Dan Rodricks
Dan Rodricks is an award-winning columnist for The Baltimore Sun, writing commentary on local, regional and national news three days a week since January 1979. He is also the host of a podcast, called Roughly Speaking, on baltimoresun.com. He is the former host of Midday, a daily talk show on WYPR, the NPR affiliate in Baltimore. Earlier, he was host of a talk show on WBAL Radio, contributed feature stories and commentary to WBAL-TV News, the NBC affiliate in Baltimore, and he produced and served as host of a live television show, "Rodricks For Breakfast," on WMAR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Baltimore. He is the winner of several national and regional journalism awards, and the author of two books.
Recent Articles
-
Eavesdropping, people watching, and the bus was on-time, too
The prevalence of the smartphone means that Americans hear a lot of one-sided conversation. On Friday, aboard an MTA bus, I overheard a young woman with a bun in hair and an iPhone at her ear say the following: “No, he did not. No, he did not. He did not. He didn’t. Oh, God, no.” And she started...
-
Questions about a Hopkins police force are not ridiculous, but they don't win the argument, either
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore’s largest and most prestigious employer, wants permission to establish its own police department at a time when the police department in Baltimore, one of the nation’s most violent cities, does not have enough officers. So what’s the problem? Why hasn’t this...
-
One of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever
A look back at Plessy v. Ferguson, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in history. The court upheld a Louisiana law that required racial separation on passenger trains, preserving and furthering segregation ("separate but equal") throughout the nation well into the 20th Century.
-
Investing in more of Baltimore, one small loan at a time
A man told me he was shocked by what he saw when he made a wrong turn during a drive through Southwest Baltimore. “It was like a third-world country,” he said, a pejorative often uttered by white visitors as they drive by vacant rowhouses or rowhouses occupied by what appear to be poor black families....
-
Frank Robinson and the legend of the Orioles 'HERE' flag
One Sunday in a long-ago spring, sudden lightning cracked from Frank Robinson’s bat, and in a few electric seconds, one of Baltimore’s greatest legends was born. Robinson hit a home run that cleared the left-field bleachers, the ball flying high over spectators, and landing in the parking lot beyond....
-
Mueller could have some say about a Hogan challenge of Trump
Pundits who dismiss the idea of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan running for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination make an assumption — that Donald Trump will still be in office a year from now. As assumptions go, that’s a fairly big one. It means Trump survives the Mueller investigation. I only...
-
Wanted: Maryland millionaires to keep the BSO world-class
In Baltimore, we do not stick the adjective “world-class” to many things, but the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is certainly one of them. Aside from Johns Hopkins University and hospital, no institution is more commonly referred to as world-class. It’s a source of pride for people who don’t even...
-
Dan Rodricks: Maryland GOP loses some ground after a Trump (or Hogan) bump
Nobody asked me, but I wonder: Is the Republican Party growing in Maryland because of the popularity of Larry Hogan, the first GOP governor to win re-election here in more than 60 years, or are Maryland Republicans leaving the party because of the Trump presidency? I looked at the numbers from...