Midday

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production.

This week, she reviews Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains at Everyman Theatre through November 17. Deidre Staples stars in many roles in the final chapter of the award-winning Queens Girl trilogy.

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Two weeks ago, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced that the city would terminate its contract with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, the quasi-governmental agency serving as a local arts council, and as a producer of large city events like Artscape and the Baltimore Book Festival.

Financial problems have beset the agency ever since the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to cancel many events.

The future of who organizes events like Artscape is uncertain. Is there still a role for BOPA?

Rachel Graham is the CEO of BOPA, she joins Midday to share her vision for its future.

Later, we speak with Nicholas Cohen, the Executive Director of Maryland Citizens for the Arts and Jeannie Howe, the Executive Director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

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Baltimore is home to several world-class sports facilities. Oriole Park at Camden Yards was recently voted the best Major League Ballpark in the USA Today Readers’ Choice travel award contest, and M&T Bank stadium is full for many of their home game. Pimlico Racetrack, which has certainly seen better days, is an iconic location, home to the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Now, the state is prepared to spend more than a billion dollars improving them.

Are these improvements a good deal for fans and taxpayers? What models do other cities provide for what Baltimore might do with our stadiums?

We’ll talk about it today with Jon Morgan, an author who covered sports for many years at the Baltimore Sun, and Dennis Coates, a UMBC Professor of Economics and editor of The Journal of Sports Economics.

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Through a complex, interwoven, interstate system, transmission cables carry electricity to businesses and homes everywhere, connecting the United States in a latticework of metal and rubber from one coast to another coast.

With soaring energy needs and aging infrastructure, utility companies say new power lines are needed. The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, a 70-mile transmission line that would cross three counties, is one proposed addition.

Community members, environmentalist and elected officials are pushing back, however.

Last week, the Baltimore County Council passed a resolution voicing opposition to the MPRP.

WYPR reporter John Lee joins Midday to provide the latest on the story. Later, we talk to Joanne Frederick, of Stop MPRP Inc. She is a Baltimore County resident at risk of losing property to the transmission lines and has organized resistance.

Data centers are one source of soaring energy need across the region. And an initiative to lure data center companies from northern Virginia is seeing some success. Jessica Fitzwater, Frederick County Executive, joins the program to talk about what she is hearing from constituents about data centers and the MPRP, which runs through her county.

Plus, President and CEO of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce Rick Weldon discusses the budding industry of data centers in Maryland.

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State Senator Clarence Lam who represents Maryland's District 12 in the General Assembly joins Midday to discuss a recent murder by a youth offender in Howard County.

On October 9, a man was shot to death in a parking lot at a Columbia office building. Howard County police arrested a 17-year-old student at Howard High School, and a 14-year-old from Severn in connection with the murder. When the 17-year-old was arrested at school, a ghost gun was found in his backpack, and school officials learned only then that the young man was under the supervision of the Department of Juvenile Services.

Senator Lam explains the juvenile justice reform laws passed in the General Assembly and the changes to school policies that have been implemented since this murder.

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Maryland's Secretary of Juvenile Services (DJS), Vincent Schiraldi joins Midday to discuss several high-profile crimes involving juveniles.

While not suggesting Schiraldi should resign, the Mayor of Baltimore and the Baltimore Police Commissioner have voiced concern that arresting some juvenile offenders and then remanding them to the custody of their guardians is not always in the best interest of public safety.

With forthcoming changes to juvenile justice laws in November, how will DJS proceed with diversion strategies to redirect youth offenders?

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

More than 1,800 people took advantage of same day registration to register and vote yesterday. Early voting centers are open today, through next Thursday, including on Saturday and Sunday, from 7:00 AM until 8:00 PM.

In her race against former Gov. Larry Hogan for the open U.S. Senate seat here in Maryland, Angela Alsobrooks presented control of the Senate as a central issue to voters. Her campaign asserted that a vote for Hogan is a vote for Republican control of the Upper Chamber.

Polling indicates that message has been effective. Is it a message that other Democrats are using to similar effect in other states? Josh Kurtz, the founding editor of Maryland Matters, to discuss the races for Maryland's open seats in the U.S. Congress.

Plus, POLITICO's Ally Mutnick joins Midday. She covers congressional campaigns in Maryland and beyond.

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

Yesterday, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and the new head of the city's Department of Public Works, Khalil Zaied, released a report from an independent law firm commissioned to evaluate DPW's policies and procedures.

This follows the death of Ronald Silver, a DPW worker who died of heat related problems he encountered last summer.

WYPR's Emily Hofstaedter was the first to report the story back in early August and joins Midday for an update on the latest.

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

Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production.

This week, Rousuck reviews Pride & Prejudice, at Baltimore Center Stage through November 10.

The production is being billed as as a rom-com. Is that an accurate description?

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

The Chesapeake Bay is at a crossroads. A decade ago, state and federal partners along the country’s largest estuary entered into a binding agreement to restore the bay’s sprawling ecosystems.

Now, the agreement is up for renewal in 2025. Gov. Wes Moore is set to chair the first meeting to consider the plan's future in early December.

Have efforts to clean up the Bay during the ten years the agreement has been in effect yielded results? What lessons learned over the years can be applied to a new plan?

Hilary Harp Falk is the President and CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental preservation group focused on the bay's many estuaries and ecosystems. Since she became the head the organization in 2022, Falk has committed to reinvigorating state, municipal and federal efforts to restore the bay.

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