DAN RODRICKS

Once the world's most wanted computer criminal, Kevin Mitnick tells the true story of his three-year run from the FBI and his five-year stint in prison, after he managed to hack into some of the country's most powerful - and seemingly impenetrable - agencies and companies. Mitnick is the author of Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker.

Hall of Famer Cal Ripken joins Dan to talk about the diplomatic assignment he undertook last month -- playing host to 16 teenagers affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We'll also talk with Cal about the work of his foundation and the youth ballparks it recently open in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the Baltimore Orioles, then and now. With Steve Salem, president of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation.

Nearly 100 years ago, a municipal water engineer named V. Bernard Siems traveled to northern Baltimore County and hiked along the Gunpowder River until he came upon a high rocky gorge. There, he and others decided, the city of Baltimore should build its next dam, several miles upstream of Loch Raven reservoir, to increase the water supply for the city and county. The new dam was built during the Great Depression. Prettyboy put unemployed people to work and provided the growing metropolitan area with billions of gallons of water for generations to come. It is no small wonder.

According to Inside Higher Ed, an education news Web site, more and more colleges are recruiting students who are able to pay full tuition regardless of their credentials.  A scary scenario - with tuition rising by roughly 8 percent a year and the cost of attending a public university in 2020 projected to be almost 40,000 a year. This hour: The cost of higher education and its influence on admissions. Also, strategies on how to pay for college.

Midday with Foreman and Wolf: Food, entertaining, wine and travel with award-winning chefs and restaurateurs Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf.

NPR correspondent and sometime Morning Edition co-host David Greene joins Dan for the Midday News Review for a look at what's in the news around the state.

Not long ago, Susan Allenback realized that, though born and bred in Maryland, she had never truly taken advantage of what the state has to offer, from the low country of the Eastern Shore to the area nicknamed "Little Switzerland" in far Western Maryland's Garrett County. So much to see, so close to home! Today, Susan joins Dan in studio to share her adventures and discoveries --  all made on a single tank of gas right here in Maryland -- as the Hometown Tourist.

The state of Georgia executed convicted murderer Troy Davis last night in a case that drew international attention because of claims that Davis might have been innocent. Despite recanted testimony of prosecution witnesses and other doubts raised about his guilt, and an 11th hour appeal to the Supreme Court, Troy Davis was put to death by lethal injection for the 1989 murder of a Savannah police officer. The case sparked protests around the world. An online petition garnered nearly a million signatures because of doubts about whether Troy Davis killed police officer Mark MacPhail.

Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik returns to Midday for his weekly take on television.

According to a recent report from the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools: Only a third of Americans can name the three branches of government. Almost three years into President Barack Obama's term, nearly one in three Americans mistakenly believe he is Muslim. A similar percentage believed that President George W. Bush was complicit in the 9/11 terrorist plot. And Jay Leno regularly gets laughs with his "Jay Walking" routine, which highlights examples of civic ignorance. Civic learning has reached a new low in the U.S.