Roughly Speaking

In this podcast:2:05: On the day after the latest verdict in the trials of Baltimore police officers accused in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, Sun reporters Justin Fenton and Kevin Rector talk about the acquittal of Officer Caesar Goodson, who faced the most serious charges of the six original defendants. With one hung jury and now two not-guilty verdicts, will Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby drop the lesser charges against the remaining four defendants? 26:10: The New York Times called Michael Denzel Smith "the intellectual in Air Jordans." A contributing writer to The Nation and cable commentator, Smith writes about coming of age in the time of Barack Obama, LeBron James, Trayvon Martin and the Black Lives Matter movement. His new memoir, "Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education," reflects on being young and black in a country that, eight years after electing the first African-American president, has Donald Trump as a choice for a successor.(courtroom sketch by Wm Hennessy/CourtroomArt.com)

What’s it like to run a Baltimore city school? Dan speaks with five principals who were recently honored for their outstanding work. They are recipients of "Heart of the School" awards, established this year by the Fund for Educational Excellence. The inaugural awards celebration was held at the Hippodrome Theater in May. More than 450 nominations for 88 principals were submitted by teachers, parents and students. From a list of 11 finalists, five winners were chosen. They are our podcast guests today: 1:49: Chris Battaglia of Benjamin Franklin High School at Masonville Cove20:58: Tamika Daniels of George W.F. McMechen High School in Dorchester/Ashburton30:45: Mary Donnellyof John Ruhrah Elementary/Middle School in East Highlandtown40:20: Najib Jammal of Lakeland Elementary/Middle School in Lakeland51:27: Rochelle Machado of Arundel Elementary/Middle School in Cherry Hill

Sun reporters Kevin Rector and Justin Fenton review the state's case against Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the Baltimore police van driver accused in the death of Freddie Gray last April. Goodson was the driver of the van in which Gray suffered a fatal spinal cord injury. Rector and Fenton review the prosecution, Goodson's defense and the questions Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams had for both sides during Monday's closing arguments. Preview the episode at http://bsun.md/28O4F4B.

3:50: Little Willie Adams was truly the stuff of legend — a heroic figure among African-Americans of Baltimore in the 20th Century, a one-time numbers-runner-turned-venture capitalist, philanthropist and political power broker. Adams died five years ago this month. Mark Cheshire has written a biography of him: "They Call Me Little Willie."23:15: Paula Gallagher has another book to recommend, this one a collection of non-fiction essays by the best-selling author Neil Gaiman.26:44: The other Baltimore legend we’ll be hearing about today is Philip Berrigan, the one-time Catholic priest who, with his brother Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest, were prominent protesters of the Vietnam War. They were both part of the Catonsville Nine, jailed for their destruction of files from the draft board in Catonsville in May 1968. Later Phil Berrigan, with his wife Elisabeth McAlister, established the Jonah House peace community in Baltimore; he lived here the rest of his life. He died at the age of 79 in 2002. Dan Berrigan died at the age of 94 in April. Phil and Dan Berrigan wrote letters to each other for years, and those letters have now been edited and published as a book. One of the editors, Dan Cossachi, is our guest today.View full show notes with links at http://bsun.md/28IE333.

Two recent reports paint a troubling picture of infrastructure investment in the U.S. and around the world. The McKinsey Global Institute says major economies are cutting back on spending on bridges, roads and other infrastructure at a time when they need to be increasing that investment to keep up with economic growth. In the U.S., the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates a trillion-dollar investment gap in infrastructure, with the shortfall costing each American household and business thousands of dollars annually. Dan speaks with Greg DiLoreto, past president of the ASCE and chair of its infrastructure committee.

In this podcast:1:10: Republican analyst Richard Cross and UMBC professor Kimberly Moffitt comment on Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's declaration that he won't be voting for Donald Trump for president, and we look at how Trump's aggressive position on immigrants and terror have affected his campaign.18:41: American culture commentator Sheri Parks talks about the massacre in Orlando, President Obama's reaction to Trump's statements on that tragedy, and the news media's intensified scrutiny of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

Mikita Brottman, a literary scholar and professor in humanities at the Maryland Institute College of Art, established a book club for inmates at Maryland’s maximum-security Jessup Correctional Institution. The club members, some of them convicted murderers serving life sentences, read Melville’s "Bartleby," "The Scrivener", Conrad’s "Heart of Darkness," Shakespeare’s "Macbeth," Stevenson’s "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and Poe’s "The Black Cat," among other works. Brottman, who is also an author and psychoanalyst, tells about her experiences sharing her favorite books with prisoners in a new memoir, “The Maximum Security Book Club,” published by Harper Collins.Brottman speaks Wednesday night, June 15, at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

Dan speaks with Firmin DeBrabander, professor of philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art and author of "Do Guns Make us Free? Democracy and the Armed Society," his reporting and reflections on the country’s gun culture, published a year ago by Yale University Press. Is the scale of the massacre in Orlando going to change anything when it comes to the amount and type of guns available to American citizens? Will Congress and the states raise the bar on who is allowed to legally purchase and own a certain firearm? Or are we to accept — and expect — such nightmares as the price of freedom in a democracy?

A follow-up to Dan's Sunday column with Stefanie DeLuca, a Johns Hopkins sociologist and co-author of a 10-year study of 150 young, African-American men and women who were born in the late 1980s and 1990s to parents who lived in Baltimore's public housing projects. The researchers conducted extensive interviews with the children to measure their success in coming of age as young adults despite the hardships of family poverty, poorly performing schools and violent neighborhoods. The results were surprising. DeLuca, along with Susan Clampet-Lundquist and Kathryn Edin, are the authors of "Coming of Age in the Other America."

2:27: As Republican leaders, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, try to adjust to the reality of Donald J. Trump, explainers abound. How did the GOP get here? What does Trump’s presumptive nomination for president say about the American electorate? Carol Anderson, for one, says Trump’s ascendancy is all about white anger, a predictable backlash to eight years of Barack Obama. Anderson, professor and chair of African-American studies at Emory University, is the author of "White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide," a political history of American progress blunted by racial backlash.23:07: Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik looks at how national news organizations have changed their approach to covering the trials of police officers charged in the death last year of Freddie Gray in Baltimore. Given the lack of convictions after two trials, and the lack of civic trauma that resulted from the acquittal of Officer Edward Nero last month, is the national media losing interest in the story? Is Marilyn Mosby’s prosecution team, rather than the accused officers, now the focus of the story?35:32: Baltimore County librarian Paula Gallagher reviews a new novel, "Sweetbitter," about a young woman who lands a job in a celebrated New York City restaurant.38:18: Henry Hong of the Thames Street Oyster House and John Shields of Gertrude’s offer recipes for the weekend cook. From appetizer to dessert, six dishes you can try at home using fresh produce from your local farmers market.