Midday WYPR 88.1 FM Baltimore

The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore issued its State of Downtown report last month.

Baltimore's urban core is one of the few places in the city that saw a population increase in recent years. With its museums, sports venues, libraries, and restaurants, downtown remains a destination for many locals and visitors.

But office space is in less demand, as a hybrid model of work persists. How does changes in work change the place of downtown in the Baltimore region?

Shelonda Stokes, President of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, joins Midday to discuss her organization's latest findings and downtown's change.

(Photo by Elijah David Jr.)
Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today we speak to one of America’s most acclaimed classical composers. Nico Muhly has worked big-time organizations like the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Tomorrow night, some his music, juxtaposed with music that has been formative to Nico, will be performed at a local church that has one of the area’s finest music programs.
Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

When former Gov. Larry Hogan made a last-minute entry into the Republican primary for Maryland's open U.S. Senate seat, the 2024 Democratic primary gained new national significance. With a thin majority in the Senate, the eventual Democratic nominee will likely face a capable challenger in Hogan.

The two leading candidates in the Democratic primary are Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and 6th District Congressman David Trone.

Midday hoped to have a conversation with both candidates to talk about the issues and why they each think they are best suited to beat Hogan.

County Executive Alsobrooks accepted our invitation, and Trone did not. So, we will spend most of the hour today speaking with Alsobrooks.

She has led Prince George’s, Maryland's second largest county, since 2018. She is the first Black woman to lead any county in the state's history, and if she is elected to the U.S. Senate, she will be the first woman to serve in the Maryland congressional delegation since Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Donna Edwards left office in 2017. She would also become one of only three Black women Senators in U.S. history.
Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

As the primary in Maryland enters into its final days, the race for the Democratic nomination for Maryland's U.S. Senate seat grows contentious.

Washington Post reporter Erin Cox has been following the U.S. Senate race and joins us to discuss the latest.
Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Judith Krummeck's The Deceived Ones reinterprets the classic Twelfth Night in a contemporary Baltimore setting. Her new novel chronicles the journey of twins, Vira and Sevastyan, a brother and sister from Ukraine who escape their war-torn homeland and come to Charm City.

Vira is a talented musician, who becomes begins working on a new opera at the Peabody Institute in the Mount Vernon neighborhood. Inspired by Shakespeare, Krummeck weaves a fun and poignant tale, replete with mistaken identities, heartfelt ardor, and a bit of mischief.
Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Slow Time is Antje Rauwerda's debut novel. The Goucher College professor set her story in Govans, the northeast Baltimore neighborhood she calls come. The setting comes alive in Rauwerda's story, and is as vibrantly described as the characters who call Govans home.

At the outset of the story, the book’s protagonists, Danny and Em, know each other only in passing. As their connection deepens, we learn about their pasts, what they have lost, and how they have coped with those losses.
Email us at midday@wypr.org, tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.