WYPR: The Signal Podcast

Will Sparrows Point have a new owner soon? Plus, we learn about five Frenchmen who took refuge in Philadelphia as Revolution swept through 1790s France, Studio Theatre stages "Carrie: the Musical," and Nutritionist Monica Reinagel returns.

Sparrows Point might have a new owner soon, we talk about it with Mark Reutter, reporter for the online news site Baltimore Brew and author of a book about the Point.

Plus, Telekinesis, pig's blood and musical numbers! Tom Hall talks with theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck about the Studio Theater's production of "Carrie: The Musical."

Tom will also tell us who won this year’s Sondheim ArtScape Prize. And, he’ll visit with the Nutrition Diva, Monica Reinagel.

Many children go hungry in the summer due to an absence of school food programs, Kathleen Brockway's new book "Baltimore's Deaf Heritage", and the Orioles hope to hang on to first place in the A.L. East.

Once school lets out, many kids find themselves without three meals a day. There are programs to serve them, but many children are still hungry. The head of a summer meals program in Baltimore and the director of the Johns Hopkins' Center for a Livable Future discuss fighting summer hunger and its effects.

From schools, to churches to bowling leagues, we learn about the influence of Baltimore's deaf community from Kathleen Brockway, the author of a new book, “Baltimore's Deaf Heritage”.

Also, the Orioles are in first place in their division, the American League East. But, can they stay there? Tom Hall talks Orioles baseball with sportswriter Mark Hyman.

Will the cost of sending money abroad go up? What can Sri Lanka teach us about raising our children? Plus, researcher Sabiyha Prince on gentrification and African-Americans.

Some big banks are getting out of the international money-transfer business, and that’s expected to drive up the cost of sending money abroad. We talk about what that means for Marylanders with Paul Dwyer, CEO of Viamericas, a money-transfer company headquartered in Bethesda.

Then, University of Maryland, Baltimore County professor Bambi Chapin lived in Sri Lanka for two years, trying to understand why spoiled toddlers there grew into obedient children. Sheilah talks with her about the different ways Americans and Sri Lankans parent and her new book, Childhood in a Sri Lankan Village.

Plus, What are the effects of gentrification and its implications for social justice in Washington, D.C., and beyond? Tom Hall asks cultural anthropologist Sabiyha Prince.

Should access to a lawyer be a guaranteed right in certain civil cases? Plus, tracking ospreys in Maryland, a review of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's "As You Like It", and bluegrass band Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen.

A state task force is looking at whether poor Marylanders should have free access to a lawyer in civil cases affecting basic rights like shelter, safety or health. We ask the executive director of the Maryland Access to Justice Commission how it might work and how much it could cost.

Then, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has been tracking the journey of ospreys from South America back to Chesapeake Bay. One of the leaders of the project tells Nathan Sterner what scientists are learning about the ospreys from those tracking devices. 

Plus, J. Wynn Rousuck reviews Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's open-air production of "As You Like It."

And, they’ve won awards and played all over the globe.  This morning, Bluegrass masters Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen play in our studio.

Maryland's odd constitutional delegation in 1787, a documentary about the "Central Park Five", Baltimore writer Rafael Alvarez on his book "Tales from the Holy Land."

Happy Fourth of July! Today, we mark the day we declared independence from Britain in 1776. We revisit our conversation with author David O. Stewart about another seminal event in American history: writing the federal constitution and who Maryland sent to take part.

Then, five black and Latino teenagers, known as The Central Park Five, were wrongfully convicted in the rape of a Central Park jogger in 1989. Tom Hall talks with the directors of a documentary about the case, and one of the five men, now exonerated.

Plus, Baltimore writer Rafael Alvarez sketches intimate portraits of the city's down-and-out and up-and-coming. Tom talks with him about his book of short stories, Tales From The Holy Land.

The psychological costs to children when bullets fly in Baltimore, plus activist Shirley Sherrod on healing from injustice.

When violence breaks out in neighborhoods, how do you address the psychological damage to young witnesses? We spoke with a Stanford University child psychiatrist who studied links between community violence and PTSD, and with a Baltimore public-school social worker.

Plus, it's been four years since Shirley Sherrod was fired from her federal agriculture job over an inaccurately reported speech. Sherrod told Tom Hall what lessons she took from that incident, and how a lifetime of witnessing inequality taught her how to fight it.

Attracting attorneys to represent arrestees at initial hearings, remembering "the battle that saved Washington" during the Civil War, plus how one man’s story reflects India’s story in the 20th century.

The District Court of Maryland is looking for lawyers to represent criminal defendants at the pretrial hearings that decide whether the arrestee is held in custody or released before trial. We ask Chief Judge John Morrissey about how the search is going.

Then, the "Battle of Monocacy," fought near Frederick 150 years ago next week, crushed Confederate hopes of capturing Washington. We talk with Brett Spaulding, a Monocacy National Battlefield Park Ranger who wrote a book about the conflict.

Plus, J. Wynn Rousuck and Tom Hall discuss the first major revival of the musical "Sideshow," now at the Kennedy Center.

And, writer and Johns Hopkins anthropologist Anand Pandian tells the story of his grandfather, and of India in the 20th century, in his new memoir, Ayya’s Accounts.

We talk about what’s being done to reduce HIV rates in Baltimore, how WWI shaped Baltimore's large German community, and what movies to see this month. 

Today is ‘National HIV Testing Day.’ In Baltimore, 1 in 43 people live with the virus. We talk about what’s being done to reduce HIV rates in Baltimore, challenges to getting more people tested and into treatment, and plans to test at least 800 people tomorrow.

Also, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - 100 years ago tomorrow - triggered the start of World War I a month later. How did the war shape Baltimore's large German community? Sheilah asks amateur historian John Foertschbeck.

Plus, Tom Hall talks with Jed Dietz of the Maryland Film Festival, and Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post, about what movies to see this weekend (if watching the World Cup isn’t taking up all your time).

Where things are headed in November based on the primary vote.  Plus, burgers you may have never thought of, and a musical instrument you may have never heard of. 

As the dust settles on yesterday’s primary, we ask WYPR statehouse reporter Chris Connelly and Baltimore Sun reporter Luke Broadwater what the results mean for November.

Then, Chef Sascha Wolhandler on how we can expand our ideas of what a burger can be.

Plus, we talk with Sean Michaels, author of the new novel “Us Conductors," about the inventor of the theremin, a musical instrument you play without touching.

Sheilah asks a Hopkins public-health professor why chronic conditions are so tough to treat, a biography of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, "Wild With Happy" at Center Stage, and we visit the new ‘Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball’ in Owings Mills.

Can health care reform make a dent in how many Marylanders have chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity? We ask a Hopkins public-health professor why chronic conditions are so tough to treat.