Roughly Speaking

With President Obama scheduled to give his farewell address from Chicago on Tuesday night, Michael Days, editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, talks about the president’s legacy. Days has written a book about Obama’s time in the Oval Office, assessing everything from the passage of the Affordable Care Act to the Detroit bailout and the efforts to pull the nation out of the worst economic decline since the Great Depression. Days, author of “Obama’s Legacy: What He Accomplished,” will be the featured speaker Tuesday evening in Baltimore as part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s Writers LIVE! Series.Links:https://www.whitehouse.gov/farewellhttps://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/michael-i-days/obamas-legacy/9781455596614/http://calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/writers_live_michael_i_days_obamas_legacy_what_he_accomplished_as_president#.WHPfVdIrK71

1:04: John Fritze, the Sun's Washington correspondent, talks about the new Congress and the battles ahead, plus the roles of Maryland's two Democratic senators, Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, are expected to play in Trump administration confirmation hearings next week.12:52: Kevin Rector, crime and criminal justice reporter for The Sun, provides perspective to the disturbing statement, by the police union leader, that Baltimore does not have enough cops on patrol to protect its citizenry. The warning came just after the city closed out another deadly year of violence, with homicides over 300 in both 2015 and 2016.21:23: Luke Broadwater, City Hall reporter, talks about Baltimore's new mayor, Catherine Pugh, and her first big challenge — getting crime under control as the city and the U.S. Justice Department work toward a consent decree on police reforms. Plus, what's up with the city's new water-billing system and those crazy, $80,000 bills some homeowners received?

This is an encore presentation of the podcast from Dec. 24, 2015.Dan shares a story from his New England boyhood. The Baltimore Sun first published the story Dec. 25, 1998.Preview the episode: https://soundcloud.com/baltsun/roughly-speaking-with-dan-rodricks-christmas-eve-episode-previewLinks:http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-12-25/features/1998359088_1_foundry-day-my-father-father-business

Since Donald J. Trump’s election, we’ve heard from a lot of people who supported the winner of the popular vote, Hillary Clinton, and who have been downright despondent or depressed over the outcome. Many have turned to other things to get their minds off the crude and divisive politics of 2016, to avoid arguments over the holidays with friends and relatives, and to feel inspired again. They’ve vowed to perform acts of kindness and generosity. They’ve turned to books, to movies and to nature. They’ve turned to art, to acts of human imagination that elevate spirits. In this vein, Dan offers something he recently discovered, an astonishing work by Beethoven that premiered 208 years ago today, on Dec. 22, 1808, in Vienna. It’s the Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra. Hear some excerpts, including the stirring finish, and catch Dan’s commentary in our penultimate episode of the year.Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation-world/presidential-elections/bs-md-president-20161108-story.htmlhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bs-ae-thanksgiving-politics-20161123-story.htmlhttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12424757https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOYwrStA-Q4

Haussner’s Regret is Dan’s term for the remorse Baltimoreans feel when they realize it’s too late to do something they always meant to do but never did, or something they did once and enjoyed but never got to a second time. It is named for the once-famous, now-gone Highlandtown restaurant crammed with paintings, ceramics and sculpture that closed after 73 years in 1999. It closed fast, too, just two weeks after Mrs. Frances Haussner George announced she’d had enough. Haussner’s was overwhelmed with customers who wanted one last meal; some stood in line for three hours. Many had not dined at Haussner’s in forever, and they regretted it. On today’s show: Avoiding Haussner’s Regret with a Baltimore Bucket List — that is, an inventory of things every Baltimorean should do — or do again — before it’s too late, from hiking the full length of Charles Street to having a corned beef sandwich at Attman’s to enjoying the annual taxidermy show at the Walters Art Museum to jazz at the Caton Castle. Our discussion is occasioned by the publication of author Judy Colbert’s latest book of regional interest, “100 Things To Do In Baltimore Before You Die.”Links:http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/baltimore-diner-blog/bal-haussners-building-demolition-20160526-story.htmlhttp://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-11-14/news/bs-md-backstory-charles-street-20131114_1_south-baltimore-baltimore-county-baltimore-museumhttp://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/baltimore-diner-blog/bs-fo-attmans-100-years-20150328-story.htmlhttp://www.citypaper.com/news/thisweek/bcpnews-thursday-baltimore-taxidermy-open-20161004-story.htmlhttp://www.catoncastle.com/calendar.htmlhttps://www.amazon.com/Judy-Colbert/e/B001HP1Z8S

Baltimore would likely be a healthier city if it had more trees, and there’s plenty of research to support that claim. In addition to their role in human wellness, trees suck up storm water and provide awesome curb appeal to homes in city neighborhoods. Jill Jonnes, an accomplished author, is a champion of urban trees and the founder of the Baltimore Tree Trust, established in 2009 to promote tree plantings in the city, particularly in neighborhoods that have not seen healthy trees in years. Her latest book is “Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape,” published by Viking.Links:http://jilljonnes.com/bio/http://baltimoretreetrust.org/our-mission-and-historyhttp://jilljonnes.com/

On Wednesday, the first day of winter, there will be a celebration of the solstice at First Unitarian Church in Baltimore — and, of course, it will be celebrated all around the world. Druids, Wiccans, Pagans and Neopagans everywhere will be hanging the evergreens and mistletoe, lighting candles and burning the Yule log, beating drums, forming circles, chanting and singing. Patricia Montley, a playwright and teacher of playwriting, wrote a book on this celebration of the Earth, and she will be leading the rituals Wednesday night at First Unitarian. She joins Dan to talk about the growing popularity of the winter solstice celebrations, which ties directly to human concerns about climate change. Montley is the author of, “In Nature’s Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth.”Links:http://www.firstunitarian.net/event/winter-solstice-ritual/https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Honor-Myths-Rituals-Celebrating/dp/155896486Xhttp://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2013/12/celebrating-winter-solstice-at-stonehenge/#1

1:26: Mild-mannered Maryland Republican Richard Cross talks about the week in Trump, along with Kimberly Moffitt, political analyst and associate professor in American studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. From his cabinet picks to his criticism of the CIA to his attack on Vanity Fair for a bad review of one of his restaurants, President-elect Donald Trump seems to makes news every hour with his Twitter account. But he cancelled a press conference to address questions about his potential business conflicts, and his approach to Russia and allegations about Russian hacking have caused divisions within the Republican ranks that closed behind Trump following his election victory. 25:47: Film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed review “Manchester By The Sea,” “La La Land,” and “Jackie,” and Chris tells us what movies to expect in theaters over the holidays.

Get some fresh, informed perspective on the massive Yahoo cyber breach and the Russian hacking of the presidential campaign from Sean Gallagher, Baltimore-based IT editor of Ars Technica, the news and technology web site.

In September 1954, just four months after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling against racial discrimination in public education, 17-year-old Walter Gill became one of the first black students to enter the elite, all-white, all-male Baltimore City College High School. He and nine other black students reached the famous "Castle on the Hill" after Baltimore’s school board voted to desegregate the schools and adopt a free choice policy that made integration voluntary. Gill, who would become the first black graduate of City — the photo, from his high school yearbook, shows Gill surrounded by his classmates — tells the story in a new memoir, "Yesterday’s Tomorrow," which details his youth and his long career as an educator. Gill will appear 6:30 Wednesday evening at the central branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.Links:http://calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/writers_live_wah_gill_yesterdays_tomorrow#.WFAFzdIrK71