Maureen Harvie

As she grew up, Petula Caesar's African-American father praised her good grades and her light skin. He raised her to be deferential to white people and to see blacks as dangerous.

A book release luncheon and panel discussion about the book’s themes will take place Saturday, starting at 12:30 pm at Touchpiont Baltimore, near Mondawmin mall. The address is 2401 Liberty Heights Ave.

We’ve interviewed the eight Democrats running for their party’s nomination to face off against incumbent Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in the fall and asked how each proposes to address the opioid overdose epidemic, and guns and public safety. With us to share perspective and insight is the Baltimore editor of the Afro newspaper, Sean Yoes.

Creating jobs, cutting red-tape, managing the budget---the nine Democrats running for governor told us their economic priorities. Political columnist Barry Rascovar of Political Maryland analyzes their answers.

Here’s a Stoop Story told by Lauren Francis Sharma at the Baltimore Book Festival in 2016. She was unhappily working as a corporate lawyer in 1998 when she decided to take a chance on becoming an author. You can hear her story and many others at stoopstorytelling.com, as well as the Stoop podcast.

The Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped offers books for readers of all ages in a variety of forms - from large print to Braille and audio materials. We hear from Robyn Hughes, a patron of the library for four decades. And from library director Leslie Bowman, who says new technology has vastly expanded access for readers with limited sight.

Maryland’s prisons have clamped how on where inmates can acquire books--they can now can order from just two limited vendors. The department of corrections says books from other sources can be used to smuggle drugs, and that can fuel violence behind bars. We ask Sonia Kumar, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, why ACLU-MD contends the new restrictions violate the First Amendment.

Then we talk to Glennor Shirley about her two decades running libraries in Maryland’s prisons and how she viewed her responsibility to her patrons.

Here is the letter sent by ACLU-MD to DPSCS

Check out the Ear Hustle podcast here

Democrats running for governor agree Maryland public schools are slipping, and most argue the state should spend more. Baltimore Sun opinion editor Andy Green helps us decipher the field on education.

From tree pollen to soaring saplings, we’re wild for the woods. Matthew Fitzpatrick of UMCES explains the connection between ancient pollen and climate change. Read more about pollen DNA and tree migration here.

And Joli McCathran of the Maryland Big Tree Program describes measuring trees of record size. To find a champion tree or to nominate one, check out the Maryland Big Tree website.

Starbucks cafes across the country will be closed this afternoon for racial bias training, in the wake of an incident in a Philadelphia Starbucks last month. Two black men were arrested, seemingly for the crime of not buying anything. Millions have watched a video of the event.

Think again if you’ve been assuming curiosity is constant, like gravity. We talk to astrophysicist Mario Livio about his book, "Why: What Makes us Curious". Not only are some people more curious than others, and curious about different questions, but homo sapiens’ capacity for curiosity grew as its brain evolved. For all its variations, Livio deems curiosity an unstoppable drive.

Mario Livio will be speaking about his book tomorrow, 7 pm at the Ivy Bookshop on Falls Road. Information here.

The Goucher College Prison Education Partnership gives about 100 Maryland inmates access to college courses and professors and the opportunity to work toward a degree. We talk with director Amy Roza to hear about the effect it has on lives even beyond the prison walls. We also meet Donte Small, the first alumnus of the prison education partnership to earn a bachelor’s degree.

A devastating side effect of radiation and chemotherapy can be-- infertility. A new state mandate now requires insurers to cover fertility preservation for cancer patients before they begin treatment. We speak to Brock Yetso, who heads the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, and Sam Horn, who survived breast cancer. She says this coverage can bring peace of mind. And fertility specialist Dr. Mindy Christianson explains how the technology of safeguarding fertility has advanced.

Maryland’s seafood industry depends on several hundred guest workers--most from Mexico--working half the year on the Eastern Shore to pick crabs. This year, few of those workers came: the seafood processing companies could not get enough H-2B visas.

We ask Congressman Andy Harris, who represents the Shore: Are more visas on the way? Then, Bill Seiling, director of the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association explains how long Maryland's seafood industry has relied on foreign labor. And Jack Brooks, co-owner of a seafood company in Cambridge, argues the shortage of foreign workers affects the security of American jobs.

Here's a Stoop Story from WBAL news anchor Jason Newton about his love for his job and his city.

You can hear more stories, as well as the Stoop podcast, stoopstorytelling.com. The next live Stoop event is May 30th at the Creative Alliance. 

Paid or unpaid, a new career or the family profession--Americans spend most of their days working. A new exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Industry asks visitors to share thoughts and feelings about what work means in their lives.

We hear from Gillian Waldo, a graduating senior from Hopkins, who helped curate the exhibit. And from Beth Maloney, director of interpretation at the museum, who led students through this process.

The Baltimore Museum on Industry will be celebrating the 10th year of its farmers' market on Saturday with live music, kids activities, and free admission to the museum. More information here.

Youngsters from families where money is tight and education and job opportunities may have been limited often don’t see themselves as headed for college or a career. Enter: Next Generation Scholars, a state effort to tell pupils about college and get them on track.

We meet Nona Carroll, chief strategist for the nonprofit Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, which is working in five counties, and Aundra Anderson, coordinating Next Generation Scholars in Kent County.

What’s next, now that President Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal his predecessor negotiated with Iran? Maryland’s U.S. Senator Ben Cardin says Iran has complied with the deal, and quitting it does not make the world safer. He says Congress must ready to act if Iran supports terrorists or gets close to nuclear weapons. And Skip Auld, who served in the Peace Corps in Iran 45 years ago, worries it could be a step toward war. 

One of out four Baltimore residents lives in a neighborhood without a grocery store. Why is it so hard hard for some city residents to access to affordable and nutritious food?

Eric Jackson, of the Black Yield Institute, and Madeline Hardy, a senior at Goucher College, explore the issues of food justice in their documentary “Baltimore’s Strange Fruit”. Jackson points to the generational disenfranchisement of African Americans, who were shut out of benefiting from the agricultural economy. 

On Thursday there’s screening of “Baltimore’s Strange Fruit” at the Baltimore Free Farm. Next week, there is a screening on Wednesday at Charm City Farms in Greenmount East and on Thursday, at Cherry Hill Urban Garden.

A show today about the Chesapeake. First, a book, called--“A Biography of a Map in Motion.” It’s the backstory of a map by 17th-century trader, diplomat, and immigrant Augustine Herrman. Towson history professor Christian Koot says Herrman’s map was a godsend for merchants who traveled from Delaware to Virginia, and for Lord Baltimore, who wanted to show off the growth of his colony.

Then, fast-forward four centuries: Karl Blankenship, editor of the Bay Journal, on why the record growth of underwater grasses is a good sign for the Bay’s health. Read more from Karl here.

There’s new hope, since the heads of North and South Korea met a week ago. But for thousands of Koreans, reuniting and even communicating with family has been complicated--most often, impossible--since Korean War hostilities stopped in 1953.

Photographer and filmmaker Laura Elizabeth Pohl tells us about her traveling photo exhibit ‘A Long Separation,’ which delves, from a very personal perspective, into how that war not only divided a nation, it divided families. 

A spunky African-American teenager adopted into a Jewish family in Baltimore trying to sort out her identify. That’s the nub of the new young-adult novel "The Length of a String". We ask author Elissa Brent Weissman what inspired the story … and whether she’s the right person to tell it. She’ll be speaking and signing books Sunday at 2 pm at Afters Cafe, 1001 South Charles Street in Baltimore.  

Then, a very different novel by a local author: Michael Downs’ "The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells" -- fiction filling in the story of the 19th-century dentist who first used laughing gas to numb the pain of surgery. He’ll be speaking about it next Thursday, May 10, at the Ivy Bookstore on Falls Road.

What does it take to start over in a new country? Filmmaker Alexandra Shiva explores the obstacles and triumphs of four Syrian families as they rebuild their lives in Baltimore. Her new documentary is titled, ‘This is Home’. You can see the film at the Maryland Film Festival on Saturday and Sunday at the MICA Brown Center. More info here.

And Ruben Chandrasekar, head of the local offices of the International Rescue Committee, describes how the IRC supports refugees during this transition.

Yes, we know it’s Monday. Not our regular day for Stoop. But here’s a Stoop Story about family -- from Martha Weiman about how her family escaped the Holocaust and reunited with her aunt and uncle. You can hear her story and many others at stoopstorytelling.com, as well as the Stoop podcast.

The nonprofit Comité Latino connects people in the Hispanic community to resources they can use regardless of their immigration status or their ability to speak English. We hear from three members who came to the United States to work and raise families here.

That was Stoop Story from Josh Fruhlinger, about the highs and lows of competing on Jeopardy. You can hear his story and many others at stoopstorytelling.com, as well as the Stoop podcast.

The 100th anniversary of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein’s birth, coming up this summer, has sparked a global celebration of the revolutionary maestro’s life and career----thousands of performances, symposia and events extolling his contributions to opera, theater, dance, film, and orchestra.

NPR’s Scott Simon will be part of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s special “Salute to Bernstein” a week from tomorrow, led by Marin Alsop. She was a student of Bernstein’s, and reflects on what she learned from him.

More information about the May 5th concert at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra here. WYPR is a media partner for this event. 

Where can pregnant women struggling with addiction to opioids turn for help? How are infants affected by exposure to opioids?

Julia Lurie, a reporter for Mother Jones, set out answer these questions. She tells us about two women in Baltimore who sought treatment at the Johns Hopkins ‘Center for Addiction and Pregnancy’ - known as CAP. Check out her reporting, "Homeless. Addicted to Heroin. About to Give Birth." Julia Lurie has also written about how the opioid epidemic is impacting the foster care system. 

CAP brings together medical providers of several specialties to care for mothers and infants together. It’s a unique model that Dr. Lauren Jansson, director of pediatrics at CAP, says makes a big difference.

Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk describes the legislature’s actions to head off a spike in health insurance premiums. She co-chairs the ‘Maryland Health Insurance Coverage Protection Commission.’

Check out the Baltimore Sun’s editorial about the the re-insurance deal here.

The debts attached to nearly five thousand homes in Baltimore are up for tax sale next month as the city moves to recoup unpaid fees, taxes and water charges. While overdue water bills can no longer be only item that sets a property up for a tax sale, they do count toward the overall debt.

Margaret Henn of the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland says that’s a problem because of leaks and billing disputes with the Department of Public Works.

The Pro Bono Resource Center's last free legal clinic runs from 2 to 6 pm tomorrow, at the Zeta Center for Healthy and Active Aging on Reisterstown Road. You can register by phone at 443-703-3052. More info here.