Midday

It's Thursday, and theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom with another review of the Maryland stage. This week, Judy spotlights the North American tour of Cats, currently on stage at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore.


Cats is Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical staging of poet T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The show opened in London in 1981 and a year later pounced on Broadway, where it ran for a record-breaking eighteen years. The 2016 revival of the Tony Award-winning musical is now on a North American Tour, with original direction by Trevor Nunn and choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler; set and costume designs are by John Napier. The cast features Keri Rene Fuller as Grizabella, Adam Vanek as Alonzo, and Mariah Reives as Cassandra.

Cats continues at the Hippodrome through January 26th. Ticket info here.

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The Senate gets down to business in the Impeachment of President Trump. Former Maryland governor Bob Ehrlich, Ayesha Rascoe of NPR and Law Professor Mark Graber recap the historic proceedings yesterday in the Senate Chamber.

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On Midday today, we're observing the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday by talking with some local examplars of the MLK Day of Service ethic, who've taken the lead in efforts to make Baltimore a better place to live.

Joining Tom for this last of three conversations today is the Reverend Alvin Hathaway, the Senior Pastor of Union Baptist Church in Upton, and founder of Green Ambassadors, a privately funded neighborhood clean-up program sponsored by Wheelabrator and the Ministers Conference of Baltimore and Vicinity. It hires young people to pick up litter and trash around city neighborhoods. Also joining Tom is Robert Ginyard, an entrepreneur and motivational activist who created the "Dear Baltimore, I'll Do My Part" campaign to encourage individual Baltimoreans to pick up litter and debris in their neighborhoods.

This conversation was live-streamed on WYPR's Facebook page. Watch the video here, from 32:00 through the end of the feed.

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

On Midday today, we're meeting some local examplars of the MLK Day of Service ethic who've taken the lead in efforts to make Baltimore a better place to live.

In the second of three conversations today, Tom talks with Dr. Douglas Robinson, a professor of cell biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Eleven years ago, Dr. Robinson launched the Initiative for Careers in Science and Medicine (CSM), a program that works to support interest and achievement in STEM fields among low-income students of color, from middle- and high school age through the college years. Also joining Tom in the studio is Michelle Colbert, a graduate of Arizona State University and now a second-year medical student at Johns Hopkins, who completed a 2-year post-baccalaureate research internship at Hopkins through CSM's Doctoral Diversity Program.


This conversation was live-streamed on WYPR's Facebook page. Watch the video here, beginning at 14:08 and continuing until 29:00 into the stream.

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

Today is MLK Jr Day, the federal holiday established in 1986 to commemorate the birthday of the slain civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., who would have turned 91 last Wednesday. For the past 25 years, the national observance of the MLK holiday has been associated with A Day of Service, a campaign to honor Dr. King's legacy of non-violent struggle for social justice by encouraging people to take part in meaningful volunteer efforts to benefit their community. As the campaign reminds Americans on each MLK Day of Service, "Make it a day on, not a day off."

On Midday today, we meet some local examplars of that Day of Service ethic, who have taken the lead in efforts to make Baltimore a better place to live.

In this first of three conversations, Tom talks with Sandie Nagel, a community-minded activist who founded Weekend Backpacks for Homeless Kids five years ago to address the unmet nutritional needs of many of the city's homeless and impoverished public schoolchildren. Joining Ms. Nagel in the studio is the group's vice president, Leslie Monfred, a retired nurse.

This conversation was live-streamed on WYPR's Facebook page. Watch the video here, from the start through 12:26 on the feed.

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

Today it’s Midday on Tech and our annual review of the Consumer Electronics Show, held last week (January 5-10) in Las Vegas, Nevada. We’ll take a look at the latest innovations in mobility and accessibility showcased at CES 2020, and what the inclusion of "sex tech" at this year’s event means for gender equity.

From 8K TVs to self-emptying garbage cans and an AI-driven “City of the Future,” Tom unpacks the best gadgets from CES 2020 with Dana Wollman, Editor-in-Chief at Engadget.com, the online technology review. She joins us from NPR studios in New York City.

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Harry Spikes was an aide to Rep. Elijah Cummings for 15 years, serving most recently as district director. He is also the vice president of the board of directors of the Community Assistance Network, a non-profit organization in Baltimore County that helps individuals and families who are homeless.

He is one of 24 Democrats and 6 Republicans running for the seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings.

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

Saafir Rabb is the CEO of a company called Interculture. He also leads a local non-profit and he was an advisor on the transition team of President Barack Obama. He is one of 24 Democrats and 6 Republicans running for the seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings.

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

It's Thursday, and theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins us again with another of her weekly reviews of the Maryland stage. Today, Judy spotlights Fells Point Corner Theatre's production of Love and Information, a work by the innovative British playwright Caryl Churchill that's directed here by Deirdre McAllister.

First performed in London in 2012, Churchill's Love and Information is a compilation of over fifty vignettes that don't follow traditional plotlines. With over one hundred characters, it is a fast-paced and challenging theater experience.

Love and Information is on stage at Fells Point Corner Theatre through February 2. For location and information, click here.

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

Midday's series of Conversations with the Candidates continues with this special Web-only edition: Tom's January 14 conversation with Dante Swinton. He is one of more than a dozen Democratic candidates vying in the April 28th primary election, hoping to become the party's nominee for mayor of Baltimore in the November 2020 general election.

Mr. Swinton brings to the mayoral race his experience as an environmental justice researcher & community organizer for Energy Justice Network, where he has worked for the past five years. The Philadelphia-based not-for-profit group led the charge for passage last spring of the Baltimore Clean Air Act, which, pending a ruling in a federal law suit, could severely restrict or possibly shut down the city's largest air polluter, the Wheelabrator trash incinerator, and the nation's largest medical waste incinerator.

Mr. Swinton's mayoral campaign also addresses a wide range of issues facing the city, from violence reduction and criminal justice reform to transit and waste management improvements and economic development.

Mr. Swinton grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He received his B.A. in environmental studies and political science from Winthrop University in Rock Hill in 2010. He received his Masters in nonprofit management and social entrepreneurship from the University of Baltimore in 2017.

At 31, Dante Swinton is the youngest candidate in the mayor's race. He lives in Baltimore.

More information about Dante Swinton's bid to become Baltimore's next mayor can be found on his campaign Website, dcs4bmore.org.

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