On The Record

Behind the headlines we remember from the Civil Rights Movement was an organized effort to teach African-Americans the literacy and civic skills they needed to register to vote--how to sign their names, how to read parts of the state constitution and how to hold their heads up as citizens. We ask author Elaine Weiss about her new book, 'Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement'
 
 Hear Weiss talk about her book Mar. 8 at Politics and Prose, in Washington, DC and on Mar. 11 at Enoch Pratt Free Library, in Baltimore.

High utility bills are ripping through many customers’ budgets. The General Assembly is considering several bills it hopes would increase how much electricity is generated in Maryland. The Public Service Commission, which sets the rates electricity and gas companies can charge, says it's studying “lessons learned” from the multi-year rates it has set for Baltimore Gas & Electric. None of this attention holds much promise of helping consumers soon. To try to understand some of the factors, we reached out to David S. Lapp, the state people’s counsel, whose office advocates for residential utility customers.

Rebekah Opher has received a 2024 Baltimore Weaver Award for her work in addressing food insecurity for unhoused people in the city. The award, which includes $5,000 in grant funds given by Weave: the Social Fabric Project, an offshoot of the Aspen Institute with support from M&T Bank. One of her projects is Aunt Beck's Place, providing Sunday dinners for people experiencing homelessness.

President Trump’s executive orders put funding for the arts in peril. How might that affect Baltimore’s art landscape? Cara Ober of Bmore Art weighs in, and reminds us why we should care: “The arts, and artists are there to really sustain us during difficult times. It’s entertainment, but it’s there to feed our souls.” Plus, she says get out and experience art now, and offers these highlights: Reverie and Alchemy at Towson University Center for the Arts Gallery, LAYERS: The Art of Contemporary Collage at MICA, Soil to Skin at Silber Art Gallery, and James Rouse: En Plein Air, at Grimaldis Gallery.

Brian Higginson tells us a stoop story about working to center his artistic imagination on Charm City. There are a couple of live stoop events happening next week! On Wednesday March 5, The Road Less Traveled: stories about forging unique career paths. And on Thursday March 6, BE: Stories of Mental Health: personal tales about the challenges, surprises, struggles, and triumphs of improving mental health. More information about live events and the Stoop podcast is at Stoopstorytelling.com.

Among the flurry of executive orders President Trump has signed in his first month in office are a series of directives targeting transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people.
 
 Among other things, these orders attempt to ban gender affirming care for youth, bar transgender people from serving in the military, and forbid trans athletes from participating in women’s sports.
 
 Court challenges are underway, but the executive orders and the way leaders both inside and outside of government are interpreting them are already having a big impact on trans people in the US.
 
 We hear from Dr. Zack Berger, who provides gender affirming hormone treatment through the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender and Gender Expansive Health about his experiences.

People with autism spectrum disorder often have difficulty with imitating other people's actions. Kennedy Krieger is developing a diagnostic tool called the "Computerized Assessment of Motor Imitation" (or CAMI); it's a one-minute tool that uses motion-tracking technology to distinguish children with autism from those with ADHD or neurotypical peers. We hear how it works from Dr. Stewart Mostofsky, the director of the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Laboratory for Neurocognitive and Imaging Research.

Scores of children in Maryland have died from abuse and neglect in recent years -- one of the worst records in any state. We hear from Baltimore Banner investigative reporter Jessica Calefati why that news is just now reaching the public, and what’s being done.

“I Am A Child Of God Inc.” helps middle and high school students in and around Baltimore find confidence and community, through weekly dinners, college tours, a scholarship program, and summer youth retreats. The group's founder and executive director Dr. Erin Lonon has received a Weaver Award grant to further her nonprofit's work.

The Jewish Museum of Maryland is full of historical and cultural treasures. Now they’re even more accessible -- with new interactive, state-of-the-art displays! We hear about the renovation from executive director Sol Davis. "Picturing Past and Present" happens Sunday, February 23.

Today, two Stoop Stories: Rev. Cristina Paglinauan talks about finding her voice. And Andrea Chamblee tells a story about tapping into her power. More information about the Stoop Storytelling Series - including upcoming live events and the Stoop podcast - is at stoopstorytelling.com.

Ending birthright citizenship, freezing federal grants, slashing research funds: President Trump’s Executive orders are flying fast and furious. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown says they are "like a tsunami, a tidal wave. It’s like waking up every morning to a natural disaster.” He and some fellow Democratic attorneys general around the country have joined forces and are pushing back. We ask how it's going. 
 
 Then, The Baltimore Banner has a tracker to keep up with lawsuits being filed by Maryland, and by Baltimore City against the Trump Administration. Reporter Madeleine O'Neill runs the tracker and we ask her about it, and about the status of the Baltimore City lawsuits.

Even before Maryland hit a budget crisis, the accounts in the Developmental Disabilities Administration were surging. Spending on the supports and services that help people with developmental disabilities live productive lives had spiraled from about a billion dollars two years ago to more than a billion-and-a-half last year, blowing past the state’s allocation and still rising.
 
 Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed budget calls for cutting the Developmental Disabilities Administration by $200 million dollars, including eliminating a set of resources called LISS -- low-impact support services. Families, advocates and people who provide the services say the proposed cuts are cruel and frightening. 
 
 To better understand the situation we talk with Andre Coates, whose son is developmentally disabled, and who started the Maryland Community Connection 24 years ago to help families locate the resources they need, and with Gregory Miller, president and CEO of Penn-Mar Human Services.

Tia McDonald, the driving force behind Mondawmin Urban Green Space, or MUGS, has received a Weaver Award grant to continue her work. We talk with her about educating neighbors about gardening, healthful eating, and providing fresh food for those who need it in Baltimore, through Aunt Beck's Place and Sunni's Harvest.

Each week two hundred people check their worries at the door and raise their voices in song. We meet members of Charm City Sings, and its driving force, Heidi Ackerman.

Here's a Stoop Story from Katherine Gorman about looking for love, and finding … herself.
 
 Find more information about the Stoop Storytelling Series - including upcoming live events and the Stoop podcast - at Stoopstorytelling.com

Two-thirds of gun crimes in Maryland involve firearms trafficked into Maryland, mostly on I-95. LifeBridge Health has launched “Stop the Iron Pipeline.” What are they trying to do? Adam Rosenberg, vice president of violence intervention and prevention at the healthcare system and executive director of the LifeBridge Health Center for Hope outlines their efforts.

Whether in the form of truffles, kisses, bars, or fudge, Americans consume nearly three billion pounds of chocolate every year, according to the online data website Statista. While chocolate does have healthful components like fiber and antioxidants, most of us love chocolate for the taste.
 But not all chocolate we consume is the same and Jinji Fraser, of Jinji Chocolate on Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore, tells us why.

The ads showed up in Black run newspapers for decades after the Civil War — urgent descriptions of loved ones sold away. We talk to history professor Judith Giesberg, who compiled an archive, and now a book: Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families. Giesberg will be speaking at the downtown Pratt Library Mon. Feb. 10 at 7pm.

It’s Maple syrup time! It's that brief window where trees yield the sap becomes syrup. Brittany Roger, an environmental educator, and manager of school programs at the Irvine Nature Center, walks us through the process.

Here's a Stoop Story from Ashley Kidner about helping native bees make it through the winter. You can get more information about the Stoop podcast and upcoming live events at Stoopstorytelling.com.

President Trump’s push to end “birthright citizenship” would rewrite what the Fourteenth amendment has meant since 1868. Scholar Martha S. Jones traces how free Blacks in Baltimore shaped and asserted the idea of birthright citizens before the Civil War. (Orig. broadcast, July, 2018)

This Sat. Feb. 1, the Walters Art Museum welcomes the Lunar New Year of the Snake, with food offerings from Ni Hao, performances, lunar-new-year themed art. We get a preview from Dany Chan, the Walters’ Associate Curator of Asian Art.

In honor of the Year of the Snake, we bring you TWO stoop stories… both of them, about snakes! We start with Beth Bugnaski with a tale about fostering an appreciation of snakes, in all their glory, among kids. Then a second Stoop Story about a snake assist, as told by Tracey Field.
 You can find more information, including live events and the Stoop podcast, at Stoopstorytelling.com

Maryland’s General Assembly continues to grind through its 2025 session with work ranging from public safety to education to tax reform, as well as transportation budgets. Next week, a group of Marylanders, called Better Transit Now, is planning to focus on that issue. We talk with Paul Sturm, manager of Better Transit Now and chair of the Downtown Residents Advocacy Network, and Lauren ‘Bemi’ Byrd, Transportation Community Organizer at No Boundaries Coalition to find out more.

Brain Balance, a drug-free approach to improving focus, behavior, anxiety and social skills, is coming to Maryland. We talk to co-owner Beth Snow, to alumna Mallory Chizek. Brain Balance Achievement Center will have a soft opening next week in Columbia--and will have a grand opening in April.

Nonprofits cover about a third of Baltimore real estate, and they don’t pay property tax. There’s a move to make the bigger ones pay their fair share. We talk with Loraine Arikat, senior policy analyst for 1199 SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East and member of With Us For Us leadership, and with Rachel Kutler, Baltimore director for Jews United for Justice to hear more about the PILOT program and what changes may be made to it.

Gov. Moore’s plan to close the state’s $3 billion-dollar budget hole is now up to the legislature. We talk to Guy Guzzone, chair of the Senate Budget and Tax Committee to hear some of the details of how it might be done.

Avian flu is on the rise in Maryland. What does that mean for poultry farmers and for the public? We hear from state veterinarian Jennifer Trout, and and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health professor, Meghan Davis.
 
 Anyone who sees sick or dead birds in the wild should not handle or move the birds, but should report them to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service by calling 1-877-463-6497.
 
 Report any unusual bird deaths or sudden increases in very sick birds to the MDA Animal Health Program at 410-841-5810 or after-hours to 410-841-5971. Also contact the USDA at 866-536-7593.

Here is a Stoop Story from Corinne Parks about making connections with our furry, scaled and feathered friends.
 The next LIVE stoop event is "More Room in a Broken Heart: Stories About Loving, Losing, and Rebuilding" on February 13th at Checkerspot Brewing Co. with musical guest ‘Outcalls.’
 We’re pretty glum here at OTR today: our talented, organized, creative, fearless senior supervising producer, Maureen Harvie is leaving WYPR to join another mission-driven nonprofit in Baltimore. Maureen will do a fabulous job getting their important stories out, and for that we rejoice. At the same time we’re already missing her skills, her clarity of vision, and her beautiful dimpled smile. Maureen, you are welcome back ANY time!

Offered by the Parents' Place of Maryland, Baby LEADers is a free 5-week virtual course for families of children aged 5 and younger who have a diagnosed or suspected disability or developmental delay.
 
 Kristen Paul, director of Early Childhood Programs for the Parents’ Place of Maryland, discusses how the program helps parents understand their rights and how to advocate for their children. LaToyia Newman-Gross, who completed Baby LEADers in 2022, shares her experience finding community among her classmates.
 
 Applications for the next Baby LEADers cohort are due Friday, January 24th.

Baltimore is a city of artists. And every year, the “William G Baker Jr. Memorial Fund” invests in artists AND arts institutions to help support their creative endeavors. It’s the largest private dedicated funder of the arts in the Baltimore Region.
 
 We speak with David London, the new director of the Baker Fund Grants Program, and Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, who received the 2023 Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize for her work in the literary arts. Learn more about Dickinson's forthcoming book on fashion designer Claire McCardell.
 
 If you’re an artist, you have until 5pm this coming Monday, January 27th, to create or update their Baker Artist Portfolio in order to be considered for this year’s awards.

You’ve probably heard of “news fatigue” – that feeling of exhaustion at the constant flow of information that prompts people to follow the news less closely. Staying engaged can be difficult even for folks who are actively trying to make the world a better place. So, how do you maintain your focus? 
 
 For advice, we’re joined by Dara Friedman Wheeler. She’s a licensed clinical psychologist and co-author of the book “Being The Change: A Guide for Advocates and Activists on Staying Healthy, Inspired, and Driven.”
 
 In March, an author event will be held at Snug Books in Lauraville.

Thirty-one years ago, Congress made Martin Luther King Jr. Day a day of service and charged AmeriCorps with leading this effort. MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service.
 
 Today, people across all 50 states will dedicate their time to serving their communities, doing things like delivering school supplies to teachers and students, cleaning-up vacant properties, reading to young people, and more. OTR cohost Ashley Sterner discusses this commitment with Michael D. Smith, the CEO of AmeriCorps.

Here is a Stoop Story from Terri Diener about listening to our pets, what she calls, “the best job in the world.”
 The next Stoop show is February 13th at Checkerspot Brewing Company. The theme is, “More Room in a Broken Heart: Stories about loving, losing, and rebuilding.”

When water temperatures drop in the Atlantic Ocean, the chill has a major impact on sea turtles. The cold can stun them, leaving them debilitated in the water or causing them to wash up on the beach. On the Record's Ashley Sterner goes behind the scenes at National Aquarium’s turtle rehabilitation facilities.

The use of psychedelic-assisted therapy to treat trauma and other ailments is on the rise. University of Maryland, Baltimore puts it front and center with an interdisciplinary speaker series across social work, pharmacy, and nursing called Multidisciplinary Perspectives on the Science and Practice of Psychedelic Therapies. We get a preview from Megan Meyer, MSW, PhD, and from Dr. Allison Kelliher, Associate Faculty for Indigenous Knowledge and Practice Systems at the Hopkins School of Nursing and the Center for Indigenous Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Baltimore is rich with history, and the Baltimore City Historical Society wants to make sure people understand just how special and complex it is. For more than 15 years they’ve teamed up with the Village Learning Place to present Baltimore History Evenings, inviting speakers to detail stories that make up Charm City’s past. They happen at 7 pm the third Thursday of each month, beginning Jan. 16, through June.
 
 We talk with historian, author and co-chair of the history evenings committee for BCHS, Deborah Weiner, and with Nicole Fabricant, Anthropology professor at Towson University to get a preview.

Puberty - just the word may send shivers down your spine. In addition to annoying acne and crushes, getting your period can evoke feelings of embarrassment or shame. In Baltimore, one woman is trying to change that.
 
 Kai Inman founded 'The Hygiene Hookup,' a nonprofit that aims to provide education and resources about menstruation. She’s one of 20 local recipients of this year’s Weaver Awards, presented by the Aspen Institute initiative, “Weave: The Social Fabric Project.”

Baltimore recorded 201 homicides in 2024, down 23 percent from the year before. The city had seen more than 300 murders a year for the prior eight years.
 
 We ask Greg Marshburn, Catholic Charities’ Program Director for Safe Streets, about the progress he's observed. Of Baltimore’s ten Safe Streets sites, four are supervised by Catholic Charities. Previously, Marshburn served as the Site Director for Safe Streets Sandtown-Winchester and he’s worked with the violence interruption organization for more than a decade.

For years, people have been calling for significant changes to the Employed Individuals with Disabilities or EID program, offered by the Maryland Department of Disabilities. One of the biggest advocates recently “aged out” and lost her benefits while working to improve access. We talk with attorney Josh Basile, who is enrolled in the program, and disability rights advocate Michael Dalto to hear how they've tried to get improvements to the program.

Here's a Stoop Story from D.C. Colburn about acknowledgment, acceptance, and self-determination.

Marylanders have a new, simpler way to file federal taxes. We ask Comptroller Brooke Lierman what difference it will make.

Maryland’s legislature is about to convene. We ask WYPR statehouse reporter Rachel Baye what issues lawmakers will tackle.

Tips for staying safe and ready for winter hazards.

The Baltimore Museum of Industry is documenting what the collapse of the Key Bridge has meant to our community. We hear from oral historian Maria Gabriela Aldana about how she's collecting stories and making space for grief and healing. (Music: Escape by ONYCS)

Here’s a Stoop Story from Helen Shafer about a diagnosis that rocked her world.

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder is a neurological and developmental disorder that can affect how people interact, communicate, learn, and behave. It’s typically diagnosed in children by about age five in the U.S., according to the National Autism Data Center.
 
 At Zoe’s Just Dezzerts in Baltimore’s Federal Hill neighborhood, people with autism are celebrated for their talents and differences, and the employees help raise awareness of autism each day. We meet Zoe and her mom, Jennifer Goldszmidt, and employee Kelsey Parker.
 
 Then Taya Dunn Johnson, from the Autism Society of Baltimore-Chesapeake, tells us about the resources and support the non-profit provides for people with autism and their families.

On this New Year’s morning, we’re listening back to our conversation from February with Carnegie Mellon University historian Edda Fields-Black. Her book, "COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War,” highlights Harriet Tubman’s extraordinary service as a Union spy.
 
 Using pension records, bills of sale, wills, personal letters, newspaper articles, and more, Fields-Black traces the lives of the more than 700 enslaved men and women who grabbed their chance at freedom during the 1863 Combahee River Raid.
 
 This interview originally aired February 26, 2024.

For 140 years Baltimore’s Franciscan Center has responded to community needs -- from food and clothing to counseling and dental care. Now they offer ‘Dignity Plates Culinary Training Academy’ , which gives people skills and confidence that leads to employment and can transform lives. We talk with instructor Chef April Dubose, and with cohort 11 students Detrich Jordan, Shakera Murphy, Harry Lowe, Kimberly Wynn, Linda Hazelwood, and cohort 6 graduate Tiffany Jordan.
 
 Links: Franciscan Center, Dignity Plates Culinary Training Academy.