WYPR

2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Hermann, the acclaimed American composer noted for his work in motion pictures, particularly those of Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo). Hermann also composed the music for Citizen Kane, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cape Fear, and Taxi Driver.

As the deadline to raise the federal debt ceiling looms, President Obama is pressing for a debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for new tax revenue. An assessment of what that means for American baby boomers and their children.

Twelve kids, a robot named Scorch and what it takes to win the "Super Bowl of science fairs.” Judy Dutton, author of Science Fair Season, tells us about students who are doing everything from creating bionic prosthetics to conducting groundbreaking stem cell research to training drug-sniffing cockroaches to building nuclear reactors. Their mission?

Would Baltimore's poorest school children catch up to their suburban peers if they went to school with them? Studies indicate that children from poor families get better grades if they live and attend public schools in more affluent areas. It happened in Montgomery County. An Abell Foundation report looks at Montgomery's pioneering requirement that developers set aside a portion of the homes they build for rent or sale at below-market prices.

In this hour of Midday on the Law, Baltimore attorneys Jim Astrachan and Julie Rubin, along with two experts in jury selection and trial strategy, talk about the voir dire process and their approach to juries during trial.

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The violence that marred the Inner Harbor July 4th celebrations this past weekend also raises new questions about the safety of Baltimore. Assessing the fallout from the fatal stabbing of a man and the shooting of a young boy in what is thought to be a safe downtown area. Our guests: Jean Marbella from the Baltimore Sun, Councilman Bill Cole, whose district includes the Inner Harbor and Councilman Carl Stokes of nearby District 12.

When a Florida Jury returned a not guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony trial, the country broke into an outraged, Twittering frenzy. Accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter, Casey Anthony has been in the national spotlight for several weeks, as the news and entertainment media fed an American obsession with crime. While murders occur all the time across the U.S., Casey Anthony’s trial was somehow more appealing to the American appetite for reality TV. How did a local tragedy and crime story become a national sensation?

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This week (July 8 & 9, 2011) on The Signal…

Late, great American folk icons Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston are about to get a theatrical tribute in the upcoming original play, “Woody Guthrie Dreams,” and this week we talk with two local musicians, Caleb Stine and Michael Patrick Flanagan Smith, who’ll be stepping into the historical roles.

Just how much control does Google have over your use of the internet? Websites that gather information about you and then customize your web experience is cause for concern says Eli Pariser, our guest this hour. Board president of MoveOn.org, Pariser voices his concerns over the political and social implications of such personalization in his new book The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You.