Podcast archive

• Four great, un-Oscar-buzzed movies you must see

  Over dinner at Gertrude's in Baltimore, two Baltimore-based film critics talk about the 2019 Oscars and four great movies you probably won't hear much about during Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony and why they're worth a watch.

• Government edition episode 7: Goucher Poll, a possible new Bay Bridge, Del. Shelly Hettleman

  Baltimore Sun reporter Luke Broadwater and Goucher College pollster Mileah Kromer go in-depth on the Goucher Poll results on key issues before Maryland lawmakers, including whether to raise the minimum wage, legalize marijuana and ban tobacco for people younger than 21.

• Government edition episode 6: The great Labor Day school fight, tougher gun laws, Del. Vanessa Atterbeary

  What's behind the school calendar debate and where it could be heading.

• Rodricks reports: 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.

• Government Edition episode 5: Hogan's State of the State, gun laws and Sen. Justin Ready

  Luke and Mileah are joined by reporters Pamela Wood and Doug Donovan and state Sen. Justin Ready.

• Government Edition episode 4: Anton Black, criminal justice and Sen. Jill P. Carter

  Reporter Luke Broadwater and pollster Mileah Kromer are also joined by reporters Pamela Wood and Talia Richman.

• Rodricks reports: Turning Baltimore's abandoned houses and vacant lots into affordable homes

  One of the organizations helping to turn Baltimore's abandoned houses and vacant lots into affordable housing is Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake. In this episode, Dan visits two neighborhoods where Habitat has completed projects.

• Government Edition episode 3: Immigration, education, Hogan 2020?

  Luke Broadwater and Mileah Kromer discuss the appeals for the governor to run for president and other Maryland government topics in episode 3 of their podcast series.

• Government Edition episode 2: Miller’s health, crime and robocalls

  Luke and Mileah recap the legislative session's first week and interview Del. Kathy Szeliga.

• Rodricks reports: Putting refugees to work in Atwater's Big Kitchen

  In the midst of the worst global refugee crisis in history, Atwater's, the local restaurant group, has been putting refugees to work baking cookies and making soup. Working with the International Rescue Committee in Baltimore, Atwater's has provided jobs for 11 refugees.

• Government Edition episode 1: Polls, water bills, and the 2019 Maryland General Assembly session

  Each Wednesday during the General Assembly session, Sun reporter Luke Broadwater and Goucher College pollster and political science professor Mileah Kromer explore the policies, people, and places behind Maryland state government.

• Episode 450:Baltimore Sun editor and publisher Trif Alatzas on the importance of community journalism in 2018

  Dan speaks with editor and publisher Trif Alatzas about the tragedy at the Capital Gazette in June and how journalists came together in the aftermath, as well as the Sun's move to Port Covington.

• Episode 449: Was there any good news in 2018? Yeah, as a matter of fact

  In this episode, Dan and Sun reporter Christina Tkacik review the year's "good news" as part of the Sun's annual year-in-review package.

• Episode 448: How Sinclair's plans to challenge FOX News went bust

  Sun media critic David Zurawik elaborates on his review of Sinclair's year on the Z on TV blog, and in print this weekend.

• Episode 447: Release: James Featherstone and life after a life sentence

  Life after life in prison, the story of James Featherstone, the woman who forgave him and their unlikely friendship.

• Episode 446: When men went to war over Chesapeake oysters

  In the 19th Century, the Chesapeake Bay became a battleground over oysters as watermen from New England and New York invaded local waters to harvest the valuable shellfish for a growing international market. The oysters were so valuable that men fought bloody battles over them.

• Episode 445: Artist Randall Gornowich sees a big green dinosaur lurking behind his big pink flamingo

  The Baltimore artist who created the famous 30-foot pink flamingo perched above Cafe Hon in Hampden, plans to enhance his creation with a big, green homage to the bird's ancient ancestor this holiday season.

• Episode 444: Trump, the Crown Prince and the murder of a journalist

  Following President Trump's support of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, against the CIA's conclusion that he ordered the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, The Sun's media critic, David Zurawik, joins Dan for another conversation about Trump's war on the press.

• Episode 443: A national spotlight for Baltimore's old movie theaters

  The exhibit, "Flickering Treasures: Rediscovering Baltimore's Forgotten Movie Theaters" is based on a book by Amy Davis, an award-winning photographer of The Baltimore Sun. In this episode, Dan speaks with Davis about her project to capture what remains of the city's old movie theaters.

• Episode 442: Before you shop, some expert tips on Thanksgiving cocktails, wine and dinner

  Before you shop for the makings of a Thanksgiving feast, we offer some tips from three experts who've been guests on Roughly Speaking.

• Episode 441: Likely Maryland's oldest citizen, one week from 111, Downing Kay is in good health and good humor

  In today's episode, Dan makes a return trip to the home of Downing Kay, who was born Nov. 23, 1907. She is most likely Maryland's oldest citizen. She will turn 111 next week, one of only an estimated 50 Americans who are 110 or older.

• Episode 440: A psychologist warns that Trump's 'malignant narcissism' could lead to fascism

  Baltimore-based psychologist John Gartner is a leader of a group of mental health professionals called Duty To Warn. They seek to have Trump’s cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment, which lays out the procedure for removing a president who is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office"...

• Episode 439: Zurawik on Fox: Shilling without shame for Trump

  The Sun's media critic David Zurawik talks about Sean Hannity's role as a shill for President Trump.

• Episode 438: Inside an election night newsroom

  As results start to come in from polling places across Maryland and across the country, Dan spends a few minutes with Sun reporters and editors on the 2018 midterm elections.

• Episode 437: The Sun's Andy Green on the Maryland football scandal and the fallout from Jordan McNair's death

  Editorial page editor Andy Green reviews a week of developments that rocked the University of Maryland, College Park.

• Episode 436: How to chowder up the Chesapeake blue crab, with John Shields and Yolanda Johnson

  New England has creamy clam chowder. Manhattan has its own version of clam chowder. Why not chowder up the Chesapeake blue crab?

• Episode 435: David Zurawik on the dangers of Trump's war on the press

  Could the president's incessant descriptions of the press as "the enemy of the people" incite more violence against journalists or news organizations?

• Episode 434: Music and movies to get you in the mood for Halloween

  It's the Roughly Halloween special, to get you in the mood for the holiday with movies and music.

• Episode 433: Sun reporter Kevin Rector on Maglev: 15 minutes from Baltimore to Washington

  Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Rector spent some time this past summer taking a deep look at the proposal to build a multibillion-dollar, magnetic levitation train (or Maglev) system along the Northeast Corridor of the United States. Kevin’s reporting on Maglev took him to Japan.

• Episode 432: How public libraries and playgrounds can restore civility to American society

  If Baltimoreans spent even more time in the Pratt branches — and, even better, if people from the suburbs joined them there — we might have a more civil, less polarized country. That's an argument sociologist Eric Klinenberg has been pushing for a healthier, less isolated and angry society.

• Episode 431: Squeegees, panhandlers: Baltimore from both sides of the windshield

  What to do, if anything, about the boys and young men who offer to wash windshields at busy intersections? On the show today: Wrapping up a week of squeegee news with Sun reporter Yvonne Wenger and reflections on the poor in our midst with American culture commentator Sheri Parks.

• Episode 430: The Maryland Lynching Memorial Project seeks remembrance and reconciliation

  In this episode: Will Schwarz, founder of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, talks about his ongoing project to collect soil from the grounds where Maryland lynchings took place and to get Maryland counties to memorialize the atrocities and the victims.

• Episode 429: Does Lexington Market really need to be replaced?

  What's the new plan for Baltimore's oldest public market? In this episode, Dan goes to Lexington Market to speak with two key players: Robert Thomas, executive director of the city's public markets, and Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.

• Episode 428: Aquil Bey, Green Beret and self-defense expert, on being safe at work

  In this episode of Roughly Speaking, recorded after a deadly shooting at the Rite Aid distribution center in Harford County, Aquil Bey talks about workplace safety and what employers and employees can do to protect themselves and others from the kind of violence that has erupted across the country...

• Episode 427: In Baltimore, massive trees in a four-acre forest

  The non-profit Baltimore Green Space has been working with community organizations to acquire land and save it from development. On the show: A hike along Fairwood Forest's trails with the organization's founder and executive director and its program director.

• Episode 426: Vanishing Tangier Island and the Chesapeake's first climate change refugees

  Scientists believe Tangier Island, in the Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay, could vanish within the next 25 years. Two-thirds of Tangier's land mass has disappeared since the time of the Civil War, and in recent years sea-level rise caused by global warming took more acres from the island....

• How covering a lynching changed Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. and shaped his legendary career

  The journalist-turned-activist's account of Maryland's last lynching was recorded in a 1977 oral history.

• Episode 425: A Baltimore Story: Crossing a once-forbidden bridge

  Two men taught to fear the other's neighborhood learned instead to overcome racial division, the focus of the nonprofit they lead locally.

• Episode 424: Everything you need to know about great rum, with bartender Brendan Dorr

  Rum has many uses in refreshing cocktails, but, as Dan discovers, some of the aged brands are best sipped neat.

• Episode 423: Overlooked history: The African-American men who fought with John Brown

  Among John Brown's band of raiders were five African-American men, who have been largely overlooked by historians.

• Episode 422: A film critic's favorite films: Part II, with Linda DeLibero

  Film critic Linda DeLibero’s all-time list includes three Westerns, one Hitchcock, one Kubrick, and one film directed by someone you probably never heard of.

• Episode 421: A film critic's favorite films, Part I

  Film critic Christopher Llewellyn Reed talks about 10 of his favorites, from Spike Lee’s "Do The Right Thing" to "The Godfather" to "The Piano" and the 2005 film, "Nine Lives," directed by Rodrigo Garcia.

• Episode 420: The Great Uprising of the 1960s: Baltimore, York and Cambridge

  In a second conversation with historian Peter Levy, we hear about The Great Uprising, some 750 urban riots that erupted in the 1960s.

• Bonus episode: Labor Day deserves an official sandwich — here's how to make it

  Come along for a visit to Dan's kitchen and a tutorial on how to make a traditional peppers-and-eggs sandwich, declared by our columnist as the official sandwich of Labor Day weekend.

• Episode 419: York's 1969 race riots and the death of Lillie Belle Allen

  A white officer, a black woman and the racial violence of 1969

• Episode 418: The brave girls who integrated American schools

  Long before Brown v. Board of Education, black parents across the country tried to enroll their children in all-white public schools.

• Episode 417: To the farmer's market for purslane and bourbon with restaurateur John Shields

  Dan hits the Waverly farmer's market in Baltimore with restaurateur and Chesapeake cookbook author John Shields.

• Episode 416: Exit interview: Peter Beilenson leaves his mark on Baltimore and Maryland

  Dr. Peter Beilenson left his mark on the city with aggressive responses to AIDS, the crack epidemic and gun violence against youth. In the county, he found a way to provide health care to families that could not afford it. And that was before the ACA.

• Episode 415: With more legalization looming, how to talk to your kids about marijuana

  How do parents start the conversation?

• Episode 414: The Orioles are doing what the whole city needs to do

  The Orioles are doing what the whole city of Baltimore needs to do.

• Episode 413: Maryland crabs, Maine lobsters, Atlantic menhaden -- sustaining fisheries on a crowded, warming planet

  With climate change, population growth and an insatiable global demand for seafood, how can we continue to harvest fish without destroying the fragile ecosystems of the oceans and bays? And should Americans eat more fish and shellfish for the sake of their health and the environment?

• Episode 412: Running a Baltimore school, Part 5: Marc Martin, Commodore John Rodgers Elementary-Middle School

  Marc Martin's approach has guided an impressive turnaround in academic performance and enrollment.

• Episode 411: Running a Baltimore school, Part 4: Cindy Harcum, Baltimore City College High School

  With all of her students focused on college, Cindy Harcum started a peer tutoring program and made college-level courses the norm.

• Episode 410: Running a Baltimore school, Part 3: Emily Hunter, Arlington Elementary-Middle School

  The daughter of a former Baltimore schools superintendent, Hunter created a wellness center and a series of monthly events to encourage students to stay focused on studies while engaging their parents in the life of the school and in preparing their children for it. Arlington has made steady academic...

• Episode 409: Running a Baltimore school, Part 2: Kimberly Hill-Miller, Lockerman Bundy Elementary School

  Kimberly Hill-Miller's motivation techniques are designed to make learning fun and inspire her students.

• Episode 408: Running a Baltimore school, Part I: Matt Hornbeck, Hampstead Hill Academy

  The first of a five-part series of conversations with accomplished Baltimore principals.

• Episode 410: Running a Baltimore school, Part 3: Emily Hunter, Arlington Elementary-Middle School

  In the third of a five-part series of conversations with accomplished Baltimore principals, Dan speaks with Emily Hunter, principal at Arlington Elementary-Middle School in northwest Baltimore. The daughter of a former Baltimore schools superintendent, Hunter created a wellness center and a series...

• How Baltimore's free blacks asserted their rights before the Civil War

  How free blacks in the decades before the Civil War used the law to assert their rights as citizens in Baltimore's old courthouse. Guest: Legal historian Martha Jones, author of "Birthright Citizens: Race and Rights in Antebellum America."

• Episode 406: The tragic death of a gifted son: The Jeffrey Peck story

  Jeffrey Peck was a profoundly gifted boy who seemed destined for a career in biological sciences.

• Episode 405: How police responded to the deadly shooting at the Capital Gazette

  Recordings of dispatchers, along with communications between officers and commanders, provide the minute-by-minute story of the quick response of police.

• Episode 404: A progressive push from Maryland Democrats

  Sun reporters and a political science professor analyze the results of the Maryland primary.

• Episode 403: Prep and primer for Tuesday's Maryland primary

  On the eve of Tuesday's primary election, Dan speaks with Sun reporters Erin Cox, Luke Broadwater and Pamela Wood about the campaigns for Maryland governor, Baltimore County executive, Baltimore State's Attorney and other offices.

• Episode 402: Black Lives Matter activist Darnell Moore on Trump's America

  Writer and activist Darnell L. Moore on Trump and immigrants, the Bible and politicians, and growing up black and gay.

• Episode 401: Jesse Colvin and Michael Pullen want to unseat Andy Harris

  Democrats Jesse Colvin and Michael Pullen want to challenge Republican incumbent Andy Harris for Maryland's 1st Congressional District in November.

• Episode 400: Kurtis Williams spent half his life in prison for murder. Now, he's back in Baltimore.

  Kurtis Williams, who has spent half of his 35 years in Maryland prisons for second-degree murder, has earned parole. He's back in Baltimore and facing the formidable challenge of finding a job.

• Episode 399: Maryland gubernatorial candidate Krish Vignarajah's viral response to 'mean tweets'

  Maryland gubernatorial candidate Krish Vignarajah says she has received hate mail and mean tweets ridiculing her gender, her ethnicity and even the appearance of her 11-month-old daughter, Alana, in a campaign ad.

• Episode 398: What's growing in Baltimore: purple cliff brakes and 100 orchards

  A look at what's growing in Baltimore: from a rare wild plant in the Jones Falls Valley to 100 orchards across the city.

• Episode 397: Jim Shea and Brandon Scott say Hogan just 'treading water'

  Gubernatorial candidate Jim Shea says Larry Hogan has done little to advance education, transportation and Baltimore's crime fight.

• Episode 396: Counting the dead: Puerto Rico death count could be even higher

  The death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico could be even higher than the Harvard estimate of 4,600 made last week.

• Episode 395: A Baltimore movie, a Baltimore homecoming, and a good book

  A Baltimore filmmaker talks about his new made-in-Baltimore romance, "Bored In The USA." Plus, the founders of the Baltimore Homecoming discuss their effort to reconnect accomplished natives to their hometown.

• Episode 394: Democrat Madaleno says Hogan hurt Baltimore 'during darkest times'

  Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Madaleno says Maryland under Larry Hogan "walked away from [Baltimore] during the darkest times."

• Episode 393: Going Solo: There's always room for another Star Wars picture

  With the release today of "Solo: A Star Wars Story," film critics tell us what they think of the latest prequel in the Star Wars franchise while offering a retrospective of Han Solo.

• Episode 392: College-bound students and the pressure for prestige

  The tense college admissions process, says family psychologist Brad Sachs, is fraught with all sorts of problems created by the pressures placed on students to win acceptance to the country's most prestigious universities.

• Episode 391: Ross and Verratti: A tech-and-beer ticket for governor

  Tech guru and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alec Ross introduces us to his running mate, Julie Verratti, and talks about the need for "21st Century thinking" in state government.

• Episode 390: Launching a career in cooking at City Seeds

  City Seeds is a commercial kitchen that employs people who've faced challenges in their lives and trains them for culinary careers.

• Episode 389: Childish Gambino, blacks living life and whites calling 911

  Childish Gambino's provocative "This is America" has quickly become a cultural phenomenon.

• Episode 388: Trump on the hunt for welfare cheats

  Why do many Americans who benefit from the social safety net believe it's rife with fraud?

• Episode 387: Mosby challenger Bates has plan to break Baltimore's persistent violence

  Ivan Bates promises to recruit experienced lawyers to prosecute repeat offenders who, he says, have been getting off too easy.

• Episode 386: Kevin Kamenetz's legacy of public service

  A politician's final measure is in honest service, sustained commitment to the public and accomplishments that serve the greater good. Kevin Kamenetz takes too early such a record to his grave.

• Episode 385: Kevin Kamenetz and Valerie Ervin

  Dan's series of interviews with gubernatorial candidates continues with Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and his running mate, former Montgomery County Council member Valerie Ervin.

• Episode 384: Preparing for the possibility of a pandemic

  An infectious disease specialist talks about Bill Gates' repeated warnings that the U.S. and the world are not sufficiently prepared for the possibility of a pandemic that could kill millions.

• Episode 383: Baltimore tests Trump administration’s stances on immigration, violent crime

  U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen talks about an array of topics in Trump's Washington.

• Episode 382: Deficits in the trillions in the Trump era

  A federal budget expert gives a 30-minute history on recent deficits and how, rising to new levels, they could affect the nation's economy.

• Episode 381: Challenging Mosby, Vignarajah pledges to clean up the Gun Trace Task Force mess

  Thiru Vignarajah says the state's attorney has "no idea" how many criminal cases have been tainted by members of the Gun Trace Task Force.

• Episode 380: Democrats like Hogan, but will they vote for him in November?

  The latest Goucher Poll puts Gov. Larry Hogan in a strong position to win a second term.

• Episode 379: Why old industrial cities are poised for a turnaround — particularly Baltimore

  The lead author of a new Brookings Institution report explains why it's bullish on Baltimore.

• Episode 378: Dallas Dance was going places, now he's going to jail

  Sun senior education reporter Liz Bowie talks about the Dallas Dance case.

• Episode 377: Ramped up for wild spring onions

  Despite the late-arriving spring (or extended winter) in Appalachia, ramps have started to pop through the ground in western Maryland and West Virginia.

• Episode 376: Trump, porn, playmates and prayer

  The Christian right made a deal to overlook a lot of issues related to Trump’s character to support him, no matter what. Why?

• Episode 375: Women in Congress: A former member and a candidate, Connie Morella and Allison Galbraith

  Women from different generations and parties on the state of politics, plus a book recommendation.

• Episode 374: '2001: A Space Odyssey' changed our critic's life

  This month marks 50 years since the release of one of the most influential and popular films of all time, Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."

• Episode 373: Taylor Branch: King's legacy about the future as much as the past

  The executive producer of the forthcoming HBO documentary "King In The Wilderness" traces the Civil Rights Movement at the time of MLK's death to its echoes today.

• Episode 372: Do new starting pitchers change Orioles' 2018 outlook?

  Sun reporter Eduardo Encina previews the Orioles' season.

• Episode 371: Potential Andy Harris opponent supports assault rifle ban, universal health care

  Michael Pullen has staked out progressive positions in a bid to win the Democratic nomination in the First District.

• Episode 370: Listening to Lefty: A final interview with fly fishing legend Lefty Kreh

  Lefty Kreh was a Maryland native who became one of the best-known fly fishermen in the world.

• Episode 369: Calling out BS, fake facts and fear-mongering

  A new college course helps students separate fact from fiction, and a veteran journalist offers a case study, challenging the Trump administration's attempt to link immigration and terrorism.

• Episode 368: Can the church use faith to influence eating and exercise?

  Baltimore restaurateur John Shields joins Dan for a conversation with the Rev. Heber Brown III, pastor at Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, about the Black Church Food Security Network.

• Episode 367: A guide to church suppers, Baltimore's original pop-up restaurants

  It takes hundreds of volunteers to make all those pierogies, dumplings and crab cakes, and keep these traditions going.

• Episode 366: DMI and the roots of corruption in Maryland prisons

  The Maryland prison system has had a long run of corruption. Robert Harding, an assistant U.S. Attorney who supervises the Baltimore office's criminal division, talks about how the feds first learned about the widespread corruption in state prisons.

• Episode 365: Oscars reaction: Will Hollywood's reckoning lead to lasting change?

  Critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed give their takes on the 90th Academy Awards.

• Episode 364: Hell on the half-shell: The oyster wars of the Chesapeake Bay

  Once upon a time, Chesapeake oysters were good as gold — so plentiful and so valuable that men fought bloody battles over them.

• Episode 363: Ben Jealous rips Hogan, proposes reforms for police

  Ben Jealous, the former national president of the NAACP, says Gov. Larry Hogan holds Baltimore in contempt and has done too little to help the city through its crisis in crime and police misconduct.

• Episode 362: Unique and fading traditions in Maryland seafood

  Dan takes a visit to the wholesale fish market in Jessup with Chef Michel Tersiguel.

• Episode 361: Can a Democrat flip the Big Red One?

  An introduction to Jesse Colvin, a Democrat and Army veteran who wants to represent Maryland's First District.

• Episode 360: From Stoneman Douglas students, a remarkable uprising amid mourning and grief

  American culture commentator Sheri Parks on what's different about the Florida high school shooting.

• Episode 359: $37 million in justice for Korryn Gaines; Trump's dereliction of duty

  Pamela Wood reviews the Korryn Gaines case, and Sean Gallagher talks about President Donald Trump's unwillingness to counter the activities described in Friday's Russian indictments.

• Episode 358: Recipes for a better country, and a better Bloody Mary

  Commentary on gun and immigration politics plus interviews with "The Immigrant Cookbook" editor Leyla Moushabeck and bartender Brendan Dorr.

• Episode 357: Why some people die from the flu; a doctor explains

  The current flu season is the worst in a decade, overwhelming emergency rooms and causing one in 10 American deaths in recent weeks.

• Episode 356: Pains, trains and leaky pipes: Baltimore's infrastructure headaches

  Aging infrastructure is pushing governments and residents to their limits.

• Episode 355: Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force verdict: The scene in court

  The reporters who were at the courthouse analyze the guilty verdicts in the Gun Trace Task Force trial.

• Episode 354: Sizing up the 2018 Orioles

  Peter Schmuck, Eduardo Encina and Jon Meoli size up the team and its pitching needs ahead of spring training.

• Episode 353: Hogan and Frosh spar over Trump lawsuits

  Erin Cox talks about the chill between Larry Hogan and Brian Frosh, the current session of the General Assembly and election-year politics.

• Episode 352: Can the mighty beaver save the bay?

  Beavers are back. While many see them as a nuisance, biologists and natural resource managers see good in the beaver comeback.

• Episode 351: Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force trial update with reporter Justin Fenton

  The trial of two Baltimore police detectives is gaining national, even international attention.

• Episode 350: Teens and smartphones: Should parents worry?

  The frequent use of smartphones is a common source of tension between parents and their kids.

• Episode 349: John Shields and Henry Hong comfort us with food

  What's your favorite comfort food for a winter weekend?

• Episode 348: Trump unleashes political termites on the federal government

  From worker safety to water and air pollution, “It’s Even Worse Than You Think" author David Cay Johnston describes government in retreat on regulation of industry and co-opted by corporate interests.

• Episode 347: Film critics Linda DeLibero and Chris Reed on today's Oscar nominations

  In today's episode, we get reactions to the 90th Academy Award nominations from the Roughly Speaking film critics.

• Episode 346: Pugh replaces Davis. Will voters replace Mosby?

  Baltimore state's attorney candidate Ivan Bates says defendants have become more brazen and less concerned about facing harsh punishment.

• Episode 345: In case of missile attack, what's the plan?

  The situation between Washington and Pyongyang has wrought real tension not felt since the Cold War. In case of missile attack, what's the plan?

• Episode 344: Baltimore violence: Transforming lives, sustaining programs that work

  In another in a series of conversations about violent crime in Baltimore, Dan speaks with three guests about the need to transform the lives of young people from the city's toughest neighborhoods.

• Episode 343: Erricka Bridgeford: Reclaiming Baltimore killing scenes with 'light and love'

  Erricka Bridgeford, one of the organizers of Baltimore Ceasefire and the Sun's Marylander of The Year, talks about visiting the sites where homicide victims fall, and what Baltimoreans can do about the violence in their city.

• Episode 342: 'If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention'

  On Tuesday at the White House, Donald J. Trump made an attempt at bipartisanship on immigration. But, as the evil Ramsay Bolton in "Game of Thrones" might say: "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

• Episode 341: What the demise of net neutrality means for consumers

  Sean Gallagher explains what the demise of net neutrality will mean for consumers, in Maryland and across the country, unless congressional action reverses the controversial FCC action.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: For chef David Tanis, the farmers market is an adventure (episode 316)

  A conversation with The New York Times City Kitchen columnist about cooking from the farmers market, and we’ll hear some excerpts from a few recipes from his new book, "Market Cooking."

• Roughly Speaking podcast: CNN's Van Jones says it's time to ignore Trump and get busy (episode 315)

  In his new book "Beyond the Messy Truth," Van Jones offers a challenge to everyone opposed to Trump.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Johnny O. is running for Baltimore County executive (episode 314)

  John Olszewski Jr., a former school teacher and state delegate from Dundalk, is hoping to succeed Kevin Kamenetz as Baltimore County executive.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Growing up biracial and black in America (episode 313)

  Julie Lythcott-Haims has written a powerful memoir of poetic prose about growing up as the daughter of a white mother and African-American father.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Black Lives Matter still matters: An update on the movement (episode 312)

  Dani McClain talks about her The Nation cover story on the status of the Black Lives Matter movement, plus Sheri Parks discusses the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and Paula Gallagher recommends a novel.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Despots, dictators and The Donald (episode 311)

  Is Donald Trump a despot? Could any American president become an authoritarian under our system of checks and balances?

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Maryland AG calls Trump's action on Obacamare 'perverse, irrational' (episode 310)

  Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh calls President Donald Trump's action on Obacamare "perverse" and "irrational."

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Cartooning in the time of Trump, with Lalo Alcaraz (episode 309)

  Lalo Alcaraz talks about cartooning in the Trump era and consulting on the upcoming Pixar movie "Coco."

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Baker would revive Red Line if elected governor (episode 308)

  Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker says he would focus on economic development and job creation, revive the Red Line, and keep funding the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Gil Sandler's 10 most memorable Baltimore moments (episode 307)

  We’re headed to Attman’s Delicatessen on what remains of Baltimore’s Corned Beef Row to hear 94-year-old Gil Sandler describe his 10 most memorable Baltimore moments.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Blade Runner then and now; Losing your house over a water bill (episode 306)

  The podcast's film critics are in the studio for the release of "Blade Runner 2049." Also on the weekend show, a book review and what a state delegate wants to change about water bills.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Tech guru vows fight with Trump over immigration crackdown (episode 305)

  Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alec Ross vows a fight with President Trump over immigration crackdown.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Heartbreak and the Heartbreaker: On Las Vegas, Baltimore and Tom Petty (episode 304)

  Commentary on the massacre in Las Vegas and the day-to-day violence in Baltimore and a tribute to rock legend Tom Petty.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A longer journey into full adulthood (episode 303)

  Sheri Parks, culture commentator, wants to talk about adulthood, and why it seems to be arriving later with each generation.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A 5k run to honor fallen heroes in Baltimore Sunday (episode 302)

  The first Baltimore 9/11 Heroes Run is dedicated to Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Xavier Martin, the sailor from Halethorpe killed when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off Japan.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The Hate Hunter (episode 301)

  How does the Southern Poverty Law Center go about declaring American organizations to be hate groups?

• Roughly Speaking podcast: I stream, you stream, we all stream: Our critics review Netflix and Amazon Prime (episode 300)

  Film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed have been binge-watching original shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime, and today they talk about what they've seen and what they like.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: U.S. takes up the rear on Syrian refugee crisis (episode 299)

  On the show today, a look at the crisis with Alia Malek, Baltimore-based journalist and civil rights attorney who traveled with Syrian refugees and profiled some of them for Foreign Policy.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: After Harvey and Irma, getting serious about climate change (episode 298)

  Will the twin punches of Harvey and Irma persuade more Americans that climate change is real and causing extreme weather?

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Man saved by U.S. aid warns against cuts (episode 297)

  Thomas Awiapo, a native of Ghana orphaned as a boy, survived childhood famine because of U.S. foreign aid, and he tells us his heartbreaking story of survival.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Separating myth from facts about the Vietnam War (episode 296)

  Ahead of the 18-hour Ken Burns-Lynn Novick PBS film on Vietnam, Dan speaks with Arnold R. "Skip" Isaacs, who covered the war in the 1970s for The Baltimore Sun.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Twenty-five minutes with Ben Jealous, candidate for governor (episode 295)

  A former president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous has been running for the Democratic nomination for Maryland governor since June.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Part II: Gilbert Sandler, teller of Baltimore tales (episode 294)

  In part two of Dan's conversation with Gilbert Sandler, the teller of Baltimore tales talks about Baltimore after World War II and through the second half of the 20th Century.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Gilbert Sandler, teller of Baltimore tales (episode 293)

  Few people of 90 years or more are blessed with a memory like Gilbert Sandler's, and few know as much about Baltimore.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Trump's sound and fury, signifying not much (episode 292)

  What is the President gaining from his frequent attacks and on the media and members of his own party in Congress?

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Sun photographer chases the ghosts of old Baltimore movie theaters (episode 291)

  Amy Davis became fascinated with forgotten cinemas and spent close to a decade tracking them down, learning their histories and taking photographs of what remains.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The Maryland Science Center's guide to Monday's solar eclipse (episode 290)

  Jim O'Leary, senior scientist at the Maryland Science Center, talks about Monday's solar eclipse and what visitors to the center can expect as the moon passes between the Sun and Earth.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Backing up technology: Radio navigation and paper ballots (episode 289)

  Maybe the newest technology isn't always the best, or maybe the best needs a backup.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The surprise overnight removal of Baltimore's Confederate monuments (episode 288)

  Peter Jensen of The Sun's editorial board and reporter Luke Broadwater on the surprise overnight removal of four Confederate statues.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A Baltimore bartender's favorite before-dinner cocktails (episode 287)

  Baltimore bartender Brendan Dorr offers his favorite uses for Campari, Aperol, Kina and Pimm's — drinks that make fine aperitifs to stimulate the appetite.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: This Old Valve House (episode 286)

  We hear about an abandoned "castle" in Baltimore that, with a little love and a few million bucks, could probably become a coffee house, farmer’s market or concert venue.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Looking back 50 years to the best films of 1967, a revolutionary year for Hollywood (episode 285)

  The podcast's critics join Dan for a loook back at the cinema of 1967, a year that many film historians consider groundbreaking, even revolutionary.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Obama drug czar sees hypocrisy in Trump response to opioid crisis (episode 284)

  Former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Michael Botticelli says Trump can't have it both ways — advocating more treatment for drug addiction while calling for repeal of the ACA.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Shea (episode 283)

  Dan begins a series of interviews with candidates for governor, sitting down with Jim Shea, former chairman of the largest law firm in Maryland.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Peter Schmuck on Orioles, Ravens and Kaepernick; DeLibero on Sam Shepard (episode 282)

  Sports columnist Peter Schmuck and film critic Linda DeLibero join Dan on the podcast.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Whither truth and knowledge in the Trump age? (episode 281)

  A look at Trump and the press, and the state of truth and knowledge, with culture critic Sheri Parks and veteran journalist Arnold “Skip” Isaacs.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 'Far From The Tree' author blasts Trump's decision on transgender in military (episode 280)

  Andrew Solomon, who wrote about families with children who discovered they are transgender in his 2012 best-seller, says President Trump’s announcement is "deeply horrifying."

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Do guns make us safe? Not in Baltimore, and hardly anywhere. (episode 279)

  In Baltimore, a debate about mandatory minumums for illegal gun possession; from Stanford University, a study that throws big doubts on a classic argument of the NRA.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Baltimore and Maryland History Week

  Presenting five encore episodes about the history, culture, and folklore of Maryland and its largest city.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Baltimore Politics: A four-part series

  Presenting a four-part series on Baltimore's political history, from the development of Baltimore Town in colonial Maryland to its incorporation in 1796 to its time as an occupied city during the Civil War, through industrialization, segregation, and Baltimore's more recent history.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Big trucks, long distances, and a feather duvet (episode 270)

  Finn Murphy has written a memoir about his experiences as a long-haul trucker, which he considers the best job in the world.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Pain killers, doctors and the roots of the opioid crisis (episode 269)

  Dr. John Cmar talks about the opioid crisis and the challenges facing doctors who want to alleviate pain while reducing the frequency and amount of addictive pain-killers they prescribe.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Cal, Lou and The Streak, with John Eisenberg (episode 268)

  John Eisenberg not only compares Gehrig's streak with Ripken's, but surveys the entire history of the American game to find other players who set impressive endurance marks.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The hot mess in Washington, and best books for summer reading (episode 267)

  Sun correspondent John Fritze on the health care bill and other recent Washington news, plus, librarian Paula Gallagher's summer reading recommendations.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A battle royal in cyberspace (episode 266)

  Tech expert Sean Gallagher says what's happening in cyberspace is a battle royal, with multiple, mysterious combatants hacking away at each other, disrupting commerce and public life.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The news from Garrett County, with longtime (and retiring) editor Don Sincell (episode 265)

  The retiring editor of one of Maryland's oldest family-owned newspapers, sold this week, discusses the publication's legacy, and its recent editorials against fracking and Donald Trump.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Is America civilized enough to stop hate speech? (episode 264)

  Racial slurs are repugnant, but, according to last week's Supreme Court ruling in the "Slants" case, they are also protected under the law.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Post-Comey happy hour cocktails with Dan's smarter brothers (episode 263)

  It's happy hour again on the podcast, and, this time, Dan's smarter brothers, Ed and Joe, join the conversation to talk about their favorite mixed drinks.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Wonder Woman, Furiosa and other female action heroes of the cinema (episode 262)

  A look at female action heroes in cinema, occasioned by the release of "Wonder Woman."

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What Gary Thorne reads on the road with the Orioles (episode 261)

  Gary Thorne, in his 11th season as the play-by-play announcer for the Orioles, reads a lot more than the sports pages.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Your rights as a citizen in the surveillance state (episode 259)

  In a new book, a UM law professor explores the original meaning of the Fourth Amendment and how the courts will be challenged to secure its protections as government surveillance power grows.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Should teens who kill be sentenced to life in prison? (episode 258)

  Should young offenders who rape or kill be sentenced to life in prison, and if so, should they be treated differently than adults who commit crimes of violence?

• Roughly Speaking podcast: An appreciation of an Appalachian photographer and a vanished way of life (episode 257)

  The 20th Century photographer who chronicled life in a lumber boom town in West Virginia, plus, Paula Gallagher recommends a novel about a socially awkward young woman and a bumbling IT guy.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Thinking about Baltimore with one of our most thoughtful citizens (episode 256)

  Architect Klaus Philipsen offers informed opinions — and a dose of optimism — in a wide-ranging conversation about the city's past, present and future.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Rep. John Sarbanes on Trump's 'draconian' budget and 'ethical blindness' (episode 255)

  A Democratic congressman and a Republican political analyst talk about the Trump presidency, plus, Dan's commentary on a potential hate crime at the University of Maryland.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Pimlico, Preakness and Park Heights; a salute to a hero (episode 254)

  Sun reporters on the future the Preakness and the track and neighborhood that host it, plus, in a follow-up to one of Dan's columns, hear from a Good Samaratian and the man he helped.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: True crimes — a nun's unsolved murder, the Madoff massive fraud (episode 253)

  A look at a new HBO movie and a Netflix docuseries, both about true crimes.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Trumpmania: 'I hope you can let this go' (episode 252)

  Was the president trying to obstruct justice?

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Chief Joseph, General Howard and the Nez Perce resistance of 1877 (episode 251)

  How a devout Christian and abolitionist came to conduct a ruthless war against Native Americans is the subject of historian Daniel Sharfstein's latest book.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: How to make the perfect crab cake (episode 250)

  Every household in Maryland should know how to make a crabcake, and, with these tips from Chesapeake cuisine expert John Shields, there's no excuse not to.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Why does Baltimore have so many evictions? (episode 249)

  A look at big problems in housing in Baltimore: People losing their homes — renters through eviction and homeowners under a federal program originally intended to keep them in their houses.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Van Hollen: Comey firing a 'dark and dangerous moment' (episode 248)

  A special edition of the podcast, the day after President Trump’s sacking of the FBI director, James Comey, whose agency has been investigating suspected ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: How concerned should Americans be about Zika? (episode 247)

  Dr. John Cmar, an infectious disease specialist at Sinai Hospital, provides perspective on Zika and other diseases spread by bugs, mosquitoes and ticks.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: One good book and two great bartenders

  For the weekend show, a dystopian novel to read, and herbal, bitter-sweet liqueurs to drink.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What to see at the Maryland Film Festival (episode 245)

  Critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed list the films they're looking forward to seeing at the festival's new home in the renovated Parkway theater in Station North.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Keeping successful startups in Baltimore (episode 244)

  How do you keep brilliant researchers who come up with great ideas from taking their successful startups to Silicon Valley or Cambridge, Massachusetts?

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Sen. Ben Cardin on Trump's first 100 days (episode 243)

  Sen. Ben Cardin explains why he believes President Donald Trump is damaging the country, but also where he thinks Trump could notch some achievements should he choose to act in a bipartisan manner.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A classic Western and the Hollywood witch hunt (episode 242)

  "High Noon" is a Hollywood classic, but it was made during the Red Scare, when Congress was looking for suspected communists among the film industry’s producers, writers, directors.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What's changed two years after Baltimore unrest? (episode 241)

  Kevin Shird, a Baltimore native and drug dealer-turned-youth advocate, talks about the unrest that hit Baltimore two years ago today, on the day of Freddie Gray’s funeral.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Is hemp the next big thing in farming? (episode 240)

  Confusion with marijuana and a federal prohibition form obstacles to the return of a branch of agriculture that could augment the income of Maryland farmers and spawn new businesses, a report says.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: How Coke became kosher (episode 239)

  Food historian Roger Horowitz shares stories from his new book, "Kosher USA," about the keeping of the Jewish dietary law in the modern industrial food system.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: As Baltimore considers a dirt bike park, Cleveland votes to build one (episode 238)

  Leila Atassi, City Hall reporter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, talks about Cleveland’s effort to curtail illegal dirt biking by building a $2.3 million dirt bike park.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What Baltimore data — from birth rates to block parties — says about the city (episode 237)

  A dive into data about health, housing and community trends across Baltimore.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Maryland's strengthened attorney general sees 'a lot to be vigilant about' with Trump (episode 236)

  What actions by the Trump administration would prompt Maryland's Brian E. Frosh and other Democratic attorneys general to go to court? 

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The 'Baltimore Mom' and why whupping kids is wrong (episode 235)

  Dan's guest, Stacey Patton, is back with a new book, “Spare The Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America,” an important argument against a common practice.

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What's new in Washington and Baltimore? A lot. (episode 193)

  In this podcast:   1:04: John Fritze, the Sun's Washington correspondent, talks about the new Congress and the battles ahead, plus the roles of Maryland's two Democratic senators, Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, are expected to play in Trump administration confirmation hearings next week. 12:52:...

• A cherished boyhood gift's long round trip

  A stranger with a kind face, an old man in topcoat and hat, handed me a gift. It was a rectangular box, roughly the size of a carton of cigarettes, wrapped handsomely and neatly in holiday paper. "Please, open it," he said, and I carefully pulled away the wrapping. When I saw the markings on the...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Toward grander things: A musical antidote to Trumpism (episode 192)

  In this podcast:   Since Donald J. Trump’s election, we’ve heard from a lot of people who supported the winner of the popular vote, Hillary Clinton, and who have been downright despondent or depressed over the outcome. Many have turned to other things to get their minds off the crude and divisive...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 100 things to do in Baltimore before it's too late (episode 191)

  In this podcast:   Haussner’s Regret is Dan’s term for the remorse Baltimoreans feel when they realize it’s too late to do something they always meant to do but never did, or something they did once and enjoyed but never got to a second time. It is named for the once-famous, now-gone Highlandtown...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Why city-dwellers should be tree-huggers (episode 190)

  In this podcast:   Baltimore would likely be a healthier city if it had more trees, and there’s plenty of research to support that claim. In addition to their role in human wellness, trees suck up storm water and provide awesome curb appeal to homes in city neighborhoods. Jill Jonnes, an accomplished...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Celebrating the winter solstice with Pat Montley (episode 189)

  In this podcast:   On Wednesday, the first day of winter, there will be a celebration of the solstice at First Unitarian Church in Baltimore — and, of course, it will be celebrated all around the world. Druids, Wiccans, Pagans and Neopagans everywhere will be hanging the evergreens and mistletoe,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The week in Trump; the current and holiday cinema (episode 188)

  In this podcast:   1:26: Mild-mannered Maryland Republican Richard Cross talks about the week in Trump, along with Kimberly Moffitt, political analyst and associate professor in American studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. From his cabinet picks to his criticism of the CIA to...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Who was really behind the presidential campaign hacks? (episode 187)

  In this podcast:  Get some fresh, informed perspective on the massive Yahoo cyber breach and the Russian hacking of the presidential campaign from Sean Gallagher, Baltimore-based IT editor of Ars Technica, the news and technology web site.    Using our app? Go to baltimoresun.com/roughlyspeaking...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: When Walter Gill walked up The Hill (episode 186)

  In this podcast:  In September 1954, just four months after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling against racial discrimination in public education, 17-year-old Walter Gill became one of the first black students to enter the elite, all-white, all-male Baltimore City College High School. He and nine...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Punching up cocktails with brandy; making soup; gifting books (episode 185)

  In this podcast:   1:43: Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County librarian and Roughly Speaking book critic, offers a list of non-fiction titles -- from American history to celebrity memoir to cookbooks -- that could make good gifts for friends or relatives. 26:43: Food nerd Henry Hong and restaurateur...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A breakthrough movie about coming home from war: 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (episode 184)

  In this podcast: Today marks 75 years since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and, soon after, the United States’ entry into World War II. The war lasted four more years. While there were many movies made about the war while it was still underway, the post-war film, "The Best Years of Our Lives,"...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Treating post-election 'Trump anxiety' (episode 183)

  In this podcast:   4:17: While a Gallup Poll shows some Americans growing more confident in a Trump presidency, mental health professionals reported a surge in demand for services in the wake of last month’s election, and the prospect of Donald Trump taking the oath as president has led to increased...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Reflecting on Francis in the time of Donald (episode 182)

  In this podcast: Mark Shriver, a nephew of the country's first Catholic president, goes on a fact-finding mission to learn about the life of Pope Francis, the Jesuit from Argentina who has challenged the powerful and the wealthy, including Donald Trump, since arriving on the world stage. Shriver,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Standing with the protesters at Standing Rock (episode 181)

  In this podcast: Bruce Snyder, a retired Baltimore County firefighter who serves as a spiritual counselor, traveled with his 22-year-old stepson, Jesse Hanlon, to the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to support the ongoing Sioux protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Snyder provided medical...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Trump bump: The Dow hits 19,000 since the election, and what does it all mean? (episode 180)

  In this podcast: Wall Street has been celebrating the Trump election victory, but will the Trump bump last? Does all the activity — the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 19,000 on Nov. 22 while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are at record highs — signal real growth in value or the onset of inflation? Ken...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Reminding ourselves all we have to give thanks for (episode 179)

  In this podcast: From the sound of ice melting on the Youghiogheny River, to bartenders who actually listen to your order, to an open seat on the bus, Dan reflects on things he's been thankful for in recent years.     Using our app? Go to baltimoresun.com/roughlyspeaking to listen to the podcast....

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 'The Way of the Heron' and other Thanksgiving stories (episode 178)

  In this podcast: Dan shares four Thanksgiving stories and essays about the holiday — one called, "The Baby Boomer's Big Chill," about families, distance and travel; one called, "The Man Who Learned to Smile;" another about Dan’s first Thanksgiving Skype; and one about what native people of the...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: How we pick our presidents, and Zurawik on the Trump press corps (episode 177)

  In this podcast:   2:51: Does it matter if the President of the United States tells the press he’s going to a private dinner in New York? Journalists and press advocates say yes, but the Washington press corps has never seen the likes of Donald J. Trump before. The Sun’s media critic David Zurawik...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A divisive campaign leads to a divided nation (episode 176)

  In this podcast: In another in our series of post-election conversations, American culture commentator Sheri Parks talks about the overwhelmingly white coalition that backed Donald Trump, the nation's racial divide and the rise in hate crimes across the country. Parks is Associate Dean for Research,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A philosophical lift for those troubled by Trump (episode 175)

  In this podcast: For Americans feeling anxiety over the election of Donald Trump, some wise perspective from the German philosopher  via Firmin DeBrabander, associate professor of philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Hegel, he says, believed that progress does not happen without...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Bagel cuts, dog bites and other medical curiosities (episode 174)

  In this podcast: Two Maryland doctors from two generations provide some simple answers to common medical questions, from the kinds of injuries they’ve seen in emergency rooms to the best rules for losing weight. Dr. John Cmar of Sinai Hospital in Baltimore is an infectious disease specialist and...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Rodricks reads Remnick; a Republican's quandary (episode 173)

  In this podcast: 2:00: A day after the day after Donald Trump's shocking victory in  the presidential election, Dan reads from David Remnick's essay, "An American Tragedy," in The New Yorker. Dan's latest column was written Tuesday night as votes from battleground states indicated a Trump defeat...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Trump to pollsters: 'You know nothing, Jon Snow' (episode 172)

  In this podcast: 1:53: Invoking a line from "Game of Thrones," political analyst Herb Smith talks about where the polls and pundits went wrong in forecasting Tuesday's election results. Smith is a longtime political science professor at McDaniel College and a GOT fan. 13:17: Kimberly Moffitt talks...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Baseball, politics, movies and a reggae adventure (episode 171)

  In this podcast: 3:04: Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik talks about baseball and the World Series and the final week of the presidential campaign. 24:51: Film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed review two news films, "Moonlight," and "Certain Women," and then, with Election...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: SMH at Comey’s timing; curing Obamacare with single-payer (episode 170)

  In this podcast: 2:46: Sean Gallagher, IT editor of Ars Technica, walks us through the flap caused by FBI director James Comey’s letter to Congress about Hillary Clinton’s emails as well as a Slate report about the Trump campaign’s possible connections to Russian hackers. 38:35: Dr. James Burdick,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Leon Day’s long road to the Hall of Fame (episode 169)

  In this podcast:    5:32: Should Howard County establish a special fund to provide public financing of local political campaigns? It’s Question A on the general election ballot. Two proponents talk about the issue — Howard County Councilman Jon Weinstein and Maryland PIRG director Emily Scarr —...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Halloween special: Best of horror movie music (episode 168)

  In this podcast:    From “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” to “Stranger Things,” an appreciation of music from horror movies, television and the web with Terence Hannum, an assistant professor of art at Stevenson University, visual artist and musician who loves horror films and the music that gives...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: To frack or not to frack? (episode 167)

  In this podcast:    Maryland’s moratorium on fracking for natural gas ends in October 2017, and, putting forth rules last month, the Hogan administration said its regulation of the industry will be the most stringent in the nation. But environmentalists and some residents of Western Maryland, where...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: In praise of the Greek-American gyro (episode 166)

  In this podcast:    3:29: Beer aficionado Barry Hansen, Mid-Atlantic regional manager for City Brew Tours, talks about his tours of the craft breweries that have taken root in Baltimore. 7:53: Coming attractions: Film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed have some notes to share...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The final awful debate (episode 165)

  Sun columnist Dan Rodricks and American culture commentator Sheri Parks talk about Wednesday night's third and final (and nasty) debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Sheri Parks is an associate dean at the University of Maryland, College Park and a regular contributor to Roughly Speaking....

• Roughly Speaking podcast: '100 Objects that Shaped Public Health' with Dr. John Cmar (episode 164)

  In this podcast:    The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is one of the busiest places on the planet. It has been in operation, educating public health officials and doctors, conducting research and saving millions of lives, for 100 years. As part of its centennial commemorations,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Sipping rye whiskey with bartender Brendan Dorr (episode 163)

  In this podcast:  Brendan Dorr, who tends bar at the B&O American Brasserie and serves as president of the Baltimore Bartenders Guild, showed up at The Baltimore Sun with five brands of rye for a tasting. On today's show: The results of that memorable recording session — plus the recipe for Brendan’s...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Solving the mysteries of a former slave's photo album (episode 162)

  In this podcast:    In 1984, Pamela Rigby and her mother, Vivian Rigby, were winning bidders of a 19th-century photo album at an auction on Baltimore's Antiques Row. They soon discovered that the woman who had started and maintained the album, Fannie Keene, was a former slave who had lived most...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: American Agony, the Trump-Clinton town hall debate (episode 161)

  In this podcast:  Reactions to last night’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — with Barry Rascovar of Political Maryland (1:20), plus mild-mannered Maryland Republican Richard Cross, and political analysts Melissa Deckman from Washington College and Kimberly Moffitt of the University...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 'The Birth Of A Nation,' 'The Girl On The Train,' Zurawik on Trump-Clinton town hall (episode 160)

  In this podcast:  4:05: Will Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” be a box-office success or suffer from a boycott promised by the director’s critics? The movie, which tells the story of Nat Turner and the bloody slave rebellion he led in 1831, generated great buzz and garnered a lucrative Hollywood...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Baltimore mayoral candidate Joshua Harris wants to 'transform a blue-collar town into a green-collar town' (episode 159)

  In this podcast:  A conversation with Joshua Harris, the Green Party candidate for mayor of Baltimore in November’s general election. In his campaign, Harris has pushed a plan to create a public bank to provide capital to finance local projects. He also wants to attract clean-energy manufacturing...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Orioles-Blue Jays analysis with Peter Schmuck; Justin George on his 'Shoot to Kill' series (episode 158)

  In this podcast:  1:46: Baltimore Sun sports columnist Peter Schmuck talks about last night’s American League wild-card game, won with a walk-off home run by the Blue Jays’s Edwin Encarnacion off the Orioles’ Ubaldo Jimenez. With the Orioles eliminated from postseason play, there are two big questions...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: An Oscar-winning producer seeds a film incubator in Baltimore (episode 157)

  In this podcast:  Saul Zaentz was a Hollywood producer who won three Academy Awards for Best Picture: "The English Patient," "Amadeus," and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest." He died in 2014, leaving behind a foundation that, among other things, established a new film incubator at Johns Hopkins...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: David Zurawik on the Clinton-Trump split-screen; three good books (episode 156)

  In this podcast: 2:31: Today on the show, Dan catches up with the Sun’s media critic David Zurawik to talk about last Monday’s televised debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. With Clinton widely seen as the winner of that debate -- well prepared, with attacks on Trump’s record that seemed...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Wheelie Wayne, Baltimore dirt bikes and the Highway to Nowhere (episode 155)

  In this podcast:  At 39, Wheelie Wayne is the godfather of Baltimore’s 12 o'clock guys, the dirt bikers who have been a source of irritation and fascination for years. DeWayne Davis has gained international notoriety — and a friendship with rapper Fetty Wap — for his skills on city streets. Videos...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Police and protests, Monday's debate, and 'Drunk History'

  In this podcast:  2:26: David Zurawik, The Baltimore Sun's media critic, shares his thoughts about Monday night's televised presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, an event that could draw as many viewers as a Super Bowl telecast. 16:08: Kevin Shird, a one-time drug dealer...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The Boys of Dunbar: Baltimore's greatest basketball team (episode 153)

  In this podcast:  In a new book, sportswriter Alejandro Danois tells the story of the Dunbar High School basketball team of 1981-1982, with four future NBA players on its roster — Muggsy Bogues, Dave Wingate, Reggie Lewis and Reggie Williams — one of the greatest prep teams ever. Danois, editor-in-chief...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Colin Kaepernick's protest and the evolving definition of patriotism (episode 152)

  In this podcast:  2:22: Culture commentator Sheri Parks talks about San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest and the evolving definition of patriotism among the millennial generation of Americans. 18:08: Melissa Deckman, chair of the the political science department...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Clinton's struggles with transparency, Trump's appeal to the 'poorly educated' (episode 151)

  In this podcast:  A talk about the presidential campaign: Hillary Clinton’s health issues and her struggles with transparency, the nature of Trump’s appeal to people in Dundalk, and some thoughts about the approaching debate between the two candidates. Dan’s guests are Kimberly Moffitt, associate...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Special help for a traumatized Baltimore high school (episode 150)

  In this podcast:  Erica Green, education reporter for The Sun, talks about Renaissance Academy, the last-resort high school for at-risk youth in West Baltimore where a student was stabbed to death in a classroom last year. In addition, two other Renaissance students were killed within weeks of...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The wine talking: Deux sommeliers (episode 149)

  In this podcast:  Two Baltimore sommeliers talk about their profession, helping diners order wine in restaurants without feeling bad about it. Ahead of the 33rd annual Maryland Wine Festival, a conversation with two Baltimore sommeliers about their profession and how they interact with restaurant...

• Roughly Speaking Happy Hour: Rye whiskey, finger food and a good movie (episode 148)

  In this podcast:  1:24: Baltimore City has been asked to finance more than half-a-billion dollars in infrastructure improvements for Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s Port Covington project, and that proposal has generated a lot of news this week. Luke Broadwater of the Baltimore Sun staff joins us...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Is the death penalty on death row? (episode 147)

  In this podcast:  It has been 40 years since the Supreme Court ruled outright on the constitutionality of the death penalty. The court took up issues related to the death penalty — what kind of drugs can be used to kill a man, for instance — but, as to whether lethal injection by the state amounts...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: John Vassos and the shape of things to come (episode 146)

  In this podcast:  Before your grandmother could listen to a radio, someone had to figure out what it should look like. Same with television a couple of decades later. Today, we head back several decades to learn about a prolific artist named John Vassos, who designed some really cool radios and...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: How Maryland is reacting to Hogan's school calendar decree (episode 145)

  In this podcast:  2:07: Liz Bowie, the Sun’s senior education reporter, talks about the reaction to Maryland Gov Larry Hogan’s decree that all public school systems start their academic year after Labor Day and end by June 15. 14:52: Paula Gallagher, Baltimore County librarian, reviews three books...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Curveballs, three-pointers and other mysteries of the brain (episode 144)

  In this podcast:  You can’t learn to throw a curveball from words and pictures in a book. Why is that? Jonathan Flombaum, an assistant professor in the department of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University, mixes philosophy with some neuroscience to come up with an answer....

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Tracking trash in the Chesapeake; Hogan’s eco-backslide (episode 143)

  In this podcast:  2:37/42:05: Julie Lawson, executive director of Trash Free Maryland, talks about the amount of micro-plastics her organization has found in the Chesapeake Bay and efforts underway to reduce the kind of pollution barely discernible to the eye. Also, Lawson talks about Trash Free...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Catherine Pugh's 4 a.m. idea for lowering Baltimore unemployment (episode 142)

  In this podcast:  2:13: Dr. John Cmar, an infectious disease specialist based at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, gives an excellent primer and update on Zika following news that Johns Hopkins Medicine plans to establish the world’s first center devoted to the mosquito-borne virus. 27:58: The Sun’s...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A spy plane over Baltimore, and a hack at NSA (episode 141)

  In this podcast:  2:49: The Baltimore Police Department has been using a surveillance plane to investigate all sorts of crimes, from property thefts to shootings, reports Bloomberg Businessweek, and some Baltimore citizens are outraged about it. Sean Gallagher, IT editor of ars technica, talks...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Donald Trump is 'his own worst enemy,' Michael Steele says (episode 140)

  In this podcast:  Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee and Maryland lieutenant governor, says he’s spoken privately with Donald Trump about "some of the crazy," and says the Republican presidential nominee "is his own worst enemy." With his controversial and offensive...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: John Dickerson on politics; Sheri Parks on the Olympics (episode 139)

  In this podcast:  2:06: John Dickerson, host of "Face The Nation" on CBS, talks about Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and presidential campaigns of the past. Dickerson is a contributor to Slate and its podcast "The Political Gabfest." He is the author of “Whistlestop: My favorite stories from Presidential...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Epic Hollywood and new Ben-Hur (episode 138)

  In this podcast:  With a remake of “Ben-Hur” opening in theaters nationwide, film critics Linda DeLibero and Christopher Llewellyn Reed talk about the long, loud and lavish line of Hollywood epics that stand iconic in American cinematic history, including the remarkable productions of “Ben-Hur”...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Saving great horses from the Nazis and the slaughterhouse (episode 137)

  In this podcast:  Elizabeth Letts, author of the best-selling book, "The Eighty-Dollar Champion," talks about how she discovered the great story of champion jumper Snowman and the horseman who saved him from the slaughterhouse, Harry de Leyer. Snowman is the subject of a documentary film due for...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Tough training for the urban classroom (episode 136)

  In this podcast:  As the new school year begins, Jennifer Green, co-founder and CEO of Baltimore-based Urban Teachers, talks about her program’s success in preparing hundreds of college graduates for lasting careers in city schools. Since 2010, Urban Teachers has used a demanding, medical school-style...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Russian hackers; a great new novel; a jailhouse ministry; corn off the cob (episode 135)

  In this podcast:  1:54: Book critic Paula Gallagher reviews what has all the makings of the next great American novel, Colson Whitehead’s "The Underground Railroad." 9:11: Sean Gallagher, IT editor of ars technica and our favorite tech-splainer, talks about the suspected Russian hack of Democratic...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: DOJ investigation was long overdue, criminologist says (episode 134)

  In this podcast:  A University of Baltimore criminologist talks about the scathing Department of Justice report on the Baltimore Police Department. Jeffrey Ian Ross wonders why federal investigators did not undertake their examination of policing practices sooner and how the DOJ will go about enforcing...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Trump, trolls, Orcs and Harry Potter (episode 133)

  In this podcast:  2:19: Dan talks about the Trump and Clinton campaigns with Herb Smith, longtime political analyst and professor of political science at McDaniel College; Michael Reisch, professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work; and Richard Cross, Maryland Republican analyst...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Port Covington TIF; Ellicott City recovery (episode 132)

  In this podcast:  2:42: Sun reporter Natalie Sherman and architect Klaus Philipsen talk about Under Armour's big pitch for a new corporate campus in Baltimore -- the multi-billion-dollar Port Covington project -- and the developer's request for more than $600 million in infrastructure from the...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Meg Guroff on 'How The Bicycle Reshaped America' (episode 131)

  In this podcast:  Today Dan welcomes Margaret "Meg" Guroff, a magazine editor and writer in Washington who gets to work on a bicycle. She loves biking, and has written a book about it, a cultural history called, "The Mechanical Horse: How The Bicycle Reshaped America," published by the University...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The naturalists: Teddy Roosevelt and Nick Carter (episode 130)

  In this podcast, the stories of two naturalists — Nick Carter, who lives at the headwaters of the Choptank River, the longest river on the Eastern Shore of Maryland; and Theodore Roosevelt, the nation's 26th president and a lifelong naturalist. 2:38: Tom Horton, long-time environmental writer and...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: John Fritze reports from the DNC; Peter Schmuck on the Orioles' resurgent rotation (episode 129)

  In this podcast:  2:24: John Fritze, The Sun’s Washington correspondent, reports from the Democratic National Convention, where delegates made history Tuesday night by nominating Hillary Clinton for president.  13:24: Sun sports columnist Peter Schmuck discusses the surprising and promising turn...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: GOP convention wrap-up; a bevy of book and film picks (episode 128)

  In this podcast:  3:37: American culture commentator Sheri Parks discusses Donald J. Trump’s candidacy for president and how it has further alienated American minorities from the Republican Party. Parks is associate dean in arts and humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Digging for the truth in No Man's Land (episode 127)

  A bloody disaster within a debacle: Today's podcast explores a long-buried claim that American troops, many from Maryland, were betrayed during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of World War I. In 1916, there was a presidential election, with Woodrow Wilson running successfully for a second term while...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Black lives, blue lives, and what we tell our kids (episode 126)

  In this podcast: 1:49: John Fritze, the Sun’s Washington correspondent, talks about Dump on Hillary Day at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The convention officially nominated Donald J. Trump for president, speakers tore into his presumptive Democratic opponent, and Dr. Ben Carson...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The Republican National Convention and the 1880 surprise (episode 125)

  In this podcast: 1:22: John Fritze, the Sun's Washington correspondent, reports on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, and Mileah Kromer, director of the Goucher Poll, comments on the anticipated nomination of Donald Trump for president. 17:57: Stan Haynes, a Baltimore...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Trump and Clinton; better meatloaf; summer cocktails (episode 124)

  In this podcast: 3:22: Presidential historian Richard Striner says the 2016 election could be a catastrophe for the nation and the Republican Party or a breakthrough for progressive politics. He talks about the course of the GOP over the last century and the rise of Donald J. Trump. Steiner is...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The summer's best movie was made in 1948 (episode 123)

  In this podcast: 1:57: Why you should see "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" on the big screen: After "Finding Dory," the pickings are slim among new releases this summer. So film critic Linda DeLibero noticed in coming attractions a revival screening of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" at the...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Six questions about the Clinton email scandal (episode 122)

  In this podcast: Six questions about the Hillary Clinton email scandal for Sean Gallagher, the Baltimore-based IT editor of Ars Technica. A Navy veteran, Gallagher once served as a computer security officer.   Using our app? Go to baltimoresun.com/roughlyspeaking to listen to the podcast. To subscribe:...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Baltimore rapper reflects on his encounters with police (episode 121)

  In this podcast: 2:53: After the killings of five police officers in Dallas in apparent retaliation for the fatal shootings of black men by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, Dan speaks with Carl Reuben, a rapper known as VeganG. The conversation covers Reuben's experiences with police in Maryland,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The 45-year-old Baltimore Ironman who eats ice cream every day (episode 120)

  Ironman competitor Rick Armiger, a 45-year-old vice-president at Morgan Stanley in Baltimore, just returned from Germany after completing his 25th long-distance triathlon. He plans to enter two more Iron Man competitions this summer. In today's podcast, Dan speaks with Armiger about how he trains...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 4th of July episode: Jefferson and Hamilton (episode 119)

  In this podcast: 2:08: In this Independence Day episode of Roughly Speaking, some fresh perspectives on Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, with two leading Jefferson scholars — Annette Gordon-Reed, who won the Pulitzer Prize for history for her research on Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Fact-checking Donald Trump, and 13 good summer books (episode 118)

  In this podcast: 1:58: Is it really elitist for the news media to fact-check everything Donald J. Trump says? Dan speaks with David Zurawik, the Sun’s media critic, about the claim by a Trump supporter on CNN that Trump’s political opponents, not the media, should point out any misstatements by...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: A wonky, but user-friendly Obamacare status report from Hopkins expert (episode 117)

  In this podcast: 2:30: A Johns Hopkins expert on the Affordable Care Act provides an objective assessment of the implementation of the health insurance law after the third year of enrollment. Jonathan Weiner, professor in health policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, talks...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: LeBron's hot hand, and a million-dollar first novel (episode 116)

  In this podcast: 1:50: Penguin Random House made publishing news when it agreed to pay a reported $2 million for the rights to a series of novels by a new writer, Emma Cline. The first in that series, “The Girls,” based on the Manson family murders of the late 1960s, is out. Paula Gallagher reviews...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Goodson trial wrap; Being young and black in Obama's America (episode 115)

  In this podcast: 2:05: On the day after the latest verdict in the trials of Baltimore police officers accused in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, Sun reporters Justin Fenton and Kevin Rector talk about the acquittal of Officer Caesar Goodson, who faced the most serious charges of the six original...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What's it like to be principal of a Baltimore city school? (episode 114)

  What’s it like to run a Baltimore city school? Dan speaks with five principals who were recently honored for their outstanding work. They are recipients of "Heart of the School" awards, established this year by the Fund for Educational Excellence. The inaugural awards celebration was held at the...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Awaiting verdict in Freddie Gray case officer trials (episode 113)

  In this podcast: Sun reporters Kevin Rector and Justin Fenton review the state's case against Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the Baltimore police van driver accused in the death of Freddie Gray last April. Goodson was the driver of the van in which Gray suffered a fatal spinal cord injury. Rector...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Legends of Baltimore: 'Little Willie' Adams and Philip Berrigan (episode 112)

  William L. "Little Willie" Adams and Philip Berrigan were very different men who left their marks on Baltimore in very different ways. They are part of the history of Baltimore that you should know. In this podcast: 3:50: Little Willie Adams was truly the stuff of legend — a heroic figure among...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: How deteriorating infrastructure costs families and businesses (episode 111)

  In this podcast:   Two recent reports paint a troubling picture of infrastructure investment in the U.S. and around the world. The McKinsey Global Institute says major economies are cutting back on spending on bridges, roads and other infrastructure at a time when they need to be increasing that...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Larry Hogan walks away from Donald Trump (episode 110)

  In this podcast: 1:10: Republican analyst Richard Cross and UMBC professor Kimberly Moffitt comment on Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's declaration that he won't be voting for Donald Trump for president, and we look at how Trump's aggressive position on immigrants and terror have affected his campaign....

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Maximum-security inmates read Shakespeare in professor's prison book club (episode 109)

  In this podcast: Mikita Brottman, a literary scholar and professor in humanities at the Maryland Institute College of Art, established a book club for inmates at Maryland’s maximum-security Jessup Correctional Institution. The club members, some of them convicted murderers serving life sentences,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Will the Orlando massacre change anything? (episode 108)

  In this podcast: Dan speaks with Firmin DeBrabander, professor of philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art and author of "Do Guns Make us Free? Democracy and the Armed Society," his reporting and reflections on the country’s gun culture, published a year ago by Yale University Press....

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Launching a life out of poverty in Baltimore (episode 107)

  In this podcast: A follow-up to Dan's Sunday column with Stefanie DeLuca, a Johns Hopkins sociologist and co-author of a 10-year study of 150 young, African-American men and women who were born in the late 1980s and 1990s to parents who lived in Baltimore's public housing projects. The researchers...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Trump and 'White Rage,' Zurawik on news coverage of Goodson trial, Hong & Shields' weekend recipes (episode 106)

  In this podcast: 2:27: As Republican leaders, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, try to adjust to the reality of Donald J. Trump, explainers abound. How did the GOP get here? What does Trump’s presumptive nomination for president say about the American electorate? Carol Anderson, for one, says...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: How the news skews the reality of mental illness and violence (episode 105)

  In this podcast: A recently published study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that news reports frequently link mental illness with acts of violence, giving the public the impression that people with mental illness are prone to violence when, in fact, only a small percentage...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 3,000 home brewers hit Baltimore (episode 104)

  In this podcast: HomeBrew Con 2016, the 38th annual National Homebrewers Conference, brings 3,000 beer lovers to Baltimore this week. Dan speaks with Gary Glass, director of the 46,000-member American Homebrewers Association, about the popularity of brewing beer, cider and mead at home. HomeBrew...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Driverless cars, the Buick Cascada, Airbag recall, with John Davis of MotorWeek (episode 103)

  In this podcast: Driverless cars are being tested in the United States and in Europe. A British concern is set to roll out a commuter and shuttle-type vehicle called Pod Zero to get people around places like airports and resorts. The state of Michigan is pushing to allow the manufacture and sale...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Gin summer cocktails from bartender Brendan Dorr (episode 102)

  In this podcast: 2:39: Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik discusses two things — TV coverage of the leading presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, and an Investigation Discovery special on the Adnan Syed murder case. 35:18: Film critics Linda DeLibero...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Could dinosaurs come back? and other 5th grader science and health questions answered by experts (episode 101)

  In this podcast: “What’s the most gruesome thing you ever saw?” There’s a question you’ve always wanted to ask a doctor and probably never did. But a student in Leah Burchman’s 5th-grade class at Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup, Maryland, didn’t hesitate to ask Dr. John Cmar for his...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Riot response becomes a crisis management case study (episode 100)

  In this podcast: Rob Weinhold, a former Baltimore police officer and one-time spokesman for the department, is a student of crisis management — how leaders deal with tough times and threats to their reputations and careers. Now chief executive of the Fallston Group, a Baltimore-based crisis management...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The Trump reality show; History Channel reimagines 'Roots'; dining out vs. cooking in (episode 99)

  In this podcast: 1:42: The Trump reality show: The possibility of a Donald Trump presidency creates big buzz and more anxiety after the presumptive Republican nominee gets a poll bump showing him closing in on Hillary Clinton. Is the Trump candidacy a genuine political phenomenon or one rooted...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Game of Drones (episode 98)

  In this podcast: In December 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appeared on "60 Minutes" and unveiled Amazon Prime Air, a drone-delivery system that he said could transport packages to customer doorsteps in 30 minutes. Bezos said more safety testing and federal approvals were needed, but he estimated...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Race, place and the Dedric Colvin case (episode 97)

  In this podcast: The Toy Gun and the Black Son episode: A look back to the Dedric Colvin case in Baltimore. Dedric is the African-American 8th-grader who was wounded by a police officer on April 27 after he spotted the boy with what the officer thought was a handgun. It turned out to be a BB gun...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Why the prospect of a Trump presidency prompts an African-American mom to consider owning a gun (episode 96)

  In this podcast: Donald Trump anxiety — people have been seeing their shrinks about it, and Mike Pesca on The Gist podcast introduced the Trump anxiety hotline, playing concern over the billionaire bully’s ascendance for comic and emotional relief. But, when Dan spoke to Kimberly Moffitt and asked...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: The 30 percent: Who are the women who support Trump? (episode 95)

  If the polls are correct that 7 out of 10 women disapprove of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, who are the women of the other 30 percent and why do they support him? In this podcast: Melissa Deckman, chair of political science at Washington College, has spent a lot of time with Republican...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: On Kentucky Derby weekend, horsing around Maryland, mixing mint juleps (episode 94)

  In this podcast: 2:37: We start the show with our weekly visit with Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik. NBC did something the other night that got stuck in David’s craw, but that doesn’t keep him from talking about it. The network’s nightly news program moved, anchor Lester Holt and all,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 'Strange Glow,' a history of radiation, with Tim Jorgensen (episode 93)

  In this podcast: After the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan, Tim Jorgensen suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a lot of emails and phone calls. People were frightened. People had questions. Jorgensen, a Johns Hopkins-trained radiation biologist based at Georgetown...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Celebrating the day Frank Robinson hit a ball out of Memorial Stadium (episode 92)

  In this podcast: 3:20: Sun sports columnist Peter Schmuck talks about the Orioles, the team's recent injuries and the value of connective tissue. 19:06: This Sunday, May 8, marks 50 years since Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, in his first season with the Orioles, hit the first-ever home run out of...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Freddie Gray officer trials; buying a house in Baltimore; American Pharoah's Triple Crown (episode 91)

  In this podcast: 5:17: On May 1, 2015, after the long week of unrest and curfew, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby stepped into War Memorial Plaza and announced charges against six Baltimore police officers in connection with the in-custody death of Freddie Gray. Since then, one of the officers,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Analysis of the Maryland and Baltimore primary results (episode 90)

  In this podcast: 1:39: Republican analyst Richard Cross and Sun reporter Yvonne Wenger: Analysis of the U.S. Senate and presidential primaries in Maryland and of the Baltimore Democratic mayoral primary. Cross says Trump is now the Republicans' "de facto nominee" and looks ahead to a Trump vs. ...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Lewis Museum takes on unrest anniversary; Cokie Roberts' 'Capital Dames' (episode 89)

  In this podcast: 5:36: NPR's Cokie Roberts: The longtime political analyst and author has a new book, this one about women of Washington before, during and after the Civil War. Roberts shares a few tales from "Capital Dames," with some fascinating connections to Baltimore and Maryland, including...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: U.S. Senate candidate Richard Douglas (episode 88)

  In this podcast: A veteran and former Pentagon official, Maryland attorney Richard J. Douglas is making his second run for the Republican Senate nomination, hoping to become his party's nominee to replace Sen. Barbara Mikulski. Douglas, who lives in College Park, finished second in the 2012 GOP...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 7th District City Council candidates (episode 87)

  In this podcast: Sandtown-Winchester is the West Baltimore neighborhood where the late Freddie Gray was arrested last April, and it’s where he grew up. It's within District 7 of the Baltimore City Council, and that’s the focus of today’s show. The 7th District is central-west Baltimore City --...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 5th and 12th districts City Council candidates (episode 86)

  We have a lot of ground to cover today. If you live in northwest Baltimore City, if you live in central and east Baltimore, we’re bringing you the candidates for City Council from your part of town.  In this podcast: District 5 is northwest Baltimore -- that is, Pimlico, Howard Park, North Roland...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 4th District City Council candidates (episode 85)

  We have three more days of podcasts devoted to the candidates for Baltimore City Council in this month’s primary election.  In this podcast: Today’s conversations are with candidates for District 4 in north-central Baltimore, stretching from Guilford to Govans, from Wilson Park to Woodbourne Heights,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 6th and 8th districts City Council candidates (episode 84)

  We are just a week away now from the Maryland and Baltimore City primary elections, and all this week we are taking time to bring the people of Baltimore interviews with candidates for City Council. Today conversations with candidates for two City Council districts -- District 6 and District 8,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 9th District City Council candidates (episode 83)

  Continuing our conversations with candidates for Baltimore City Council, today we go to the 9th District, which is in west and southwest Baltimore, one of the poorest districts in the city, including neighborhoods such as Pigtown, Sowebo, Harlem Park, Rosemont and Franklintown Road. The city councilman...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 1st District City Council candidates (episode 82)

  Today we bring you conversations with candidates for Baltimore City Council in the 1st District. That is southeastern Baltimore City — Canton, Fells Point, Highlandtown, Greektown, Little Italy, Patterson Park, Little Italy, Butcher’s Hill and other neighborhoods. The City Council member who served...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 3rd and 11th districts City Council candidates (episode 81)

  Today we bring you conversations with candidates for Baltimore City Council in two districts —District 3 and District 11. Don't know which district you live in? Look it up using the city's tool. In this podcast: District 3: Several Democrats are running to replace retiring City Councilman Robert...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Mayoral candidates Patrick Gutierrez and Alan Walden (episode 80)

  Roughly Speaking's two-week series of candidate interviews returns to the Baltimore mayor's race with talks with a Democrat and a Republican, both of whom worked in local media, the latter a familiar voice on WBAL Radio for a decade. In this podcast: 1:40: Patrick Gutierrez worked briefly here...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 2nd District candidates Brandon Scott and Tony Christian (episode 79)

  In this podcast, more conversations with candidates in the April 26 Maryland primary: Today you’ll hear two candidates for the 2nd District (find your district) of the Baltimore City Council. That district includes Harbel, Parkside, parts of Belair-Edison, Gardenville, Cedmont, Cedonia, Overlea,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 14th District candidates Mary Pat Clarke and Terrell Williams (episode 78)

  In this podcast, more conversations with candidates in the April 26 Maryland primary: Today you’ll hear two candidates for the 14th District (find your district) of the Baltimore City Council, representing neighborhoods that include Charles Village, Homewood, Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello, Waverly,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Chris Van Hollen; getting city kids to golf (episode 77)

  In this podcast:   2:25: A conversation with Chris Van Hollen: The Democratic Congressman who is trying to win his party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate. His opponent is Donna Edwards, another member of the Maryland Congressional delegation. The Van Hollen-Edwards contest is one of the tightest...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: 13th District council candidate Shannon Sneed; comptroller candidate Mike King (episode 76)

  In this podcast:   1:53: An energetic spirit seeks to unseat incumbent: As a political newcomer in 2011, Shannon Sneed came within 43 votes of unseating Baltimore City Councilman Warren Branch. She is running again against Branch to represent the 13th District on the City Council. A former television...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Donna Edwards (episode 75)

  Today marks the start of two-plus weeks of  conversations with candidates for national and local offices in the April 26 Maryland primary. In this podcast: 1:54: Rep. Donna Edwards is the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated when longtime Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Integrating the Orioles; MedStar hack; Z on TV; Joel Gamble, role model; Food news, Pee-wee and Burt (episode 74)

  In this podcast:   3:13: One of the top stories of the week: MedStar Hack and Internet Ransom: Hackers attacked the computer system at MedStar Health, forcing thousands of employees of 10 Medstar hospitals in our region to resort to paper medical records and transactions. MedStar is Maryland’s...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Lobby concert with Italian guitar virtuoso Flavio Sala (episode 73)

  In this podcast: A Baltimore Sun Lobby Concert, featuring Italian guitar virtuoso Flavio Sala. Now living in the Baltimore area, Sala is an Italian guitarist who has spent a lot of time in Venezuela. Listen for the South American influences in his half-hour set.A video of Sala's performance is...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Mayoral candidate Carl Stokes; Baltimore County's 'Rise Up' community reading (episode 72)

  In this podcast: 2:21: Carl Stokes does not smoke cigars with Under Armour founder Kevin Plank — they are not buddies, he says — but the city councilman and Baltimore mayoral candidate admires what Plank and Under Armour do for Baltimore. In an interview on this podcast today, Carl Stokes talks...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What we talk about when we talk about Sheila Dixon (episode 71)

  In this podcast: 3:26: What we talk about when we talk about Sheila Dixon:  A conversation about the former Baltimore mayor who wants to be mayor again, with Firmin DeBrabander, professor of philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and Sheri Parks, associate dean in arts and humanities...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Is this the year you hike the Appalachian Trail? (episode 70)

  In this podcast: 2:07: How to deal with the ever-changing American job market and the prospect that no job will last more than a few years, with journalist, author and Baltimore-native Farai Chideya. Her new book, “The Episodic Career,” is part essay, part reporting, part self-help, providing advice...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Rodricks Rat Pack: Larry Noto and Kevin Cowherd (episode 69)

  In this podcast: 3:18: Rodricks Rat Pack: Two chums, Larry Noto and Kevin Cowherd, join Dan today to talk about careers, comedy, old comics, new comics and spaghetti. Larry, a standup comedian and music store owner in Bel Air, was a collegiate intern on the weekly Rodricks for Breakfast show on...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Mayoral candidate Calvin Young (episode 68)

  In this podcast: 1:38: Continuing his series of interviews with candidates for mayor of Baltimore in the April 26 primary election, Dan speaks with Calvin Young (on the right in the photo above, with identical twin brother Caylin), a 28-year-old engineer and Harvard Business School graduate who...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What's next for arabbers who won case but lost horses? (episode 67)

  In this podcast: 3:23: In the empty Carlton Street Stables in West Baltimore, 60-year-old arabber Malik Muhammad talks about how Baltimore city officials have deprived him of horses and an income for more than a year. Muhammad is one of five arabbers who had their horses confiscated from health...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: New Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson, Rep. John Delaney (episode 66)

  In this podcast: 2:37: Getting real about race: Benjamin Watson, the tight end newly signed by the Baltimore Ravens, has written a book — part memoir, part essay — about race relations in the U.S.. This comes after Watson’s Facebook posts about Ferguson, and later Freddie Gray and Baltimore, went...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: What to expect from the inaugural Light City Baltimore festival (episode 65)

  In this podcast: 3:05: Light City Baltimore: In just over two weeks, something potentially amazing will be happening at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. It involves light shows, art and music, but Light City Baltimore is also meant to showcase Baltimore’s development as a hub for technological innovation...

• Soul Serenade with Rashod Ollison

  Roughly Speaking episode 64: Rashod Ollison was once the pop music critic of The Baltimore Sun. He’s now an award-winning music and culture writer at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. His new memoir, "Soul Serenade: Rhythm, Blues and Coming of Age Through Vinyl,” is about growing up in Arkansas,...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Nick Mosby on Baltimore's property tax; Henry Hong's backyard chickens (episode 63)

  In this podcast: 2:00: This old house: Baltimore mayoral candidate Nick Mosby talks about the old rowhouse he and his wife, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, renovated in Reservoir Hill and relates it to his proposals for lowering the city's property tax rate by 15 percent and for dealing...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Sheila Dixon on why voters should make her mayor again (episode 62)

  In this podcast: 2:36: GOP race: Richard Cross, mild-mannered, moderate Maryland Republican, talks about Donald Trump's front-runner status in the GOP presidential campaign, and the party establishment's efforts to keep him from the nomination. 15:24: Netflix's Gamble on House of Cards Pays Off:...

• Roughly Speaking: The Apple-FBI legal battle explained (episode 61)

  In this podcast: 2:21: Roughly Speaking Extra: The Pick A Side in the FBI-Apple Battle Episode: Sean Gallagher is the Baltimore-based IT editor for Ars Technica, the tech-news website. He really knows his stuff and explains it well. If you haven’t decided who’s right and who’s wrong in the legal...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Mayoral candidate Catherine Pugh on education, crime (episode 60)

  In this podcast: 2:03: Running for mayor, running the schools: Baltimore mayoral candidate Catherine Pugh believes it’s time for City Hall to assert greater control of the city’s public schools. In 1997, the city relinquished power over its beleaguered schools for a large infusion of cash from...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Oscars recap and the books that became the films (episode 59)

  In this podcast: 1:30: Two surprises among the Academy Awards: Our film critics talk about last night’s Oscars and two surprises – one an unexpected top prize, the other a slight of a veteran actor. Linda DeLibero is director of film and media at the Johns Hopkins University and she co-directs...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Politics, baseball, booze and a good book (episode 58)

  In this podcast: THE TRUMP THING: Three perspectives on Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy and his threat to the Republican establishment:1:50: Analysis from Herb Smith, professor of political science at McDaniel College, and Melissa Deckman, chair of political science at Washington College...

• Roughly Speaking podcast: Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis on changes he's made, JHU partnership, illegal guns (episode 57)

  In this podcast: 1:27: Until a couple of months ago, Baltimore detectives did not investigate residential burglaries of property of less than $15,000 value, says Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, and that has changed; detectives are now assigned to all burglaries. In this Roughly Speaking...

• Roughly Speaking: DeRay Mckesson on why he's running for mayor (episode 56)

  In this podcast: 1:15: Dead heat in the Maryland Senate race: Mileah Kromer of the Goucher Poll talks about the April 26 Maryland primary and the contest for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated next year by Barbara Mikulski. In the Democratic primary, the latest Goucher Poll shows a dead heat between...

• Roughly Speaking: One-child policy leaves Chinese population 'too few, too male, too old' (episode 55)

  In this podcast: 1:55: Our guest today is Mei Fong, the author of "One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment." Mei Fong became interested in the effects of China’s one-child policy while covering the deadly earthquake in Sichuan. She describes how the grand social experiment in birth...

• Roughly Speaking: Mayoral candidate David Warnock promises 10,000 jobs (episode 54)

  In this podcast: 2:35: Warnock promises 10,000 jobs, rowhouses with sideyards, cops on foot, ‘ghost employees’ exorcised: Another in a series of conversations with candidates for mayor of Baltimore. Today, businessman David Warnock talks about his plan to create thousands of jobs as the city moves...

• Roughly Speaking: Supreme Court battle, Bernie Sanders' surprising campaign (episode 53)

  In this podcast: 1:34: Michael Greenberger, professor at the University of Maryland School of Law who has argued cases before the Supreme Court, talks about the looming battle between President Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over the replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia....

• Roughly Speaking: Mayoral candidate Elizabeth Embry on her anti-crime plan (episode 52)

  In this podcast: 1:14: Elizabeth Embry, Democratic candidate for mayor, talks about her plan for reducing crime in Baltimore. The 17-page document describes how Embry, currently the chief of the Maryland Attorney General's Office criminal division, says she would, among other actions, target gangs,...

• Roughly Speaking: Dreadlocks, where the jobs are, Baltimore mayor's race (episode 51)

  In this podcast: 2:02: A look at something that might be unprecedented in Baltimore -- the spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars by one candidate on television advertising. Venture capitalist and philanthropist David Warnock has spent almost $600,000 for TV ads in the Baltimore mayoral race...

• Roughly Speaking: Justin Fenton on the Adnan Syed 'Serial' case (episode 50)

  In this podcast: 1:29: Sun reporter Justin Fenton covered the five-day hearing in the Adnan Syed case – the "Serial" defendant’s request for a new trial in the death of his one-time Woodlawn High School girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The case is now in the hands of a Baltimore Circuit Court judge. In...

• Roughly Speaking: Why do most Americans think the recession never ended? (episode 49)

  In this podcast: 1:40: Goucher Poll’s Mileah Kromer on Donald Trump's and Bernie Sanders' victories in the New Hampshire primaries and what lies ahead in the race for the White House. 17:42: Why do a majority of Americans still think the nation is in a recession? A talk about the U.S. economy and...

• Roughly Speaking: Watching the state watchdogs on water pollution (episode 48)

  In this podcast:   2:14: Rona Kobell and Tim Wheeler of the Chesapeake Bay Journal talk about a Maryland water-pollution case with echoes of the crisis in Flint. Six years in, the latest twist has an appeals court ruling Maryland could be on the hook for damages for failing to enforce its own laws....

• Roughly Speaking: Steve Phillips on Clinton, Sanders and the future of the Democratic party (episode 47)

  Is Bernie Sanders too liberal for America? Can Hillary Clinton win by moving even further to the left and drawing votes from the same multiracial coalition that elected Barack Obama? According to Steve Phillips’ calculations, there is a New American Majority in 34 states — and it leans left. Unless...

• Roughly Speaking: DeRay Mckesson runs for mayor, a salute to the Coen Brothers canon, an alternative to the war on drugs (episode 46)

  In this podcast: 2:23: David Zurawik comments on social media, politics and DeRay Mckesson's entry into the Baltimore mayoral race. 26:21: Book critic Paula Gallagher reviews "one of the most intriguing new novels of the year." 29:27: Film critics Chris Reed and Linda DeLibero review the new Coen...

• Roughly Speaking: The role place plays in escaping poverty (episode 45)

  Soon after the civil disturbances following the death of Freddie Gray, a report from Harvard researchers found Baltimore to be about the worst place in the nation for poor children to escape poverty. Despite that grim assessment of social mobility, hundreds of low-income families have managed to...

• Roughly Speaking: Eduardo Encina on the Orioles' offseason (episode 44)

  In this podcast: 2:11: With spring training just a couple weeks away, The Sun's Orioles beat writer, Eduardo "Eddie In The Yard" Encina, puts down his sled long enough for a winter day's chat about the Orioles offseason moves, including the resigning of slugger Chris Davis and acquisitions of first...

• Roughly Speaking: Trump-Fox feud, Baltimore's blizzard response (episode 43)

  In this podcast: 2:59: Sun media critic David Zurawik on the feud between Donald Trump and FOX News. 20:06: Nick Mosby, candidate for mayor, on Baltimore’s struggles with last weekend's blizzard and his 15-point plan for the city’s future. (Note: Nick Mosby dropped out of the race on April 13.)...

• Roughly Speaking: Mike Rowe on jobs for ex-offenders, his start in TV, and Baltimore (episode 42)

  In this podcast: 2:18: Baltimore native Mike Rowe is in his hometown this week to appear at a fundraiser for job training program JumpStart. The "Dirty Jobs" and "Somebody's Gotta Do It" host talks with Dan Rodricks about a range of subjects, including how he got his start in TV, reality TV, and...

• Roughly Speaking: Why some blue states are turning red (episode 41)

  In this podcast: 2:08: "Parts of the country that depend on the safety-net programs supported by Democrats are increasingly voting for Republicans who favor shredding that net," reports Alec MacGillis, who covers politics and government for ProPublica. MacGillis, a former Sun reporter who lives...

• Roughly Speaking: Innovation Village in Baltimore, the Clinton-Obama rift (episode 40)

  In this podcast: 2:12: Richard May of the Mount Royal Community Development Corp. and Deb Tillett of Baltimore’s Emerging Technology Centers describe Innovation Village, an ambitious new effort to bring startups, new jobs and housing to Central West Baltimore, the epicenter of last April’s unrest...

• Roughly Speaking: Presidential primary races, winter comfort food (episode 39)

  In this podcast: 1:40: Mileah Kromer, who oversees the Goucher Poll, joins Dan and Baltimore Sun editorial writer Peter Jensen to talk about another wild week in presidential politics, featuring Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary and the Clinton camp’s...

• Roughly Speaking: How genetic testing might influence race relations (episode 38)

  In this podcast: 2:15: How genetic testing is affecting Americans and American life, and how it might influence race relations in the U.S., leading possibly to what our guest calls racial reconciliation. One day genetic science might be useful in supporting legal claims for reparations for slavery. Our...

• Roughly Speaking: Race and the brain, Baltimore's social entrepreneurs (episode 37)

  On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a look at two issues related to the national holiday — race and public service. In this podcast: 2:34: A followup to the Tamir Rice case: Research into perception and brain function suggests that black boys are seen as older and more threatening than they actually...

• Roughly Speaking: GOP debate, Oscars, Z on TV, O's camp, singer-songwriter SONiA (episode 36)

  In this podcast: 3:17: Following Thursday night's GOP presidential debate, a conversation about Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and the Republicans with Kimberly Moffiitt, professor in American Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Richard Cross III, Republican political analyst who...

• Roughly Speaking: State of the Union reaction, Preservation Maryland's 'Six-To-Fix' (episode 35)

  In this podcast: 2:57: Andy Green and Peter Jensen of the Sun’s editorial board share reactions to President Obama’s State of the Union address and to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s tax plan. 23:27: Nicholas Redding, executive director of Preservation Maryland, describes six historic sites that need...

• Roughly Speaking: Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen on giving addicts treatment instead of jail time (episode 34)

  Dr. Leana Wen, Baltimore’s health commissioner, talks about new approaches to stemming heroin addiction, including getting police to refer addicts to treatment; Del. Cory McCray says more than 40,000 ex-offenders are being kept from voting in Maryland because of a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan that...

• Roughly Speaking: Hogan's urban renewal plan, 'The Hateful Eight' and 'The Revenant' reviews, the power of words (episode 33)

  In this podcast: 2:02: Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik talks about Rep. Donna Edwards’ complaint of racial bias in how news organizations describe armed protesters in Oregon versus their characterizations of rioters in Baltimore last April. 28:23: Baltimore Sun City Hall reporter Luke...

• Roughly Speaking: A cherished boyhood gift's long round trip (Christmas episode)

  In this Christmas Eve episode of the podcast, Dan shares a story from his New England boyhood. The Baltimore Sun first published the story Dec. 25, 1998. (Preview the episode on SoundCloud.)

• The Surviving Daughter: The story of the Poland family tragedy, frustrated justice and a big sister's resilience

  For the first time since the house fire that devastated her family, Stacey Poland Hamburg speaks publicly about the events of Christmas 1963. It’s a story of a fire in the middle of the night, the terrible loss of young lives, an arson that Stacey and others believe was a hate crime — though no...

• Roughly Speaking: Star Wars, Porter mistrial, oyster book (episode 30)

  After the regrettable Star Wars prequels – remember Jar Jar Binks? – the series gets a strong reset with "The Force Awakens," says film critic Christopher Llewellyn Reed in today's episode, which features a look back at the Star Wars canon and the sequels ahead. Book critic Paula Gallagher dredges...

• Roughly Speaking: A seasonal mini-concert by Helicon and Charm City Junction (episode 29)

  Today on the podcast, a special holiday treat. Ahead of its 30th annual winter solstice concert Saturday at Goucher College, Helicon, joined by members of Charm City Junction, played seasonal music in The Sun's lobby. Roughly Speaking recorded the performance live. Next episode: Coming Friday,...

• Roughly Speaking: Being a Muslim and a moderate Republican in the time of Trump (episode 28)

  With outsiders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz leading the Republican presidential polls, Trump calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, and Cruz pretty much there with him (though he hedged and dodged on that question during last night's debate on CNN), what's it like being a Muslim-American...

• Roughly Speaking: 'Quilt of Souls' author Phyllis Lawson discusses her memoir (episode 27)

  When she was just four years old, Phyllis Lawson's parents sent her from Detroit to her grandparents' farm in the Deep South. Lacking electricity and indoor plumming, it was a hard-scrabble place where Lawson learned life lessons from her quilting grandmother, Lula. A tribute to Lula, Lawson's...

• Roughly Speaking: A recovering addict's hoop dreams come true; William Porter trial week 2 recap (episode 26)

  After years of drug addiction, homelessness, and prison time, Kody Jenkins held onto his dream of playing college basketball. Today, he's living it, at the age of 32. Hear his story, in his own words, on today's podcast (Hear a snippet of his interview on SoundCloud at bsun.md/rs-26). Also, Supreme...

• Roughly Speaking: David Zurawik on media coverage of Trump, Obama address, San Bernardino shooting (episode 25)

  Can anyone in media challenge Donald Trump about his controversial ideas? There is one person uniquely positioned to confront the GOP front-runner, Sun critic David Zurawik says, but, Dan asks, "Why would he?" In the mid-week podcast, who they're talking about, plus how news outlets did covering...

• Roughly Speaking: Guns debate; Baltimore's future; 'MARTians' novel (episode 24)

  After the San Bernardino shooting and Sunday night's address by President Obama, the nation is again engaged in a debate about guns. In today’s podcast, a conversation with a minister and a philosophy professor about where we go from here, especially with the added concern of home-grown, self-radicalized...

• Roughly Speaking: Freddie Gray case trial; pastry chef Doug Wetzel's triathlon survival story; 'Creed' and 'Spotlight' reviews (episode 23)

  To take us into the weekend, a cautionary tale for weekend warriors, as pastry chef Doug Wetzel describes his comeback from a near-death experience while he was competing in a Maryland triathlon last May. The recurring film segment reviews "Creed" and "Spotlight," and includes appreciations for...

• Roughly Speaking: Mayoral candidate Carl Stokes and analysis of the Freddie Gray case trial (episode 22)

  Using our app? Go to http://bsun.md/rs-podcast to listen to the podcast. In this podcast: 1:03: A conversation with former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening about income inequality, the nation’s infrastructure needs and the 2016 presidential candidates. 1:03: A conversation with former Maryland Gov....

• Roughly Speaking: Mayoral candidate Catherine Pugh; Black Friday in Baltimore; Asian cooking

  In this episode, Maryland state Sen. Catherine Pugh talks about her candidacy for mayor of Baltimore in next April’s Democrat primary; Baltimore Sun librarian Paul McCardell reaches back 50 years into the newspaper’s archives to tell us what the holiday shopping season was like in Baltimore, 1965; Baltimore...

• Roughly Speaking: Former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening on income inequality, politics and more

  In a rare interview, former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening talks about income inequality, the nation’s infrastructure needs, Democratic politics and the 2016 presidential candidates.

• Roughly Speaking: Thanksgiving turkey tips; 100-pound weight loss; Avoiding holiday scams

  In this episode, former political campaign manager Andy Carton tells what motivated him to lose 100 pounds in 14 months. You can see photos and read more on the Roughly Speaking blog; Angie Barnett, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland, sounds some warnings for consumers...

• Roughly Speaking: Former NAACP head, Ben Jealous; Sun Poll results

  In this episode,  Ben Jealous, former president of the NAACP, on reforming the police and the future of Baltimore: “When I look at the [mayoral] primary and who’s likely to come out of it, I just see an extension of the status quo, and this is a moment when we can’t afford the status quo.” Plus:...

• Roughly Speaking: The Syrian refugee question; Zurawik; books; movies

  In this episode, Patrick McDonnell, Middle East correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, talks about the investigation into the ISIS connection to the Paris attacks; Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comments on the U.S. reaction to the Paris...

• Roughly Speaking: UMBC president Freeman Hrabowski; Rep. Chris Van Hollen

  In this episode, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) talks about the U.S. reaction to the terrorist attacks in Paris and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s position on Syrian refugees; in the second part of a two-part interview, Van Hollen talks about an array of issues as he campaigns for the Democratic...

• Roughly Speaking with Dan Rodricks: Paris terror; Democratic debate; assisted suicide; immigration

  In this episode, Baltimore Sun opinion editor Andrew Green reflects on the terrorist attacks in Paris and their influence on the U.S. presidential elections; Analysis and commentary on Saturday night’s Democratic presidential debate with Mileah Kromer from The Goucher Poll and Baltimore Sun staff...

• Roughly Speaking: Mayoral candidate Elizabeth Embry; Xs and Os; Zurawik; Carrie Brownstein's biography

  In this episode: Four-time Pro Bowler Dwight Hicks talks about his role in a new play about the NFL at Center Stage; Elizabeth Embry tells why she's running for mayor of Baltimore; David Zurawik on the media and Ben Carson; recommended reading from Baltimore County librarian Paula Gallagher.

• Roughly Speaking: Reaction to the GOP presidential debate; Your brain on politics

  Reaction to last night’s debate from our guests Kimberly Moffitt,  associate professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County; Melissa Deckman, chair and professor of political science at Washington College, and from the Baltimore Sun editorial board, Peter Jensen.  ...

• Roughly Speaking: Congressman Elijah Cummings; 'Rhetoric of the Apocalypse'

  In this episode... Rep. Elijah Cummings on Baltimore in the aftermath of April’s unrest; his recent role as defender of Hillary Clinton during the House Select Committee’s investigation of Benghazi; the decision by President Obama to order troops to Syria, the controversial practices of companies...

• Roughly Speaking: Johns Hopkins' Ron Daniels; Dan-el Padilla Peralta on immigration

  In this episode, Johns Hopkins University president Ronald L. Daniels talks about the university's response to Baltimore's social and economic needs. Scholar Dan-el Padilla Peralta talks about his odyssey from homeless, undocumented immigrant to the Ivy League.

• Roughly Speaking: Congressional redistricting; gun violence; Zurawik on the GOP debate; movie reviews

  In this episode of Roughly Speaking, legal scholar Garrett Epps, University of Baltimore law professor and contributing editor of The Atlantic, talks about the Maryland redistricting case and other challenges to Democratic political power before the high court.   Firmin DeBrabander, professor of...

• Roughly Speaking: Mayoral candidate Nick Mosby; Strong City Baltimore

  Dan talks with City Councilman Nick Mosby about growing up in Baltimore and his candidacy for mayor. Karen Stokes, CEO of Strong City Baltimore, talks about the organization’s name and its mission in the aftermath of April’s unrest.

• Roughly Speaking: Mayoral candidate David Warnock; Harborplace development

  David Warnock, the latest Democrat to enter the Baltimore mayor’s race, says the 2016 primary is one of the most important elections in the city’s history. He tells Dan why he’s running and how he hopes to revive part of the scrapped Red Line and attract new businesses and jobs to the city. Thirty-five...

• Roughly Speaking: Liz Bowie on 'Unsettled Journeys'; the Maglev bullet train; Trash Free Maryland

  In this episode, Dan Rodricks talks with Sun education reporter Liz Bowie about her series, "Unsettled Journeys"; Wayne Rogers, CEO of Northeast Maglev about the proposed high-speed train; and Julie Lawson from Trash Free Maryland on the survey of microplastics in the bay.

• Roughly Speaking: Zurawik on the GOP debate; biking safety; "Rebel" turns 60 and movie reviews

  In this edition of Roughly Speaking, Dan Rodricks talks with Sun media critic David Zurawik about Wednesday's third GOP presidential debate; biking advocate Liz Cornish discusses biking safety in the wake of Heather Cook's sentence for killing a cyclist while driving drunk; and Linda DeLibero and...

• Roughly Speaking: Columnist Leonard Pitts; Kayaking Delmarva; Chesapeake cooking; Schmuck on Ravens

  Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. talks about the current state of the union, race relations in America, and his new book, “Grant Park."  Don Baugh and Alex Crooks from the Upstream Alliance, talk about their 500-mile kayaking trip around the Delmarva Peninsula.  Television host and author,...

• Roughly Speaking: Thomas Dolby on movie music

  In this edition of "Roughly Speaking," Dan Rodricks has a conversation about the music of the movies with British new-wave pioneer Thomas Dolby, now a professor at Johns Hopkins University. Famed for his 1980s hit, “She Blinded Me With Science,” Dolby has been experimenting in sound technology...

• Roughly Speaking: Baltimore mayors race; update on HIV/AIDS treatments; Zurawik; fall soups

  In this edition of "Roughly Speaking," Dan Rodricks talks with the Sun's Luke Broadwater about the Baltimore City mayoral race; Dr. John Cmar from Sinai Hospital in Baltimore on the latest research and treatments for HIV/AIDS; Sun media critic David Zurawik on the new movie "Truth," starring Robert...

• Roughly Speaking: D. Watkins on race; film reviews with Christopher Llewellyn Reed

  In this edition of "Roughly Speaking," Dan Rodricks talks with writer D. Watkins about race in Baltimore and his book, "The Beast Side: Living and Dying While Black in America"; Christopher Llewellyn Reed from Stevenson University reviews "Bridge of Spies," "Steve Jobs" and more new movies.