Midday

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?

Disney princesses and the color pink are more popular than ever among young girls across America. Journalist Peggy Orenstein voices her concern about the significance of a retro trend towards the ultra-feminine, the role of the ubiquitous marketing machines that package and promote it and the implications of this change in the culture of girlhood. Orenstein is the author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture.
Original broadcast: April 20, 2011

The key to finding true happiness and fulfillment lies in understanding our emotions and intuitions, says New York Times columnist David Brooks. Dan talks with him about his research for a book, The Social Animal, on the unconscious mind and how it shapes the way we love, live, and relate to other people.
Original broadcast: March 18, 2011

It’s The Midday Crab Show, with self-described Food Nerd Henry Hong, Baltimore City Paper contributor and chef at Suzi's Soba downtown, and John Shields, chef and owner of Gertrude’s Restaurant at the Baltimore Museum Art. Steamed crabs, crab cakes, crab dip, crab soup, crab fluff - we explore everything you can do with Maryland’s gift to gastronomy.