Midday

A weekly review  of the top news stories of the week in Baltimore and Maryland with the reporters who covered them.

Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the death Len Bias, the former Northwestern High star and University of Maryland All-American who overdosed on cocaine at the age of 22, just forty-eight hours after he was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second pick in the NBA draft. We look back on what some say is one of the greatest tragedies in American sports history. With C. Fraser Smith, author of Lenny, Lefty & the Chancellor: The Len Bias Tragedy and the Search for Reform in Big-time College Basketball and sports commentator Milton Kent.

Father’s Day is Sunday. During this hour we’ll learn about a local effort to declare amnesty for absentee dads. The program is asking men who are estranged from their children to summon the courage to take steps to reconnect with their children. Our guests are leaders from three of the organizations: David Miller, co-founder of the Baltimore-based Urban Leadership Institute; Kenneth Braswell, executive director of Father’s Incorporated; and James Worthy, director of Responsible Fatherhood for the Center for Urban Families.

Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik takes a look at news coverage ramping up for 2012 presidential election, Scott Pelley’s taking over as anchor of the CBS Evening News and Katie Couric’s move to ABC.

A conversation with former city planning director Otis Rolley.  He was the first to officially file his candidacy to be Baltimore’s next mayor and is now joined by a growing group who will challenge current Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

The U.S. interstate highway system changed the face of a continent. Out guest Earl Swift charts the creation of these landmark American roads in his new book, The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways

Donald Fry, President & CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee stops by Studio A to talk about the $900 million Baltimore convention center expansion into a combined entertainment complex, and construction magnate Willard Hackerman’s offer to finance $500 million of the tab.

On crows and becoming an urban naturalist. Our guest is Lyanda Lynn Haupt, proponent of urban ecology, defender of the crow, and author of Crow Planet, Essential Wisdom for the Urban Wilderness.

Citigroup is just the latest victim in a string of recent attacks by hackers on major corporations, including Google, Sony and RSA. Just how dangerous are these security breaches? Are they on the rise? And what can you do to protect yourself and your information? With Elinor Mills, senior reporter for CNET, Chris Knotts, vice president of Technology and Innovation of Force 3, and Gigi Schumm, vice president and general manager of Symantec’s Public Sector.

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