WYPR: Midday with Dan Rodricks Podcast

A report from the New America Foundation says hundreds of colleges expect the neediest students to pay an amount equal to -- even more than -- their families’ yearly earnings. American colleges generally compete for the wealthiest students and leave low-income kids behind. Our guests: Florence Hines, dean of admissions for McDaniel College, which received props for its efforts to recruit and help low-income students; Beckie Supiano, who covers college affordability and undergraduate admissions for The Chronicle of Higher Education; Jeane’ Baker, a recent graduate of Towson University and recipient of a Baltimore Community Foundation scholarship; and Jonnie Kay McLean, a retired educator and the donor of Jeane’ Baker’s BCF scholarship.

Are the artists who colonize Baltimore’s three official arts districts mere pawns in the gentrification of the city’s marginal neighborhoods? Will they end up getting pushed out after paving the way for others? We examine that provocative question with urban architect Klaus Philipsen, president of ArchPlan Inc., and president and co-founder of D center, the Baltimore non-profit that promotes the field of design; Fred Lazarus, president of the Maryland Institute College of Art; and visual artist Stewart Watson, a Station North resident and the co-owner of Oliver Street Studios and Area 405.

Internships are often considered stepping stones toward a successful career. But do unpaid internships exploit rather than help? We take on that question with Eric Glatt, a Georgetown law student who worked on the 2010 movie “Black Swan,” and later successfully sued Fox Searchlight Pictures for unfair labor practices; attorney Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, and the former commissioner of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; and Christine B. Routzahn, director of professional practice at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Characteristics of a sociopath include ruthlessness, cunning, confidence and the ability to manipulate others; the term is often synonymous with murderers and other criminals. But M.E. Thomas claims there are more sociopaths in our society than we think, and not all of them are killers. In fact, she’s one herself. Thomas, (a pen name) is the author of Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight.

Maryland’s junior senator wants the Department of Justice and the FBI to finalize their investigations into whether Trayvon Martin’s civil rights were violated as a victim of racial profiling. Sen. Cardin also address a potential Senate deal on interest rates for student loans, immigration reform and the implementation of Obamacare.

Not your average foodie, Bill Heavey likes to lie in wait for hours with his bow and arrow or paddle down the Potomac River in search of elusive schools of fish. In It’s Only Slow Food Until You Try to Eat It: Misadventures of a Suburban Hunter-Gatherer, Heavey tries to get back to nature and relearn what food really is. We will also be joined by Lytton John Musselman and Harold J. Wiggins, co-authors of The Quick Guide to Wild Edible Plants; a field guide that offers recipes and tips for incorporating edible wild plants into an everyday diet.

A look at the most interesting stories of the region with the reporters and editors who covered them.

Midday contributor Rona Kobell, reporter with the Chesapeake Bay Journal, celebrates the region’s great outdoors with tips on cool places to visit and getting kids to explore nature. Also joining us: Brooks Paternotte, the new director of the Irvine Nature Center, and Sarah Olmsted, author of Imagine Childhood: Exploring the World Through Nature, Imagination, and Play.

The phrase “fair trade” is popular with consumers and is more commonplace on products, gracing the packaging of everything from socks to soaps. But while the phrase implies a moral and ethical business standard, what does it actually mean? And how does is it affect shopping habits? We look at the phenomenon of “fair trade” with Keith R Brown, assistant professor of sociology at St. Joseph’s University, and the author of Buying Into Fair Trade: Culture, Morality, and Consumption.

Z on TV blogger and Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik is back for another look at the latest media news. This hour, a look at Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom, back for its second season on HBO.

How will the Affordable Care Act play out in Maryland? We ask our guests: Peter Beilenson, former public health commissioner, now CEO of Evergreen Health; Brad Herring, an expert on Obamacare from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Sarah Gantz, who reports on healthcare for the Baltimore Business Journal.

We dig into gardening for the plate, from how to grow the perfect tomato to how to can produce. Guests: Nancy Taylor Robson, a master gardener and the writer of the Grow It, Eat It blog; and Patricia Foster, a master gardener, an organic gardener, and the president of the University of Maryland Extension Baltimore City Master Gardeners.

On the day of the All-Star Game, we speak with Mike Gibbons, executive director of the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation, about the short film, “O Say Can You See: The Star Spangled Banner in Sports.” Also, we’ll talk about the Orioles with Gibbons and veteran sports commentator Milton Kent. Plus, a conversation with Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

We continue our discussion of the Zimmerman Verdict with Sheri Parks, Midday culture commentator; associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, author of, Fierce Angels: The Strong Black Woman in American Life and Culture and Stuart Sims, Baltimore attorney, former state's attorney, former secreatry of public safety, former secretary of juvenile services for the state of Maryland, and we open the phone lines for your comments.

The killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager in Florida -- and the acquittal of the man who shot him -- has as much to do with the battle over gun rights as it does with the state of race relations in the country today. Nearly half the states have versions of Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground statute. Combined with liberal gun laws, do they portend more George Zimmermans, people who feel empowered to use firearms to stand in for police? we discuss the Zimmerman verdict with our guests: Attorney Jim Astrachan, Midday legal contributor; Kaye Wise Whitehead, assistant professor of communications, affiliate assistant professor in African-American studies, Loyola University Maryland; The Rev. Heber Brown, pastor, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church; veteran defense attorney and former Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Billy Murphy and David Miller, co-founder of the Urban Leadership Institute.