Maryland citizens who have made a choice about who they want as their next governor, or person in congress, or any of the scores of other public offices up for election this year, have started voting in the party primary -- either in person or by mail or dropbox. They have until 8 p.m. July 19 to vote.

Recent polling hints that many MORE citizens are still making up their minds. WYPR politics reporter Rachel Baye says voters often decide at the last minute.

And Pamela Wood of The Baltimore Banner says it doesn’t mean they’re not interested, "Marylanders are not used to voting in July. This is very unusual. Kids are off at summer camp, families are going on vacation. There is also I think a challenge, particularly on the Democratic side, that there are so many candidates.”

More on the Goucher Poll, conducted in partnership with WYPR and the Baltimore Banner:
Full poll results
Is Maryland ‘moving in the right direction? Depends on which voter you ask
Maryland voters still largely undecided for Governor's Race, poll shows
Poll: Top three Democratic candidates for Maryland governor are tied, with many still undecided

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Take a listen to this Stoop love story from Taylor Binnix about finding her match during the pandemic.

Find out more about the Stoop Storytelling Series --including live events and the Stoop podcast--here.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

There hasn’t been a Republican in the Maryland Attorney General seat in seven decades. But Jim Shalleck, running in the GOP primary, believes his highest priority -- stomping out violent crime -- appeals to Democrats and Independents, too. His plan is to shift 40 or 50 lawyers who work for the AG to prosecuting serious street crime:

“You know it’s an army! The Attorney General is an army. And it hasn’t been used to help fight crime. So I want to take a tenth of the office and use it to divert its priorities to fighting crime.” 

Plus, we ask about funding the police, legalizing marijuana, enforcing environmental laws  and why he wants to reinstate resource officers in public schools.

Links: Jim Shalleck for AG, MDElections2022

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Running in the Republican primary for Attorney General, Michael Anthony Peroutka, a retired lawyer and former member of the Anne Arundel County Council, says his top priority would be to undo what he sees as the government’s overreach of the pandemic: "My top priority would be to redress what I call gross violations of the rights of the people to assemble, to care for their own medical health, to run a business. All these mandates, edicts, orders, proclamations - wherever you want to call them - are not law. They’re not lawful."

Asked if he would enforce Maryland’s 1992 law that makes abortion legal until viability, Peroutka said no--he believes abortion is murder. He said he also would focus on election integrity and Second Amendment rights.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

More than one hundred thousand Americans await an organ transplant … and most organ donations come from deceased donors. 

Ieesha Johnson, executive director of community outreach at the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland, works to dispel myths and educate the public about what it means to be an organ donor.

And Danette Ragin, an organ recipient and relative of deceased organ donors, talks about how somebody’s decision to donate a kidney has profoundly changed her life:

“Until the shoe is on the other foot, you really probably won’t know the true significance of it. But if you have any reservations, I pray that my testimonial will help you come to a decision to at least try to help someone.”

Links: Donor law changes: update your Maryland license donor status; Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Daniel and Mary Bell tried to use the courts to win freedom for their family, so history shows us more details about them than many other enslaved people in the 19th century. We know that Francis Scott Key, who wrote our national anthem, was one of the white people who lined up against freedom for enslaved people like the Bells.

A new film tells the Bells’ story. We talk to director Kwakiutl Dreher and historian William G. Thomas III. Thomas says, "We need to see this part of American history differently-- enslaved people, not as nameless and faceless, but as real people acting in history, who are clearly attempting to claim freedom from day one of the United States." And we ask two of Mary and Daniel’s descendants about the strength they draw from this history. Original air date: May 19, 2022.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

Love him or hate him -- and people did both -- William Donald Schaefer, the unforgettable Mayor of Baltimore City, got stuff done. One of his persistent commands-- “Do It Now!”-- is the title of a new musical about his tenure as mayor. Yeah, you read that right.

We get a preview from Timoth David Copney, director and choreographer, and from Jonathan Jensen, who wrote and composed the songs that take audiences on the journey: 

"Whatever his failures, whatever faults -- Baltimore -- intractable problems we still have, he was a giant figure in the history of this city and there’s no denying what he did during his time here.”

Links: "Do It Now!" performance info and tickets

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

 Here’s a Stoop Story from Eric Schaefer, about the power of belief. You can hear his story and others at Stoopstorytelling.com .

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

The Attorney General is the chief legal officer of Maryland. Former prosecutor and retired district court Judge Katie Curran O’Malley is vying for that seat in the Democratic primary July 19.

We ask about her plans to fight gun violence, protect the environment, maintain reproductive rights for women,  and what she learned from her father, J. Joseph Curran Jr., who for two decades held the job she’s hoping to get:

“I learned how much integrity you really need to have when you’re running. And how the only thing that matters isn’t necessarily if everybody agrees with you, but if you are doing what you believe is in the best interest of all Marylanders.”

Links: KatieforMD, MDElections2022

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472

A kind of immunotherapy--extracting a cancer patient’s own white blood cells and re-engineering them to destroy the cancer cells--is raising hope. 

Dr. Aaron Rapoport, who heads cellular therapy at the University of Maryland’s Greenebaum Cancer Center, says in about half the three hundred patients he’s treated with this therapy, the cancer is gone. Kathy Ruehle, an oncology nurse for 36 years, manages the program:

“I can honestly say that this has been one of the most exciting times and one of the most hopeful times in care because of the opportunity that this therapy affords patients who may otherwise not have therapy to help them.”

The we talk with Sonia Su, who was out of options after she relapsed twice with aggressive lymphoma. Now cancer-free, she’s working to help other patients. 

Links: Greenebaum Cancer Center, Kits to Heart

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472