Midday

By WYPR 88.1 FM BaltimoreSociety & Culture News

Midday episodes

March 26, 2025 It's been one year since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. How did it change Baltimore?
Visit this link for more of WYPR's coverage of the one-year anniversary of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
49 min
March 25, 2025 As immigration enforcement ramps up, concerns about Maryland ICE facilities and policies
WYPR reporter Emily Hofstaedter reported on this story and what advocates are saying about the conditions in local holding rooms.
49 min
March 24, 2025 Annapolis Poet Laureate Jefferson Holland wants us to walk and hike around Arundel
Jefferson Holland is a man of words. He is the Poet Laureate of Annapolis, a newspaper columnist and Co-Founder of the singing folk group, Them Eastport Oyster Boys. He no longer sings with the group but continues to perform his poems and storytelling around Annapolis.
Jefferson, inspired by the Chesapeake Bay and his dogs, decided to publish a book of his columns from the Capital Gazette that describe the beauty of exploring Anne Arundel County's nature with four-legged friends, or any good friends.
The book is titled, Walk Around Arundel: 52 Places to Hike with Your Dog (and Other Best Friends) and Jefferson joins Midday in studio to discuss his new book.
10 min
March 24, 2025 Did changes to cash bail help or hurt Maryland's local jails?
Maryland continues to grapple with its bail system. When someone is arrested for a crime, a judge can decide if they can be held in jail until trial. These defendants are legally innocent until their trial is held, but judges can decide to detain people who are deemed a flight risk, or a threat to public safety.
The criminal justice system works this way across the country. However, in Maryland, a much higher number of pretrial defendants are being held in jail due to issues with bail.
Today Midday examines bail reform with investigative journalist Maddi O’Neill and Editor-in-Chief of the Garrison Project Ethan Brown. The Garrison Project is an independent journalism organization covering mass incarceration.
35 min
March 21, 2025 Rousuck's Review: 'Rarefied Air' at The Strand Theatre
Rarefied Air continues through March 30 at The Strand Theater Company.
11 min
March 21, 2025 City Council President Zeke Cohen on DPW and the city's spending on overtime
This month, the Baltimore City Council is tackling the latest Inspector General report on the Department of Public Works, the impact of overspending on overtime pay and challenges to student success in public schools.
City Council President Zeke Cohen joins Midday to help us understand the most important issues on the council agenda this month.
25 min
March 21, 2025 What's the state of downtown Baltimore's housing, businesses and entertainment?
You can find the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore's recent report on their website.
15 min
March 20, 2025 A classical collaboration of the chorale and symphony in Frederick
In the midst of her third season as Music Director of Frederick Chorale, Heidi Ackerman joins Midday to discuss their upcoming performance Saturday night, March 22, and Sunday afternoon, March 23, with the Frederick Symphony Orchestra and Charm City Sings.
The concert will feature the major works for chorus and orchestra, including Dona nobis pacem, a beautiful cantata by the English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams.
26 min
March 20, 2025 The transcendent solo piano of Lura Johnson's new album 'The Art of Prelude and Fugue'
The acclaimed pianist Lura Johnson joins Midday to discuss her stunning new album. 'The Art of Prelude and Fugue' is classical solo piano music that pairs the work of JS Bach and the Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich.
Containing little-known work, the album is intended for seasoned listeners and those new to piano.
Photo by Katya Chilingiri.
23 min
March 19, 2025 What are the consequences of cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion?
A conversation about the future of so-called "DEI" initiatives on Midday.
After the killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, many corporations and businesses announced partnerships and initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion. But in recent years, the affection for diversity and inclusion has dwindled.
In 2023, lawmakers in Texas and Florida passed legislation banning DEI initiatives at colleges and universities. Schools across the country have followed suit.
In 2024, companies like Walmart, Amazon and META began rolling back their corporate DEI policies.
In January of this year, on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to eliminate DEI mandates, labeling them as “illegal” and “discriminatory.”
Since that order, many companies and non-profits have been scrambling to make changes the administration will look favorably on, fearing they’ll lose federal business or funding.
Jasper Smith is a reporting fellow for the Chronicle of Higher Education, where she monitors state legislation and universities and colleges that are dismantling DEI programs.
A. Adar Ayira is a Principal Consultant for Ayira Core Concepts, a consulting firm advising companies on racial equity in the workplace.
49 min

About Midday

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Monday-Friday from noon-1:00, Tom Hall and his guests are talking about what's on your mind, and what matters most to Marylanders, the latest news, local and national politics, education and the…