Midday

The 2024 Session of the Maryland General Assembly is underway.

On today's show, we talk about what we can expect in this year's session, which Senate President Bill Ferguson described to me as a “turn the corner year” when we spoke on Midday earlier this week.

Lawmakers are now in their third day of the 2024 session. Over the next three months they will consider statutes concerning housing, juvenile justice and public safety; measures meant to grow the state economy; a death with dignity bill, and legislation naming a state fruit.

WYPR News Director Matt Bush and reporter Hallie Miller from our news partner the Baltimore Banner join Tom with the latest from Annapolis.

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

On latest installment in our series of Conversations with the Candidates, our guest is Baltimore City Councilmember Zeke Cohen.

First elected to the council in 2016, Cohen is serving in his second term representing the 1st District. He is giving up that seat to run for City Council President, the office currently held by Council President Nick Mosby.

A former educator, Zeke Cohen has been a staunch advocate for trauma informed care. In 2019 he introduced legislation that made Baltimore the first city in the US to legislate that all city agencies receive training in the science and symptomatology of trauma.

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

Julia Bullock is one of the most acclaimed singers in the world. She performs operas and concerts and recitals all over the globe.

This Sunday, she is set to perform a recital for the first time in Baltimore in the Shriver Hall Concert Series with pianist Bretton Brown.

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

Dr. Heidi Anderson is the President of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), the historically Black university in Princess Anne, Maryland.

She joins Tom to discuss the important issues the school is grappling with including financial aid, diversity initiatives, admissions and the challenges of school leadership.

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

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is looking ahead to another post-season berth for the Ravens after finishing the regular season with the best record in the NFL. Since taking the reins of the team in 2008 he has led the Ravens in 20 playoff appearances, the second-most by any NFL coach in the past 15 years. The team this year will be led by the likely MVP of the league, quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Joining Tom to talk football is Baltimore Ravens staff writer Clifton Brown and Baltimore Banner reporter Jonas Shaffer.

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

The Maryland General Assembly begins its 2024 session tomorrow in Annapolis. Lawmakers are set to consider legislation in the context of budget concerns, and in an election year that will decide some key local races and feature races for the House of Representatives that include several members of the General Assembly.

Joining Tom with a preview of the session is Senate President Bill Ferguson.

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

Baltimore has succeeded in a competition with more than 400 other jurisdictions to receive a designation by the federal government as a “tech hub.” This designation, which we share with 30 other cities, allows us to compete for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants to develop new innovations in AI that can be applied to health care.

Next month, the Greater Baltimore Committee will submit an application for the first tranche of federal grants, on behalf of a consortium of local institutions and businesses. Today on Midday, let’s talk about who is part of that consortium, how those federal dollars would be distributed, and the case to be made for Baltimore to receive this federal support.

Guests for this program include:
LaToya C. Staten, Director of Impact for Fearless
Jennifer Vey, Executive VP of Policy and Research at the Greater Baltimore Committee
Pothik Chatterjee, Executive VP and Chief Economic Officer at the Greater Baltimore Committee

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

(This conversation originally broadcast on November 30, 2023.)

On this encore episode of Midday on Books, Tom speaks with novelist Alice McDermott about her latest novel, "Absolution." The story is set in Vietnam in the earliest days of the war and explores the lives of the American military wives. The book places at its center a young woman, newly married, living in an unfamiliar place, submerged in an unfamiliar milieu of military personnel, consultants and contractors.

It is an intimate portrait of a person finding her way, and a telling chronicle of characters that are usually cast as ancillary and secondary.

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

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins us each week with her reviews of the Maryland, DC and Virginia regional stage.

We discuss “Ragtime,” which continues at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, through Jan. 7, 2023.

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

Today is Midday at the Movies, our monthly focus on new films and film-industry trends, with our regular movie aficionados, Jed Dietz, founding director of the Maryland Film Festival, and Ann Hornaday, film critic for the Washington Post.

We will discuss some of the latest movies in theatres, including American Fiction, Poor Things and Ferrari.

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