Policy

Is big business to blame for such public health crises as diabetes and obesity? Author Wenonah Hauter examines food, farm policy and public health in "Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America." Hauter is an organic farmer in Virginia and executive director of the Washington-based watchdog organization Food & Water Watch.

February 11, 2013

Mental health has played a significant role in the gun control debate over the last several months. Governor Martin O’Malley’s proposed gun control legislation, which had its first committee hearing last week, includes new mental health provisions. How does it handle the gun rights of the mentally ill?

One of the mandates of the Affordable Care Act was to reduce insurance costs to consumers, but insurance premiums have been increasing nationwide, in some cases up to several hundred dollars a month. Jonathan Weiner, professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Jay Hancock, reporter for Kaiser Health News, examine the trend and take listener questions as part of our continuing coverage of health care reform.

Part II of a conversation about gun violence with Baltimore County Chief of Police Jim Johnson, one of the state law enforcement officials flanking Governor Martin O’Malley when he announced aggressive proposals for firearms reforms following the Newtown massacre. Johnson is chairman of the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence.

INTERVIEW EXCERPTS:

In his inauguration speech, President Obama highlighted equal pay for women as a priority for his second term. It has been 50 years since another Democratic president, John F. Kennedy, signed the Equal Pay Act, which mandated compensation equality between the sexes. While women have made gains in pay, they still lag 18 to 20 percent behind their male peers.

President Obama has proposed sweeping reforms to limit firearms violence in America. How much public support will the Obama administration enjoy against the organized and well-financed opposition of the gun lobby? What effect will the president’s actions have on Maryland and other states that enact gun control legislation of their own?

President Obama is set today to lay out his proposals to cut gun violence. At a conference at Johns Hopkins, experts have been sharing ideas for curbing gun violence.  We’ll get suggestions Stephen Teret, Director of the Center for Law and the Public's Health at Hopkins.
Then, the latest installment in our series "Flags of Maryland." Today, why a Baltimore Presbyterian church decided to hang a gay pride flag, and a Dickeyville resident on the Missing in Action flag she flies in honor of her dad, who went missing before she was born.

In the wake of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut last month, the debate over how to reduce gun violence has simmered across the country. But, what change in gun policy will come out of the debate?

Baltimore is continuing its drive to end chronic homelessness with a new initiative aimed at finding permanent homes for the city's 75 most vulnerable homeless people. We talk about it with Olivia Farrow, director of the Mayor's Office of Human Services and Gabby Knighton, outreach coordinator in the city's Homeless Services Program.

In November, hundreds of fast-food workers in New York City from dozens of restaurants, including Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Burger King and Taco Bell, walked off of their jobs to demand $15 an hour, the right to unionize and to improve working conditions. Could the fast-food workers effort gain a foothold in Baltimore and other U.S cities? A look at the national low-wage workers movement with Harold Miller, lead organizer for New York’s Communities for Change, and Linda Archer, a cashier at a Times Square McDonald’s who walked off her job last November.