Maryland Morning Podcast on WYPR

After months of public hearings, private meetings, and political maneuvering, a deal to provide Tax Increment Financing to create the infrastructure for the massive Port Covington development appears to be headed for approval by the Baltimore City Council. A final vote is scheduled for Monday night. Tom speaks with Bishop Douglas Miles, a co-chair emeritus of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), one of the groups of community activists who negotiated what many are calling an historic agreement. Then, Joshua Harris is the Green Party candidate for Mayor of Baltimore. He’ll join me to discuss his vision for the future of Charm City. And, Mother’s Lament is a new oratorio composed in response to the Baltimore Uprising by James Lee, III and librettist Vincent Stringer. They’re here with a preview of tomorrow’s premier at Morgan State.

We’re just about seven weeks away from the election, as one of America’s most divisive and unpredictable presidential campaigns continues to challenge political norms. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton blast each other as unfit for office, as charges of “deplorable” and “racist” and “hateful” fly from both camps. The tumultuous presidential campaign has led to uncertainty up and down the ballots of both major parties. Washington Post syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne joins Tom to try make sense of the rapidly evolving electoral landscape. Then, the iconoclastic punk rock band, Deerhoof . Producer Max Savage Levenson sits down with the band’s co-founder, Maryland native Greg Saunier , who’ll explain how a band that’s never had a hit is still going strong after more than two decades on the road.

We begin with a conversation about the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking . There are some who believe that if this type of gas drilling were allowed in Western Maryland, it could generate up to 3,000 jobs and at least $5 million in annual tax revenues. But many have concerns about the impact on the environment and public health. We’ll hear from Dr. David Vanko , the former head of the Maryland Fracking Commission, and co-host Nathan Sterner talks to Dr. Brian Schwartz, a researcher from Johns Hopkins, and Senator Bobby Zirkin , who proposed banning fracking. Then, Alan Walden , the Republican candidate for Mayor of Baltimore, joins Tom to talk about his vision for the future of Charm City. And theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck has a review of the new show at Ford’s Theater in Washington, Come From Away . The musical tells the true story of the 7000 airline passengers whose planes were diverted to the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, immediately after the

T he NFL opened its season last night, amid a controversy surrounding San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick , who has protested inequality in communities of color by refusing to stand during the playing of the national anthem. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist ER Shipp joins Tom for a conversation about protests and patriotism. Plus, our Movie Mavens, Jed Dietz and Ann Hornaday , on this summer’s epidemic of “sequel-it is” and the Obama effect: how the first family has transformed tinsel town.

For the finale of our Focus on the Counties series with a look at Kent County . The smallest of Maryland’s 23 jurisdictions, it’s home to Chestertown , a popular destination for retirees, and Washington College. K ent County is one of nine counties in the state that does not have a county executive, instead administrators are appointed by a board of elected commissioners. Tom is joined by Kent County Administrator Shelley Herman Heller and Chris Cerino, the mayor of Chestertown , to talk about their efforts to attract new jobs, young families, artists, and more tourists. Then, theater as therapy. Joanne Lewis Margolius moved to Maryland 30 years ago from her native England to form the Magical Experiences Arts Company , which presents interactive theatrical programs for disabled children and adults to address the often overlooked emotional dimensions of their lives.

Here’s a cheery thought to kick off your holiday: The first two leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease and cancer. The third leading cause? Medical errors. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found that mistakes in prescribing drugs, miscues in surgery, and miscommunication between care givers leads to an astonishing number of preventable deaths every year. One of the authors of the study, Dr. Michael Daniel , explains how the medical community is addressing this endemic problem. Then, 53 years after the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the March on Washington, a conversation with an eyewitness to history: pioneering civil rights activist Gloria Richardson , one of the founders of what came to be called The Cambridge Movement on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. And, local author Kathy Flann on her latest collection of Baltimore-based short stories, Get a Grip.

We revisit a conversation about African centered approaches to mental health with Dr. Cheryl Grills of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and Enola Aird , the f ounder and president of Community Healing Network. This conversation originally aired on April 15, 2016. Then, comedian and political satirist Barry Crimmins weighs in on the presidential election and discusses how the abuse he experienced as a child informs his work today. Plus, we go up on the roof to hear about one pastor's efforts to get voters to the polls in his community during the 2016 primary season. This conversation originally aired on April 20, 2016.

What’s your identity project? The thing that puts a skip in your step when you wake up every day? Maybe it’s the instrument you play, or the poetry you’ve written. For a lot of kids living in Baltimore’s most impoverished neighborhoods, their identity project can be their ticket out of economic hardship. A Hopkins researcher spent 10 years studying kids in Baltimore’s public housing. Why are some kids able to break the cycle of poverty? Stefanie DeLuca on Coming of Age in the Other America . Then, National Book Award winner James McBride on Kill 'em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Sou l . And, Smart Nutrition: Our Nutrition Diva, Monica Reinagle , has some tips about long term weight loss.

Today's podcast begins with our story, first broadcast this past May, on Destiny Watford. She's a winner of the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize for her work with Free Your Voice , a grassroots organization that opposed construction of an incinerator in Curtis Bay. The Goldman Prize is awarded to one person on each of the six inhabited continents. Ms. Watford, at age 20, is this year’s winner for all of North America. She joins Tom to talk about lighting a fire for justice in South Baltimore. (See our full Destiny Watford web article for a statement from the incinerator's intended builder.) Then: Yesterday marked the 53 rd anniversary of the March on Washington, the peaceful demonstration that brought more than 200,000 protesters to the Lincoln Memorial to demand racial and employment equality. In a conversion she had with Tom this past January, Helena Hicks recalls her role in the 1955 sit-in at the then-racially segregated Read's Drug Store, which took place eight years before Dr.

Liz Lerman , a MacArthur award winning dancer and choreographer joins Tom to discuss her new appointment as a Professor in the Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. Then, Donald Hicken , who retired from the theater department at the Baltimore School of the Arts in June, joins Tom to share his reflections after three and a half decades of changing young lives. And, Sharayna Christmas is a dancer, writer and the executive director of Muse 360 , an organization that works with youth to cultivate their interests in the arts. In July, Muse 360 took a group of young people from Baltimore City to Havana, Cuba where for two weeks they studied history, Spanish and dance. The trip was put together in conjunction with The African Diaspora Alliance and Frederick Douglass High School. This program originally aired on June 17, 2016.

Since April of 2015, the narrative of the Baltimore uprising has been inextricably woven into the fabric of a broader national conversation about how police relate to communities of color, tempered by more deaths of Black and Brown people at the hands of police, targeted murders of law enforcement officers, and an acrimonious Presidential campaign. This morning, reporter Mary Wiltenburg brings us a Sound Montage from Baltimore’s West Side. Police and protesters: Voices from the Uprising. Then, our Living Questions Series continues with the Rev. Dr. Robert Franklin , the President Emeritus of Morehouse College and Professor of Moral Leadership at Emory University. Followed by Baker Artist Award winner Todd Marcus on the joys of the bass clarinet.

We’ll start with a conversation with Steve Phillips, the co-founder of PowerPAC.ORG, which has worked to mobilize voters in under-represented communities. In his recent book, Brown is the New White , he argues that people of color and progressive whites constitute a new American majority, and that acting with an understanding of this new reality is key to the future success of the Democratic party. Then: Sammy Hoi has been at the helm of MICA for the past two years, and he has quickly established himself as one of the region’s most imaginative arts leaders. How does an art school fit into the fabric of Baltimore, and how does the city inform the training of the next generation of artists and creators? And our theater Critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews Hand to God at the Studio Theater in Washington, which has extended the play's run to Sunday, October 2.

Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman joins by phone to give an update on recovery efforts in Ellicott City after the devastating flash flood that left two people dead, 200 buildings damaged or destroyed, and hundreds of cars strewn about the historic streets or thrown into the Patapsco River. Then, Culture Connections with Dr. Sheri Parks . As the Olympics enter its final weekend, star gymnast Simone Biles and gold medal swimmer Simone Manuel are just two of several Black athletes who have become household names. Has Rio changed the narrative around race and sports? Then Old Line Spirits is one of the latest entries in the crowded field of craft distilling. We’ll take a sip of this new single malt.

On Monday night, the City Council voted to send a minimum wage bill back to committee. Luke Broadwater from the Baltimore Sun and WYPR’s Metro Reporter Kenneth Burns were in the council chambers for the debate and vote, and they will walk-us through how and why the council took this step, and what it will mean for the city moving forward. Plus, Natalie Sherman of the Baltimore Sun and Melody Simmons of the Baltimore Business Journal have been covering the complexities of the proposed Port Covington development for many months. They’re give a status update on the enormous project. Then, the Nutrition Diva, Monica Reinagel on meat substitutes. Are they healthier? And are they worth the trade-off in taste?

Dr. Carla Hayden joins Tom for her first interview since being confirmed by the Senate July 13 as the next Librarian of Congress. After 23 years in what most people consider a transformative tenure as the CEO of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library, Dr. Hayden next month will become the first woman and the first African American to hold the most high-profile library post in the nation. Then, Producer Bridget Armstrong visits the Reginald F. Lewis Museum’s latest exhibition, called Now, That’s Cool! It features rare artifacts, like an original picture of Frederick Douglass, from a decidedly not-so-cool era of slavery. Plus, theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory's new production of Julius Caesar . And historian Lawrence Jackson on The City That Bleeds . He wrote a provocative essay in the July issue of Harper’s on Freddie Gray and the legacy of inequality that seeded last year’s uprising.

Dr. Leana Wen joins us for this month’s edition of Healthwatch. With an extended Code Red heat alert in effect for the Baltimore region, what precautions must we take to stay safe in 100-degree temperatures? The Zika virus . What have we learned as we watch the Greater Miami area struggle to contain this sometime fatal disease? And as opioid overdoses continue to spike, how is the city responding to help addicts find treatment? And how can the rest of us prepare to lend life-saving assistance when we encounter someone who's overdosing on heroin, fentanyl or other dangerous opioids ? The Health Commissioner talks about efforts to put the overdose antidote drug, Nalaxone , into more people's hands. Then, unconstitutional conduct by the Baltimore Police Department: Commissioner Kevin Davis responds to the scathing Department of Justice report , Kevin Rector of the Baltimore Sun puts it in context, and Lynh Bui of the Washington Post describes how the Prince George’s County Police

We continue our Focus on the Counties Series with a conversation with first term Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner . Elected in 2014, Ms. Gardner is Frederick’s first County Executive, as they’ve transitioned from a commissioner system to a charter system. A Democrat, Jan Gardner is overseeing one of the fastest growing counties in the state, which is wrestling with the impulse for development in an area with a longstanding agricultural tradition. I’ll talk to County Executive Jan Gardner about what’s ahead for Frederick County, Baltimore’s neighbor to the west. Plus, the versatile jazz and classical pianist Jeffrey Chappell joins Tom to talk about his latest project, a new band called Otherworld , a jazz quartet that fuses middle eastern and western classical & jazz traditions. They have a concert in Kensington tomorrow night, and we’ll have a preview.

Two decades ago, new research and new diagnostic tools led to a sharp rise in the numbers of children diagnosed with autism. The surprising prevalence of the developmental brain disorder – affecting an estimated 1 in 68 children born in the U.S. – sparked a wave of special programs designed to help autistic children achieve their full potential. Now, as these children have grown into adults, programs to help them live their lives with purpose and dignity are few and far between. Producer Rob Sivak reports on some local efforts to address the unique challenges of adults with autism. Then, theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews the Baltimore Playwrights Festival production of Crash & Burn. And Tom talks with local author Suzanne Feldman about her new novel, Absalom’s Daughters -- a book that explores race and self-discovery in the American South.

They started playing soccer on Wednesday. The opening ceremony is tonight. Ready or not, here comes Rio. Sports guru Mark Hyman joins Tom for an Olympic Preview. The build-up to the Rio games couldn’t have been more unsettling: the Zika virus; concerns about rampant crime, political instability, filthy water. Are Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky ready for a repeat? Are Christina Epps and Matt Centrowitz ready for a breakout? Is Rio ready? Our movie mavens are always ready to recommend a good movie or two. Jed Dietz of the Maryland Film Festival and Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post join me for Movie Mayhem. What’s hot, what’s not, and what’s new in the world of cinema.

Today, we continue our Focus on the Counties Series with a conversation with first term Harford County Executive Barry Glassman . He was one of three county executives elected in the Baltimore region in the 2014 Republican wave led by Governor Larry Hogan. Harford County is wrestling with a tenacious problem of opioid addiction, the tensions between rural and suburban land use, environmental contamination, and other issues. I’ll talk to County Executive Barry Glassman on what’s ahead for Harford County. Then, Theater Critic J.Wynn Rousuck reviews "The Lord of Flies", an adaptation at the Annex Theater of William Golding’s chilling 1954 novel of not quite the same name.