Midday

Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen joins Midday to share his perspective on the pressing issues facing city legislators.

Cohen talks about the relocation the Sisson Street Waste Facility, and pushback from neighborhood organizations and environmental groups.

Plus, now the council will oversee the city’s response to the opioid crisis. Cohen wants better oversight of how the more than half a billion dollars in settlement will be spent.

And a package of zoning and bills designed to make housing more affordable, but which has garnered substantial opposition. Cohen supports the legislation, does he think it will make a difference.

Award-winning investigative reporter Jayne Miller, the host of The Maryland Capital Podcast, joins Midday to talk about Maryland's nascent gubernatorial race, the prospects for new Congressional districts and challenges to two sitting Congressmen.

Joining Tom in the studio now are two long-time Maryland educators and two of the state’s leading advocates for fostering improvements in student behavior and community-building through a social-science approach called “Restorative Practices.”

David Hornbeck is the founding chair and executive director of the non-profit Voices for Restorative Schools. He served as Maryland’s Superintendent of Schools from 1976 to 1988, and later spent 6 years as Philadelphia's Superintendent of Schools.

David is also the father of Tom's other guest today, Matt Hornbeck. For the past two decades, Matt has served as principal of the Hampstead Hill Academy, a pre-K thru 8th grade charter school in Baltimore. HHA is one of a group of six charters run by the Baltimore Curriculum Project within the City School system. It’s one of the system’s top-performing elementary and middle schools…and it’s also one of the schools where restorative practices have been used to build an inclusive student community and to reduce conflict.

A new initiative seeks to jump-start one of Baltimore’s biggest and most controversial redevelopment projects. The 28-acre State Center site was the subject of development efforts and lawsuits that go back more than 20 years. Could a new plan, backed by Gov. Wes Moore, see wider use for the property?

Maryland's Secretary of the Department of General Services Atif Chaudry joins Midday to share the latest.

Maryland is among the top 10 states with the largest spike in reports of online scams and fraud in recent years. According to an analysis of FTC data by the investment website BrokerChooser, Maryland saw a 53 percent increase in reports over the past 5 years.

Shari Greene joins Midday to discuss the work of the Older and Disabled Persons Unit in the Economic Crimes Division at the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. You can find information about contacting her office on their website.

Plus, we hear from WYPR host Raquel Razan about her own run in with a scammer, and what she learned from the experience.

And then, two experts share tips and insights on how to protect yourself and your loved ones from frauds and scam.

Ted Meyerson, AARP Maryland’s lead fraud volunteer, and Clay Campbell of consumer protection organization Greater Maryland Better Business Bureau join the show and bust myths about scams and fraud.

There are about 50 public charter schools in Maryland, educating roughly 24,000 students. 30 of these schools, over half of the total number, are in Baltimore.

For some time, there has been a heated debate about funding formulas for public charter schools. Charter schools are independently operated under a contract, or charter, with individual public school systems.

Last May, a group of charter schools said they were in danger of closing because some of these systems withheld funding.

Will McKenna, the former co-chair of the Maryland Alliance of Public Charter Schools, recently worked with the state education officials, including State Schools Superintendent Carey Wright, to create a better deal for the state's charter schools. He joins Midday to discuss those negotiations and what they mean for the future.

McKenna is founder and the executive director of Afya Baltimore, which operates two charter schools in Baltimore.

Dr. Hahrie Han is a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University and the inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute.

Her research focuses on civic and political participation, organizing to social change.

Last week, she was named to the 2025 class of MacArthur Foundation Fellows. She and 21 others were each awarded an $800,000, no-strings-attached grant, often called 'genius grants.'

The executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council reacts to Monday's release by Hamas of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza, amid a fragile ceasefire agreement and uncertainty about an Israel-Palestine peace.

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom now for another of her weekly reviews of Baltimore regional theater. Today, she spotlights Hamlet/Black Parade, now on stage at The Mercury Theater, an artist-run performance space in the heart of Baltimore's Station North Arts District.

Produced by the creative team of Motte & Bailey and adapted and directed by Hannah Fogler, Hamlet/Black Parade is a unique musical interpretation / mash-up of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and alt-rock band My Chemical Romance's classic "The Black Parade" album.