1/31/08 interesting articles this week…

 
Check out the first paragraph of this article:

 FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS—someone is going to help me play music with whales instead of warning me that it’s against the law. According to the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act, all “harassment” of marine mammals is illegal, including my idea of playing live music to them just to [...]

1/31/08 Bail Bonds

What comes to your mind when you think of bail bonds?  The nice folks who help spring you from jail when you’re waiting for trial?  One of the few types of businesses that populate mostly vacant commerical blocks in poor neighborhoods throughout the city?  Those ubiquitous yellow and pink Big Boyz Bail Bonds pens that [...]

1/30/08 Student Perspectives - ‘08 Elections

Every time an election roles around, people (or at least the media) start to talk a lot about the youth vote.  We wonder whether young voters will finally start coming out in larger numbers than usual.  Why do less young people tend to vote than the older folks?  Are they just apathetic?  Do they think [...]

1/30/08 The Geography of Bliss

Living in Baltimore, I can’t help but notice a lot of distinctly unhappy looking people  around town.  I know this is not exactly some kind of utopia, so is it reasonable to assume that people are, in general, happier elsewhere?
NPR Correspondent Eric Weiner will be joining us at 1pm today to discuss what he learned [...]

1/29 Banished/Sundown Towns

 
The saying, “Don’t let the sun go down on you in Forsyth County,” was a warning to African-Americans, in the early part of this century not to be in certain counties after dark. Forsyth County is just one of a number of counties which practiced a form of ethnic cleansing.
The story of these towns, and their [...]

1/29/08 Marc’s thoughts on today’s show

PAYING KIDS TO DO WELL
Dr. Andres Alonso at noon
Paying kids to do well on tests?!?!?!?!?!?!?
My first visceral reaction was no way.  This is antithetical to what we all believe, that we should instill an intrinsic love of education. 
Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO of Baltimore City Schools, is going to spend a million dollars, in part to pay [...]

1/29/08 Dr. Andres Alonso and paying kids to perform

Did your parents ever give you an incentive to perform well in school?  As in, raise your grades and we’ll raise your allowance?  Or, keep a certain GPA and we’ll take you on a vacation?  Mine did.  Freshman year of college my mom wouldn’t let me take my car to the campus first semester-and I [...]

1/28/08 Steve Larsen

At noon, a topic I know some of our listeners follow very closely… while some of you might just wonder how you’re going to pay a $450 BGE bill this month, which, by the way, is slightly less than the bill that arrived at my house last week.
Something for everyone, then: Steve Larsen, Chairman of the PSC [...]

1/28/08 Black Conservatism

I remember in 2006 during the race for Maryland’s vacant senate seat, a hot debate being sparked on our show when a guest said, “Any black person who votes for a Democrat in this election is a patsy.”  Oh, the calls that came in for the rest of the hour-people were SO angry! 
While it was [...]

1/24/07 Iraq, Oil, War, Politics, and Media…

photo of an Iraq oil field fire by Ian Waldie
…Those are a few of the topics we’re planning to cover at 1pm today, focusing on the intersection of all of them.  We’ll look at recent developments in Iraq’s oil industry, and how it fits into the bigger picture of the Iraq War.  We’ll discuss why [...]