The cuts it suggested to Baltimore’s bus system were met with fierce opposition, and the MTA backed-off the plan.

Tom speaks to Kevin Quinn, the MTA Administrator, about what changes riders can expect, and plans to keep them and operators safe.

Plus, Samuel Jordan, the President of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition discusses efforts to create a regional transit authority, to develop a more fair and equitable transit system.

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

Today, we’re going to talk about voting: how to do it safely and correctly, and efforts to assure that the results are accurate and that the election is conducted fairly.

The 2020 election ends two weeks from tomorrow. More than 28 million people around the country - about 20% of eligible voters - have already cast their ballots, either in person, by mail, or by depositing them at official drop boxesas. Democrats have outvoted Republicans by a 2-1 margin in early voting, so far.

For Maryland voters, tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 20) is the deadline to request a mail-in ballot online for the November election. Tom's first guest today is Nikki Charlson. She’s the Deputy Administrator at the Maryland State Board of Elections. She joins us on Zoom to explain what Maryland voters need to know about mail-in balloting, early in-person voting and election-day balloting...

President Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr and a long list of Republican political leaders have been warning for months that the heavy reliance on mail-in balloting because of the pandemic this election season is inviting massive voter fraud. As a result, the President has said, the election results might not be legitimate. Tom's next guest is Lily Hay Newman, a senior writer at WIRED Magazine, covering information security, digital privacy, and hacking. Her piece in this month’s WIRED -- called How We’ll Know the Election Wasn’t Rigged -- shows that fraud is the last thing absentee voters need to worry about. Lily Hay Newman joins Tom on Zoom…

In a remarkable break with norms and traditions, President Trump has repeatedly suggested that he might not accept the results of the November 3rd election. Such a scenario has raised widespread alarm that the prospects of a peaceful transfer of presidential power and the democratic process itself could be threatened.

In response, a broad array of more than 100 grassroot groups, from Indivisible to Move On.org and Republicans for Rule of Law have formed a coalition they call Protect the Results. It’s mobilizing thousands of people to counter any illegitimate challenges to the election outcome. One of the leaders of the coalition is Sean Eldridge, the founder and executive director of Stand Up America, a pro-democracy and voting rights group. He is Tom's final guest today, and he joins us on Zoom.

If you still have questions about how to vote, and about some of the candidates and issues on the ballot, come to WYPR.ORG and check out our WYPR Voting Guide.

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

Tom speaks to Sarah Hemminger, the co-founder of the mentoring program, Thread, about the challenges students and mentors face in the era of Coronavirus.

If you're interested in becoming a Thread volunteer, you can find more information on their website.

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

Last night, Donald Trump responded to his Miami Town Hall questions with his trademark belligerence and bluster.

Joe Biden's Town Hall was a much calmer affair. Answering questions from voters in Philadelphia, he promised to restore stability and reaffirm America's leadership on the world stage.

PBS News Hour correspondent Lisa Dejardin joins Tom with a recap of the dueling broadcasts.

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