WYPR Features

If you missed this episode a weeks ago, listen now to learn more about these special mammals.

Hector shares some insight about how to choose the best health insurance during this open enrollment period.

The San Antonio Spurs scored a splashy win over the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers on the road Saturday night on national television. It was the kind of victory that could give the Spurs a big, psychological edge should the two teams meet in June in the league finals. But it was San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich who scored the biggest win Saturday, a triumph for free speech, just before the game with the Cavaliers.

Despite setbacks from burst real estate bubbles, costly wars, deep recessions and disappearing industries, the U.S. economy has still managed to expand significantly over the past three and a half decades. As indicated by writer Patricia Cohen, the real economy has more than doubled in size over that period. The public sector now uses a substantial share of output to hand over as much as $5 trillion to assist working families, the elderly, disable, and unemployed to finance a home, visit a doctor, or put their children through school.

Tom talks with Douglas McGrath, the writer of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, at the Hippodrome Theater January 24-29, 2017.

You probably like some of your colleagues, and can’t even stand to look at others. But imagine if some of your colleagues were robots. Would that be better or worse? One suspects that that will depend upon whom is replaced.

On today's Baltimore Stories, Gil tells us about a transportation option that allowed riders to take in the "charms of Charm City" from a high perch.

The economic recovery that began in mid 2009 is at long last showing up more meaningfully in the paychecks of average Americans. The Labor Department recently reported that average hourly earnings have risen 2.9 percent over the past year – that’s the best annual performance since the economic recovery began seven and a half years ago.

This episode originally aired on June 25, 2015

From local history to living history, the arts to architecture, Maryland is host to hundreds of Museums statewide, many of which are small and led by teams of dedicated volunteers. Every Maryland County has a historical society, complimented by dozens of local historical groups.

According to a poll taken by the Maryland State Arts Council, 81% of Marylanders overwhelmingly agree that “a vibrant arts community makes Maryland a better place to live.” Additionally, 86% want Maryland to be known as a place where artists can become successful. Kwame Kwei-Armah, Creative Director of Center Stage joins us to discuss the growth of the theater and the cultural contributions of the arts.

Most people rely upon Social Security to at least a certain extent to pay for their retirement expenses.  According to US News, 84 percent of people qualify for Social Security payments and an easy majority of retirees, 60 percent, receive at least half of their income from Social Security. According to the Social Security Administration, Social Security is the only major source of retirement income for a third of retirees.

Don’t let cold weather stop your children from spending time outside. Contrary to what you may think, exposure to cold weather is beneficial to a little one’s health and development.

Al and Hugh give their picks for the best Tuscan wines to drink this winter.

As of this moment, the U.S. economy seems to be in pretty decent shape. Odds of a near-term recession appear low. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the economy has expanded for the past 11 quarters.  Hiring remains stable. Home prices have been rising. Private construction spending has been expanding. Consumer spending is up, particularly in the form of online sales. However, there were moments in 2016 when things didn’t look quite so good.

This week, my program is a musical one.   Here is a song by singer, songwriter, and environmentalist Sean Madden about the amazing and unexpected resilience of nature in the face of political turmoil and trouble.

In the bleak mid-winter I sometimes ponder the Chesapeake watermen who are out there dredging up oysters for our pleasure. It's tough life, but we're glad they do it, because a Chesapeake oyster is a wonderful thing.  And Chef Jerry Pellegrino of Schola Cooking School, there's more to oysters than just shucking and slurping.

Odds are good that a chickadee will visit your property this winter. Universally considered “cute,” the chubby little chickadee has an oversized round head, a short neck, a tiny body and a curiosity about everything, including humans. Its quickness in discovering bird feeders make it one of the first birds most of us learn.

In 2015, there were more than 4800 fatal work-related injuries in America not counting active members of the U.S. armed forces. As reported by CNBC, 10 industries in particular experienced the highest rates of death per 100 thousand workers. Most of these jobs are filled by men.

This segment aired on Feb. 16, 2016

When you think of an animal that purrs, grunts, croaks or hums, I’ll bet it’s not a fish. But, I’ll let you in on a secret: More than 150 species of fish on the East Coast of the U.S. are what scientists call “somniferous.” They make noise. Lots of it.

Sarah Hemminger, Thread co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, comments on the relationship between environment, connection and addiction.

For much of the past decade, the labor market has arguably been friendlier to women seeking employment than men. That’s because the jobs that have been disappearing in large numbers, like machine operator, are predominantly male oriented while occupations that have been expanding, like health aide, mostly implicate women.

Greg Tucker and Catherine Collinson discuss the basics of workplace retirement savings.

Gil brings us the story of Sidney Friedman and his 1930s advertising campaign for The Chesapeake that dared Baltimoreans to "cut your steak with a fork or tear it up and walk out."

If you are driving right now, you might be able to spot a Ford F-150 pickup truck. In fact, you may be driving one. Since 1977, Ford has sold enough F-series trucks to circle the earth more than three times. As reported by CNN Money, the F-series has been America’s best-selling truck 40 consecutive years. Ford recently announced that it has sold more than 26 million units since the model line’s introduction. Analysts say that the F-series has become more popular due to cultural factors.

Joel McCord and Rachel Baye, WYPR's State House reporter, discuss the sharply partisan exchanges between Gov. Larry Hogan, Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch.

Joining us today for Why Baltimore is Laura Wexler, co-founder and producer of The Stoop Storytelling Series. Wexler shares how Baltimore has contributed to the success of The Stoop.

Economists have suffered enormous difficulty trying to explain why productivity has failed to expand as rapidly as it has in the past. A recent report supplied by the polling company Gallup singles out anti-competitive and wasteful practices by teachers unions, associations of physicians, universities and local governments. Researchers tracked health, education and housing costs from 1980 to 2014. They find that the combined spending in these three areas rose from 25 percent to 40 percent of GDP since 1980 without commensurate improvements in quality.

A US News article identifies 10 major retirement blunders.  Here they are. 

#1 – not having a plan for your money once you retire. Many people prepare for retirement, and then don’t take steps to manage their cash flow during it.

#2 – forgetting about inflation while you are making your plans. 

#3 – failing to save enough money for retirement – ok, that one is obvious.

On today's Humanities Connection, Kimberly Gladfelter Graham, curator of the exhibit "Laying-by Time: Revisiting the Works of William Christenberry" at the Maryland Institute College of Art, tells us about Christenberry's artistry and vision.  

The Maryland General Assembly’s annual session opens today in Annapolis.  By far the most important environmental issue that lawmakers will be debating over the next three months is a proposed ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.

Fracking and horizontal drilling techniques have transformed rural parts of neighboring Pennsylvania and West Virginia into oil and gas industrial zones over the last decade.  But Western Maryland, which has the same gas-rich shale rock formations, has not yet experienced any fracking.

Lawmakers in 2015 passed a two-year moratorium on the high-pressure injection of water and chemicals into shale formations to release natural gas. But that moratorium on fracking will run out in October, and then the drilling could start here in Maryland if state legislators fail to act this winter.