DAN RODRICKS

Technology promises to let us do anything from anywhere with anyone. But this digital access to intimacy and companionship has left us lonelier than ever. Our guest Sherry Turkle, professor of the social studies of science at MIT, writes about the new solitude brought on by endless connection in her new book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other.
Original air date: March 29, 2011

Former chief of the FBI’s unit for hostage negotiation, Gary Noesner, talks about the life or death standoffs of his career, including the disastrous 1993 siege in Waco, Texas. Noesner is author of the book Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator
Original air date: October 27, 2010

They come with colorful names like Black Cherry, Yellow Pear, Cherokee Purple, Black Crim, Sweet Tangerine, and Aunt Willie’s German Green. But most of them are red, and Americans eat 88 pounds a year on average, up by 30 percent over the last two decades. You can grow them in a garden, in a trash can, on a window sill, or anywhere with decent sunlight. They’re great fresh, stewed, fried or broiled -- in sauce or salsa. And they’re good for you. We’ll learn some unique ways to prepare and serve them from celebrity chefs Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf.

An update on the debt ceiling negotiations by the Sun's Capitol Hill reporter; a review of the week's top local stories; an argument for keeping elected officials from getting their government pensions if convicted of crimes while in office; and our movie critic reviews three new features.

Our legal affairs hour, usually heard on Fridays, with Attorneys Jim Astrachan and Julie Rubin. This hour:
rethinking law school, polygamy, a Second Amendment challenge in Maryland and a ban on a book written in prison.

Private gun dealers in many states are allowed to sell firearms without conducting background checks or keeping sales records. (Maryland requires background checks only on  handgun sales made at gun shows.) This gap in the nation’s gun laws is also known as “the gun show loophole.” Many argue that the loophole leads to countless tragic shootings and is a serious terrorism threat. Others say that the real target of efforts aiming to close it are law-abiding gun enthusiasts.

The Daily Beast reported this week that ABC News has severely curtailed its habit of paying sources for exclusive interviews and images, a practice employed the by the tabloid press and widely criticized. As scandal over such practices envelopes Rupert Murdoch's media empire in the United Kingdom, Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik wonders if there will be any fallout on this side of Atlantic.

The top candidates for mayor have been talking about reducing Baltimore's highest-in-the-state property tax rate like never before. It has replaced crime as the No. 1 local campaign issue, and four Democrats, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, have proposed cuts of varying degrees. The Sept. 13 primary is shaping up as a referendum on how Baltimoreans feel about the property tax rate. Will cutting it spark confidence or stir concerns about diminished city services? Will the mayor's modest (9 percent over 9 years) cut gain any traction with voters?

Historian Michael Willrich revisits the smallpox epidemic that ravaged the United States from 1898 to 1904. When the government responded by calling for universal compulsory vaccination, a well-organized anti-vaccination movement sprang up, rebelling against the threat of "state medicine.” Willrich is the author of Pox: An American History.

Congress appears no closer to raising the nation's debt ceiling than it was last week, or in January, for that matter, when the issue first arose. Democrats and Republicans might be further apart now than they were then. After several rounds of negotiations, talks are once again at a standstill as the August 2 date approaches for extending the nation's borrowing limit so that bills can be paid. What's going on, and who's to blame for the mess -- President Obama or the Republican leadership? What's being cut? What taxes are being raised?