Stay Connected***No longer adding new episodes*** On The Record was co-hosted by Sheilah Kast and Ashley Sterner. Sheilah and shared conversations with audacious artists, intrepid scientists, community leaders and more. And of course, tales from the beloved Stoop Storytelling Series.
On The Record was produced by Melissa Gerr. Jon Ehrens created the theme music. Louis Umerlik designed the logo.
Copyright: © 2024 WYPR Baltimore
A kind of immunotherapy--extracting a cancer patient’s own white blood cells and re-engineering them to destroy the cancer cells--is raising hope.
Dr. Aaron Rapoport, who heads cellular therapy at the University of Maryland’s Greenebaum Cancer Center, says in about half the three hundred patients he’s treated with this therapy, the cancer is gone. Kathy Ruehle, an oncology nurse for 36 years, manages the program:
“I can honestly say that this has been one of the most exciting times and one of the most hopeful times in care because of the opportunity that this therapy affords patients who may otherwise not have therapy to help them.”
The we talk with Sonia Su, who was out of options after she relapsed twice with aggressive lymphoma. Now cancer-free, she’s working to help other patients.
Links: Greenebaum Cancer Center, Kits to Heart
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Running in the Democratic primary for Attorney General, Congressman and former lieutenant governor Anthony Brown says his top priority would be cut crime, using the office’s organized-crime unit to go after drug rings, and forestalling repeat offenders by getting them job training, drug treatment and other services the first time they’re locked up.
He said he’ll also focus on consumer rights and civil rights -- and he sees a big role for Maryland’s attorney general in making sure women blocked from getting an abortion in other states are protected if they come to Maryland: "There will be efforts by Texas officials to extradite either these women or a Maryland provider as part of a criminal prosecution in Texas, and as the Attorney General, I’m going to resist those efforts."
Check out Brown's campaign website.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
As conservatives cheered the Supreme Court’s decree ending federal abortion rights, … advocates of those rights seethed. What is the fallout in Maryland?
We hear from Erin Younkins. She’s a mother of seven and the director of Life, Justice and Peace for the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Then Lynn McCann of the Baltimore Abortion Fund describes barriers that make accessing abortion difficult for women both within Maryland and outside. And we talk with Morgan Nuzzo, a nurse-midwife, who is co-founder of Partners in Abortion Care, due to open this fall in Prince George’s County. We ask what’s it’s like to open an abortion clinic when clinics across the country are closing.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Here is a Stoop Story from Josh Kohn about keeping his promise to his mother.
Need more Stoop? Check out the Stoop Storytelling website and learn about live events and the Stoop podcast.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
The exhibit, "Discovery and Revelation," at the Smithsonian examines three centuries of Americans’ evolving views on the relationship between faith and science.
Peter Manseau, who directs the museum’s Center for the Understanding of Religion in American History, talks about the artifacts displayed.
One, a portrait of Henrietta Lacks--a Baltimore woman whose cancer cells were taken for research--depicts her as a religious icon. Manseau says the painting points to one of the exhibit’s themes: ‘What do we owe each other?’
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Kimi Yoshino had established an impressive career in journalism-- she was managing editor of the Los Angeles Times -- when business magnate Stewart Bainum asked her to leave all that to become editor-in-chief of the online news operation he was starting: The Baltimore Banner.
Yoshino says, "This for me was a chance to start fresh and to build the kind of newsroom that I wanted to work in, the kind of newsroom that I thought would serve a community, and a way to really make a difference."
That newsroom she’s building, Yoshino said, is diverse but needs to be more so. Its sole focus is to cover the Baltimore region, with hard news that holds public officials accountable--but also arts, culture and personal insights.
Check out Baltimore Magazine's coverage of the Banner's launch. Or this piece by the Northwestern Medill Local News Initiative
Learn about WYPR and the Baltimore Banner's joint operating agreement.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
In Baltimore, a city besieged by gun violence, more than half of criminal firearms charges are dropped without a conviction, guilty plea or probation deal … and the public and police often don’t know why.
That’s one of many things Ivan Bates--one of two lawyers challenging incumbent State’s attorney Marilyn Mosby--says he’d change if elected, "We’ll work with the police department - together, collaboratively - to look at the violent crimes, to look at the data, to look at the trends."
We ask Bates his plan to reverse prosecutors leaving the office, to get drug users into treatment, and to deal with nonviolent crimes. Check out his campaign website. Read his prosecution plan here.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
What do you want the end of your life to look like?
Physician Dan Morhaim says planning for the inevitable ensures you receive the treatment you’d like to have. His latest book, written with his wife, Shelley Morhaim, offers a guide to the legal, medical, and personal choices surrounding death. It's titled, "Preparing for A Better End: Expert Lessons on Death and Dying for You and Your Loved Ones."
Find free advance directive forms by state through the AARP.
Then, Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery and Arboretum, a green burial site planned for western Baltimore County, will offer an alternative to traditional cremation or internment practices. We speak with co-owner Dr. Howard Berg, and with Jennifer Downs of the nonprofit Green Burial Association of Maryland about the growing popularity of natural burial.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Divorce is hard for adults. Children are more fragile. The National Family Resiliency Center holds a special place to protect the mental and emotional well-being of kids, and works to keep whole families communicating and supportive through transitions.
Executive Director Risa Garon describes how parents, lawyers, therapists and judges work together to make that happen.
Then Meg Sreenivas, a client turned peer counselor, describes how, when she was 12 -year-old, adrift, the center made all the difference:
“The NFRC was really what showed me what divorce was in a non negative connotation. It was a really positive, sort of - this is what’s happening, how can we make it right for you as the kid and put you in the center in a positive way.”
Links: National Family Resiliency Center
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Many boys and young men are feeling stressed, even depressed--and detached from people around them. Andrew Reiner observes it in some of the classes he teaches at Towson University, and he spoke with scores of males of all ages as he researched his book, Better Boys, Better Men.
Reiner explains, “A lot of boys do not ask for help because they have been taught that message that if you’re going to be a competent, ascending man, you’ve got to learn to handle things on your own. And I heard that time, and time, and time again from the boys and young men that I interviewed.”
Reiner sees a link between the man-up-and-zip-it approach and some violence in society. He argues teaching boys to pay attention to all their emotions would make them healthier men.
Links to Reiner's other writings and appearances:
The Baltimore Sun: "On Father’s Day, some dads just want to parent without the stereotypes"
CNN: "A shadow pandemic in male suicide"
NBC THINK: "For Father's Day, let's redefine masculinity so dads can give boys what they need"
The New York Times: "Talking to Boys the Way We Talk to Girls"
The New York Times: "Building Emotional Safety Nets for Men"
Nobody Told Me! Podcast: "Andrew Reiner: ...it's important to ask for help"
PBS NewsHour: "A Brief But Spectacular take on being, and raising, better men"
The Washington Post: "For many men, apps can be ‘an important gateway to mental health’"
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
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