What makes a firework work? On this Independence Day we speak with John Conkling, who was a chemist and former director of the American Pyrotechnic Association. This is an encore presentation, Conkling died in 2019. He describes what goes inside fireworks to make audiences say oooh and aaaah!

Dr. Peter V. Rabins has been studying the brain, and dementia in particular, for a half century, since before most Americans had heard of Alzheimer disease. He founded and directed the division of geriatric psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Over the decades patients have asked him thousands of questions about how memory works, what dementia is, what might stave it off, how to help someone they love.

The questions he’s asked most often he collected into a short book, called Is it Alzheimer’s? 101 Answers to Your Most Pressing Questions About Memory Loss and Dementia. Now Dr. Rabins has updated 101 Answers and joins us to talk about it.

Here's a Stoop Story from Rohaizad Suaidi about his love and dedication for America. You can catch the next live stoop event July 18 at 7pm at the Patterson Park Cedar House. The theme is ‘Smalltimore: Stories About a City So Small, Even Your Secrets Have Neighbors.’

Juvenile crime is down, but many people don’t feel safer. What’s Maryland doing wrong? Vincent Schiraldi, just replaced as head of the Department of Juvenile Services, decries charging kids as adults. He tells why he left, and what’s next: “I’m gonna kayak, I’m gonna hike a little, and then I'm gonna come back out and pick a fight.”

Here's a Stoop Story from Geoffrey Danek about the bond that can grow between man and beast. Find more information at StoopStorytelling.com

Do you ever wonder about who produced the food you enjoy each day? Lindsey Jacobs, who served as Ms. Agvocate USA 2024, wants the public to better understand the farmer to table connection. We learn more in a visit to her Church View Farm.

Today’s show is an encore presentation from July, 2024. It recently took top prize from the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcaster’s Association for ‘outstanding use of sound’. The judges called it "Radio so alive, you can see it.”

Of every six people who live in Maryland, one was born outside the U.S. Sixteen per cent. Many have been here legally through something called TPS, Temporary Protected Status. TPS has allowed about a million people from countries torn by war, civil unrest and natural disasters to live in the U.S.legally -- and to work legally in the U.S.

Shortly after he was inaugurated in January, President Trump signed an executive order directing officials to limit TPS, on the grounds that the temporary relief from deportation dragged on far after the initial crisis in many of the 17 countries eligible.

This month the Trump administration revoked TPS for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, which means more than half a million people from those countries no longer have the right to be or work in the U.S. We talk with Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of the union 32BJ SEIU. Among other duties, Contreras heads 32BJ’s Capital District --21-thousand members in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC; its members are cleaners, maintenance workers and security officers in commercial and government buildings, arenas, airports, and educational facilities. We ask Contreras how this will affect union members.

In less than three weeks, more than ten thousand Afghans who fled their country when the U.S. pulled its military forces out three years ago will lose the protections that allow them to live and work in the U.S. When the government announced it was revoking Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, the Baltimore-based nonprofit Global Refuge called it “a crushing blow to Afghan allies who were promised U.S. protection.”

Global Refuge is the new name for ‘Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service,' the 85-year-old faith-based nonprofit dedicated exclusively to serving refugee children and families. We talk with president and CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah about what’s going on with refugees in the Trump administration.

The Trump administration has told hundreds of thousands of migrants who fled violence or disasters in Latin America that they can no longer stay in the U.S. We ask a labor leader and a worker what this means in Maryland, and an advocate for refugees what will happen to thousands who fled Afghanistan.

Dr. Joanne Martin tells a stoop story about the founding of the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum.

The next live Stoop Storytelling event is tonight; it's called "Unleashed: No muzzles, no collars, just real stories about animal companions." Information about the event, more stories, and the Stoop podcast is at StoopStorytelling.com.