Roughly Speaking

With 2017 off to a deadly start in Baltimore, Bob Cherry, a Western District sergeant and past-president of the police union, asks citizens to step up and help officers prevent and solve crimes across the city. Additionally, Cherry suggests that the police department adopt a New York City model for patrol-based targeting of violent, repeat offenders to reduce the shootings that have claimed nearly 700 lives since the spring of 2015. That means, he says, fewer officers in special units and more in uniform and on the street. With the city in a consent decree with the Justice Department to foster reforms within the department, Cherry says it’s time to shift more attention back to the crime fight. “We will increase trust when we start cutting crime,” says Cherry, a city resident. “If you get the numbers down and people feel safer, they’re going to feel proud and good about their police department.” Past-president of the Baltimore lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, Cherry also serves as a national trustee for the Maryland FOP.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-violence-20170125-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/doj-report/bs-md-ci-lawyers-committee-concerns-20170125-story.html

Roughly Speaking film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed share their thoughts with Dan on nominations for the 89th Academy Awards, noting nods to African-American actors and directors following the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of 2016, a snub of actress Amy Adams and yet another (and perhaps unnecessary) nomination for the great Meryl Streep.

Thomas McCreary lived in Maryland’s Cecil County in the 19th Century and, in the 1840s and 1850s, he became widely known as a slave catcher, a man who would cross into the free state of Pennsylvania to nab black men, women and children he suspected of being runaway slaves. Sometimes they were; sometimes they were not. At a time of heightened tensions over slavery, McCreary’s exploits were decried by abolitionists and praised by those who defended slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Cecil County historian Milt Diggins tells the story of McCreary and Rachel and Elizabeth Parker, the black sisters who were born free yet abducted by McCreary from Pennsylvania and taken to the Baltimore slave market. Diggins’ book, “Stealing Freedom Along the Mason-Dixon Line,” also tells of white neighbors of the Parkers who traveled to Baltimore to demand their release and McCreary’s prosecution.Links:https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/stealing-freedom-along-mason-dixon-line

Kimberly Moffitt, associate professor in American and Africana studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County; and Richard Cross, Maryland Republican analyst and speech writer, give their takes on President Donald Trump's inaugural address.

1:35: Culture commentator Sheri Parks talks about the transition from Obama to Trump, and Friday’s inauguration.19:37: The Sun’s media critic David Zurawik expounds on Trump and his incessant tweets, and David explains how he came to be known as “Schmobo in Baltimore.”

It happened just a few days before Christmas: Maryland’s governor, comptroller and treasure — the state’s Board of Public Works — voted to cancel the $1.5 billion State Center redevelopment plan on mid-town Baltimore’s west side, a project 10 years in the making. Gov. Larry Hogan claimed the plan made no economic sense. What’s more, the state filed a lawsuit against State Center’s developer, seeking to break the leases for office space that underpin the financing of the project. Then, state comptroller Peter Franchot suggested that a whole new plan be developed to include a sports arena for an NBA or NHL team. And just like that, Hogan agreed to have the Maryland Stadium Authority fast-track a study of how to redevelop the property, including whether an arena would be feasible.So, in a very short period of time, a huge, well-vetted redevelopment project was killed, a new one proposed, and the state went to war with the developer. Merry Christmas! What happened? Dan goes over the story with Caroline Moore, CEO of Ekistics, the Baltimore development firm and leader developer of State Center.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-state-center-vote-20161221-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-md-ci-state-center-ruling-20140327-story.htmlhttp://communityarchitectdaily.blogspot.com/2016/12/governor-kills-second-baltimore-mega.html

April Ryan, White House correspondent for the American Urban Radio Networks, talks about the president-elect, Donald J. Trump, and his criticism of the press. (He will be the fourth president Ryan has covered in her broadcasting career.) But, with her new book, Ryan’s focus is on the important roles mothers play in the lives of African-American children, particularly boys and young men. Ryan’s book is “At Mama’s Knee: Mothers And Race In Black And White,” and it addresses race relations, and relations between African-Americans and police, the Freddie Gray case and the death of Trayvon Martin. (“Everyone needs to read a book about race,” Ryan says.)April Ryan is chief of American Urban Radio Networks’ Washington bureau — the only African-American broadcast bureau in the White House, with a network of more than 300 stations nationwide and nearly 20 million listeners each week. Ryan is the author of “The Presidency in Black and White: My Up‑Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America.” She’ll discuss her new book, “At Mama’s Knee,” on Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-insider-blog/bs-ae-april-ryan-20161028-story.htmlhttp://aprildryan.com/http://calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/brown_lecture_series_april_ryan_at_mamas_knee_mothers_and_race_in_black_and_white#.WH426dIrK71

Film critic Christopher Llewellyn Reed says "Silence," about Jesuit missionaries to Japan in the early 17th Century, is Martin Scorsese's best work in years, a monumental film notable for the director's uncharacteristic restraint. "It's as if Scorsese had taken the title to heart," he says. Reed also reviews from the current cinema "A Monster Calls," Hidden Fences," "Patriots Day," and "20th Century Women."Christopher Llewellyn Reed is chair of the Film ---- Moving Image Department at Stevenson University. He is the lead film critic for Hammer to Nail, a website devoted to independent cinema, and he writes occasional reviews and pieces for Bmoreart and Film Festival Today.Links: https://chrisreedfilm.com/about/http://www.hammertonail.com/

“Brides of Tortuga,” “Grundelhammer” and “Phantom of the Paradise” were three of the original productions staged by the Baltimore Rock Opera Society over the last eight years. But BROS actors, writers, designers, builders, musicians and artists now finds themselves in exile, without a headquarters and production house. The nonprofit opera company was among tenants of the old Bell Foundry building until Baltimore officials condemned the workspace in the Station North Arts District last month. Now BROS is trying to raise money to buy a permanent home for its raucous and imaginative productions. Today’s guest: Aran Keating, the company’s artistic director, talks about BROS’s quest for a new space. Here’s an amusing video that BROS used in 2015 to raise funds.Links:http://baltimorerockopera.org/https://www.crowdrise.com/brosforeverhomehttp://www.baltimoresun.com/features/baltimore-insider-blog/bal-hilarious-video-launches-fundraising-campaign-for-baltimore-rock-opera-society-20150224-story.html

1:29: Just two days after being sworn in as Maryland’s junior Senator, Chris Van Hollen took to the floor to speak out against Republican fast-track efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. On today’s podcast, Van Hollen talks about the consequences of dismantling President Obama’s signature health insurance law.18:48: Rep. Elijah Cummings criticizes congressional Republicans, including the chairman of a government watchdog committee, for not questioning President-elect Donald Trump’s extensive foreign financial holdings and the potential for conflicts in his presidency. Cummings and other Democrats have filed legislation requiring all presidents to divest of their businesses and put their assets in a blind trust. Anything short of that, says the Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will put Trump in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause the day he takes office. In this podcast, Cummings also talks about the significance of the Russian hack of the 2016 election and, with President Obama scheduled to give his farewell address tonight from Chicago, the congressman reflects on the Obama years in the White House.