WYPR

12/03/2025

The Chesapeake Executive Council approved a revised Watershed Agreement Tuesday, building upon 40 years of Chesapeake Bay — the largest estuary in the country — restoration efforts.

The Chesapeake Executive Council gave the final stamp of approval to a revised Watershed Agreement, setting new Chesapeake Bay environmental and conservation goals for 2040.

12/03/2025

An Anne Arundel County home’s ties to enslavement can be found beneath its soil and in the historic record. But descendants of those enslaved believe their history is threatened.

When you enter the Belvoir Manor house from the basement and climb the stairs to the first floor, you encounter history.

Julie Schablitsky, the chief archaeologist for the Maryland Department of Transportation, said the original stone house was built by Francis Scott Key’s grandparents in 1736. Then a brick addition was built in the 1780s by the owner and enslaver, Dr. Upton Scott.

“He was kind of banned from Annapolis a bit because people thought he was a British sympathizer,” Schablitsky said. “And so he was here living away from his Annapolis home and in doing that I think he was building, and then I also think that’s about the same time when a quarter for enslaved people was built too when they were firing all of these bricks up.”

Schablitsy found evidence of the building where enslaved people once lived while looking to no avail for something else at Belvoir. The French commander Comte de Rochambeau and his 4,500 troops camped there on their way to Yorktown in 1781.

“And instead of finding France we ended up finding Africa,” Schablitsky said.

Read and listen to the full story here: https://tinyurl.com/5yfk9zad

Photos by John Lee/WYPR.

12/03/2025

Baltimore City health officials are warning of an uptick in Mpox cases since Sept. 1. Twenty-four cases of Mpox were reported in the city in 2025. However, more than half of the infections showed up in the last three months.

𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 GBMC - Greater Baltimore Medical Center

Officials suggest vaccination and precaution.

12/03/2025

Maryland used solitary confinement more in the last fiscal year than at any point in the previous six, according to the state’s annual Restrictive Housing Report.

A man who spent 308 days in isolation says the system is arbitrarily using a punishment that leaves lasting scars.

12/02/2025

A state juvenile justice commission is recommending the end of automatically charging youths as adults in Maryland, but state leaders are not on the same page about the best path forward.

The Maryland Public Defender’s Office and state’s attorneys are at odds over new juvenile justice recommendations

12/02/2025

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12/01/2025

Frederick County nonprofits are worried federal methods of counting unhoused people may provide an incomplete picture at the local level when compared to state counts.

Frederick nonprofits are concerned the federal point-in-time survey may give an inaccurate image of homelessness in the county when compared to data collected through the McKinney Vento Act

11/30/2025

What’s with all of those climbing ceramic cats on the sides of buildings in Baltimore? We unravel the mystery on this episode of 'Five Minutes of Baltimore History'!

What’s with all of those climbing ceramic cats on the sides of buildings in Baltimore?

11/29/2025

Why are data centers suddenly so controversial?

On this episode of 'Thoughts on Tech & Things,' host Jason Michael Perry sits down with Jenny Abamu, education and infrastructure reporter for WAMU, to unpack Maryland’s rapidly growing data center boom — and the community backlash that’s followed.

Host Jason Michael Perry sits down with Jenny Abamu, education and infrastructure reporter for WAMU, to unpack Maryland’s rapidly growing data center boom — and the community backlash that’s followed.

11/29/2025

As winter weather and extreme cold arrive in Baltimore, are you prepared?

The Baltimore City Office of Emergency Management helps coordinate and prepare state agencies and residents for extreme weather. Director Joe Henderson joined Midday with advice.

Forecasts predict an average amount of snowfall through the winter, meaning heavy bursts of snow could be on the way. We discuss how to prepare.

11/28/2025

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new novels that fall into a special category of books that are like sweet treats, satisfying and delicious: 'Henry and Grace's Holiday Movie Marathon' by Matt Norman, and 'The Literati' by Susan Coll.

Like most things in life, some books are just more fun than others.

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at WYPR!

📻 To celebrate the day, we have special programming lined up:

At 12 p.m. — From The Splendid Table: "Turkey Confidential"
"Turkey Confidential" is The Splendid Table’s annual Thanksgiving show! Francis Lam takes calls and comes to the rescue of Thanksgiving cooks, kitchen helpers and dinner guests during the biggest cooking day of the year.

At 7 p.m. — From Marketplace: "Feeding the Family"
For many people gathering around the table this holiday season, things feel… a little different. Marketplace brings listeners a collection of stories about the economics and business of food — with a touch of history.

At 8 p.m. — From Good Radio Shows, Inc.: "Massasoit's Peace Pact with the Pilgrims: Peace Talks Radio"
Massasoit was the leader of the Wampanoag Confederacy when English settlers landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. He and his people kept the Pilgrims from starving in the early years of their settlement, attended the first Thanksgiving and forged a peace treaty with the English that lasted 40 years until his death. We'll talk with American Indian scholars Darius Coombs and Bob Charlesbois who'll fill in the details of this Native American leader's attempt to make peace for his people and with the new strangers.

At 9 p.m. — From With Good Reason: "Friendsgiving"
For many, the Thanksgiving holidays are a time to gather with your biological relatives. But what if you don’t have the traditional, Norman-Rockwell family? April Few-Demo studies how q***r families of color navigate biological and chosen family.