WYPR: Midday with Dan Rodricks Podcast

Joseph Murphy, the widely respected judge who retired last summer from the Maryland Court of Appeals, talks about his nearly three decades on the bench. Starting in 1984, Judge Murphy served as a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge, chief judge of the Court of Special Appeals and associate judge of the state's highest court. He joins Dan and attorney Jim Astrachan for this special edition of Midday on the Law.

The Baltimore City Council is considering a major overhaul of the city’s zoning code that would reduce the density of liquor stores to promote healthier neighborhoods. The proposal, informed by a Johns Hopkins study, has caused an uproar among liquor store owners who feel they are being unfairly blamed for violence and poor health. We examine the controversy with Debra Furr-Holden, Hopkins epidemiologist and director of the Drug Investigations, Violence, and Environmental Studies Laboratory; Terrell Williams, organizer for BUILD in East Baltimore; and Bob Dashiell, lawyer for the Korean-American Grocers & Licensed Beverage Association of Maryland, Inc.

This hour, we open the phone lines to our listeners to react to the suprise announcement this week that Pope Benedict XVI would resign at the end of this month.What’s next in papal succession and what, if anything, does it mean for American Catholics? Guests include NPR senior European correspondent Sylvia Poggioli; Fritz Bauerschmidt, chair of the department of theology at Loyola University Maryland; and David Cloutier, professor of theology at Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg.

Analysis of the first address of President Obama's second term with Max Hilaire, associate professor and chair of political science at Morgan State University; Barry Rascovar, political columnist for The Gazette; and Heather Harris, associate professor of business communications at Stevenson University and co-editor of "The Obama Effect."

This film, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, has been nominated for Academy Awards, praised for its authentic portrayal of people struggling with recovery from mental illness and criticized for its "OK to be weird" conclusion. The Atlantic called it, "Love In The Time of Bipolar Disorder." We've asked psychiatrist Mark Komrad to take a look. Dr. Komrad, on the clinical and teaching staffs at Sheppard Pratt and Johns Hopkins hospitals, is the author of "You Need Help: A Step-by-Step Plan To Convince Your Loved One to Get Counseling."

Governor O’Malley has proposed one of the most aggressive gun reform packages in the nation, prompting hundreds of protestors to turn out for a hearing on them last week in Annapolis. In another of our series on guns in the wake of the Newtown massacre, we return to the debate on the governor’s proposals with Matt Daley, lobbyist for the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association, and Casey Anderson, spokesman for Maryland Against Gun Violence.

Will 3-D printing change the world? That’s a question being posed in the wake of a flurry of recent technological developments that are making 3-D printing cheaper than ever. Midday on Science contributor John Monahan explains the phenomenon, how it could transform traditional manufacturing, and the ethical questions it raises.

Special guest Donna Crivello of Donna's cafes and coffee bars joins John Shields of Gertrudes and Henry Hong of Wasterfront Kitchen to discuss the secrets of baking bread and other doughy delights.

A review of top stories of the region with the reporters who covered them and some of the newsmakers behind them.

January 22 marked the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which affirmed a woman's right to an abortion. Journalist Josh Prager tells the fascinating story of Norma McCorvey, who used the legal pseudonym Jane Roe as the plaintiff in the case, and who is now a born-again Christian and fervent pro-life activist. Prager is the author of the February Vanity Fair article, “The Accidental Activist.”

Quentin Tarantino’s incendiary film on slavery has garnered two Oscar nominations, including best picture, and it has sparked a lot of controversy. What happens when Tarantino, the director of Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds, takes on the horrible institution of slavery with a paean to the spaghetti western? Our guests: Midday culture commentator Sheri Parks, associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, and Hollis Robbins, chair of the Department of Humanities at the Peabody Institute and associate research scholar at the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

The famed fictional sleuth was renown for his amazing powers of concentration, observation and deduction. Journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova explains the thought-processes at work behind such clear thinking and gives tips on achieving similar levels of concentration in a world bristling with distractions. Konnikova is the author of "Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes."

Baltimore steel workers continue to reel from news that the last mills at Sparrows Point will be sold for parts and razed. More than 2,000 workers lost their jobs; many still can’t find work. So what does the future hold for these workers and others in U.S. manufacturing? Is there be a quiet comeback underway, as some experts suggest, or is the era of mass employment through American manufacturing truly over? Guests include Drew Greenblatt, owner of Maryland-based Marlin Steel Wire Products and a board member of the National Association of Manufacturers, the industry's lobby in Washington; Dan Gunderson, Baltimore County's economic development director and chairman of the Sparrow's Point Partnership; journalist Charles Fishman, author of The Atlantic’s recent cover story, “The Insourcing Boom."; and Alan Tonelson, research fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council.

A January report in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association sparked a mini-firestorm in the medical community by suggesting that being slightly overweight -- but not obese -- may be advantageous to your health. A look at the findings and the significance of the Body Mass Index, the fundamental measure for body fat, in predicting long-term health. Our guest: Lawrence Cheskin, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center, joins us. He co-directs a course for medical students on weight control, and is author of several books, including "Losing Weight for Good: Developing your Personal Plan of Action."

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.