March 2009

March 30, 2009

March 30, 2009

On today's show Marc was joined in the studio by Dr. Nancy Grasmick, the Maryland State Superintendent of Schools.  They unpacked many of the recent education news stories, including the recent Education Weekly ratings that named Maryland number one among public school

March 27, 2009

March 26, 2009

American Rust is a novel by Baltimore-bred writer Philipp Meyer. Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, it's a moving novel about the bleak realities that battle our desire for transcendence and the powers of love and friendship to redeem us.

March 24, 2009

Save Baltimore’s Small Performance Venues

Christina here – I'm one of the interns on the show, and wanted to spread the word about a piece of legislation making its way through the City Council that would have a huge effect on small performance venues in Baltimore City.

March 24, 2009

March 24, 2009

On today's show, Marc spoke with several environmental leaders about how the racial make-up of Baltimore City may change or effect the discussion of environmental justice.

Today's studio panel included:

March 19, 2009

March 19, 2009

Are members of Congress benefiting from the AIG bailout?  In the first segment of today's show, Marc spoke with Congressman Elijah Cummings (Maryland's 7th District) on the issue of the millions of dollars in bonuses set to reach many AIG executives and nearly 30 members of Congress.  Is this how our hard-earned tax dollars should be utilized?

March 17, 2009

March 17, 2009

The United States has one of the most progressive environmental justice systems in the world. Theoretically, Americans have access to more information, more options, and more community support in trying to lessen their environmental impact.

March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all, and to my Mom, wherever your spirit is floating around.  I am sure you are having a Guinness and shot.   She is the reason that I am so Irish.   Well, she was Irish by immersion.   Maisie Anne Round Steiner grew up in the north of England, the daughter of North Country miners and a Scotswoman of the MacPherson clan.   She was a wild, unruly, alive renegade whose mother sent her to a Catholic convent (though she was Protestant of Baptist/Methodist roots) in the mountains of Wales.  It turned out that the nuns were a bunch of Irish pro-IRA radicals who embraced my mom as she embraced them.

So we were brought up on the legends of ancient Irish warrior kings like Brian Baru, IRA revolutionaries like James Connolly, the first Jewish Mayor of Dublin Robert Briscoe and the great Irish poets and writers who graced our bookshelves.  The nuns imbued in her a sense of social justice.  As a young British woman she embraced the IRA, anti-colonial struggles and love for humanity and human rights.  Her mother sent her away to be disciplined and straightened out, so she could act more like an English lady.  Instead, she came back with the fire, soul and love of life of the Irish.  She passed it on to her children and breathed it deeply with each breath she took.  She found four leaf clovers and had conversations with the leprechauns and the spirits.  Though Eire did not flow in her veins, it lived in the depths of her being.

Thanks Mom, for making me Irish.  I’ll have a Guinness and a shot for you tonight.

March 11, 2009

March 11, 2009

In 1999, Maryland deregulated electric rates. A growing number of voices feel it was a mistake that's created profit monopolies for our largest power providers and tangled up our energy needs in big business politics. The result? Basic utilities have become a financial burden for many members of our community.

March 10, 2009

March 10, 2009

Public awareness on the need for becoming more energy efficient and lessening our environmental impact is at an all time high. However, in an economic crisis where many families are struggling to keep their homes and jobs, "going green" just can't be a top priority--or can it?

March 10, 2009

Philipp Meyer: Author of American Rust

 

It just so happens that Philipp Meyer grew up in Hampden, the same neighborhood in Baltimore where our offices and studios are.  He stopped by for an interview while he was in town on the book tour for his first novel, American Rust.  It's a story set in a small, former steel town in western Pennsylvania, that explores how people's lives change when stable, middle-class jobs disappear from the place they call home.  Listen to the interview here.

March 5, 2009

Andres Alonso Blasts Michael Steele

Michael Steele is making numerous headlines today for his apology to Rush Limbaugh.  Locally, he is also making headlines after being called out by Baltimore School's CEO Andres Alonso at a public forum which also featured Governor Martin O'Malley last night at Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore.  Alonso demanded an apology from Steele for promises he made to that school in the past, which he never kept.


Our reporter Melody Simmons was there.  Click the podcast player to hear her recording of Alonso's remarks on Steele, and also on Governor O'Malley.

March 4, 2009

Reconstruction & The First Black Congressmen

 

Philip Dray is an award winning author who is responsible for novels such as Stealing God’s Thunder and At the Hands of Persons Unknown, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Southern Book Critics Circle Award.  Dray was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

His new novel, Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen, shines a new light on the post-Civil War era of US history, focusing on the first black members of Congress, important historical figures who are frequently overlooked.

March 3, 2009

March 3, 2009

Do we have a right to choose when we want to end our lives?

Last week, Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert and Nicholas Alex Sheridan were arrested by the Georgia Beauro of Investigation under allegations of involvement with the assisted suicide case of John Celmer that took place last year in Georgia.