Wearable Portable Architecture, 2011, c. Mary Mattingly, Courtesy of deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park.

Come with us as we explore the nature of shelter and security at MICA’s latest exhibit from the Exhibition Development Seminar, Under Cover. Tom talks with Jeffry Cudlin, the professor in charge of the seminar,  Thair Christians, one of the students in the seminar, and Vin Grabill and Nate Larson, two of the featured artists.

Photo by stevehdc. Source: Flickr Creative Commons.

Audio for this segment will be available by the end of the day.

The city of Salisbury, on the lower Eastern Shore, had just over 30-thousand residents as of the last census.  As of a few months ago, Salisbury has at least one new, unexpected inhabitant – a beaver. City employees first noticed signs of the creature living in the main city park in Salisbury in the fall, and last week, the city said they’ll let him—or her—stay (as the state Department of Natural Resources recommends).

Sheilah talks about this with Joel Hamilton, Director of the Salisbury Zoo, which is also part of the City Park.

In this web extra, you can learn a bit more about the role the zoo plays in Salisbury:

Sara Johnson is the director and co-founder of the Baltimore CASH Campaign, which develops programs to help working families establish financial security. Tomorrow, her organization will host an event in Baltimore to kick off “Keep Your Money,” an effort to provide free tax preparation for low-to-moderate income earners.

Sheilah talks to Sara Johnson about what you need to know before hitting that April 17 deadline. (Yep–the 17th.)

Tomorrow morning, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and City Council President Jack Young, Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, and Democratic Congressmen Elijah Cummings and John Sarbanes will join Baltimore CASH Campaign to announce their sites for free tax preparation. It happens at 10am at the Northwest One-Stop Career Center at Mondawmin Mall.

If you want to make an appointment for free tax preparation, call 410–234–8008 or make an appointment online. If you’re a single tax filer who made $25,000 or less in 2011, or if you’re a family of two or more who made less than $50,000, you’re eligible. What should you bring? There’s a list here. (And don’t forget your bank account information.) Which site should you go to? Check out this map.

Take a gander at some upcoming “Maryland CASH Academy” personal finance classes. Also gander-able: this taxpayer’s bill of rights from Maryland’s Office of the Comptroller.

Here’s Sara Johnson talking about increased regulation of tax preparers:

A full transcript of this conversation is available here.

For almost a year now, Tom Hall has been speaking every couple of weeks with the writer and journalist Dudley Clendinen, a former national correspondent and editorial writer for the New York Times and the author of four books. In November of 2010, Dudley was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Dudley used to come to the studio, but for the past few conversations, Tom has gone to visit him in his home.  Dudley is becoming much harder to understand, so sometimes Tom provides additional clarification.

In this final conversation in the series, Dudley talks about what the interviews have meant to him, and his thoughts on the past–he says, to quote Ogden Nash, he “wouldn’t have missed it.”

You can listen to all of our conversations with Dudley Clendinen at this link.

Losing weight is hard, but it’s mainly up to the patient, right? Mostly, but the advice your doctor gives you could be influenced by his or her own weight.

That’s according to new research from Sarah Bleich, an assistant professor in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who studies obesity’s roots and repercussions. She talks with Sheilah about her new research and what it means for understanding our health care choices.

On the docket?  A reduction in Maryland’s family farm estate tax.

This is an issue that’s long been backed by Republicans in the legislature.  Delegate Kathy Afzali, Republican of Frederick, has a similar measure in.  Sheilah talks about it with her, and with Ron Young, Democrat of Frederick, who’s the co-sponsor in the Senate.

Credit: Flickr/Barbara L. Slavin

But academic research is still dominated by expensive print journals. There is a growing pushback against this top-down dissemination. You can see it in attempts by researchers to boycott journals that refuse to go open access, and in the rise of “unconferences,” which are organized from the bottom-up by participants, not by prestigious committees.

Is a more open model possible for advancing knowledge? Our monthly social media analysts Nathan Jurgenson and P.J. Rey are joining us from academia to figure it out.

Nathan and P.J. are Ph.D. candidates in sociology at the University of Maryland, and they blog at Cyborgology. P.J. recently wrote a piece called, “Are Journals the Dinosaurs of Academia?“, and Nathan wrote a piece called “How Academics Can Become Relevant.”

Listen to the rest of the interview:

Karen Yasinsky

Karen Yasinsky turned to filmmaking to surmount the limitations of painting, and the illustrated and stop-motion animations she’s created over the last decade are transfixing. They’re often set in nature, but they never feel quite natural. They center on characters who can convey with just the slightest gesture how difficult it is to truly connect with another person. “We are defined by our relationships,” Yasinsky says, “but we’re always alone.”

Karen’s work will be featured in Washington College’s ArtNOW exhibition, opening February 10. Karen is also collaborating with mezzo-soprano Megan Ihnen (who was featured on Maryland Morning earlier this month) on a project based on György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments . It will be featured at Baltimore’s Contemporary Museum this spring.

Web extra: Karen tells a funny story about why the puppets in her more recent work have fewer fingers than the older ones:

Also to check out: the band Lands and Peoples, whose people Caleb Moore designed our snazzy Screen Test poster.

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Two doctors practicing in Cecil County have been accused of multiple counts of murder under Maryland’s fetal homicide law.

The charges were brought against Nicola Riley and Steven Brigham after a botched abortion in 2010 at an American Women’s Services clinic in Elkton.  A young woman’s abortion had been started at a clinic in New Jersey, and she had reportedly been told to drive to Maryland the next day to finish the procedure.  At the Elkton clinic, her uterus ruptured.  She was 21 weeks pregnant.

Investigating her complaint a few days later, Elkton police found a freezer at the clinic containing nearly three-dozen frozen late-term fetuses, ranging in age from 20 to 35 weeks.

It’s the first time prosecutors in Maryland have used the 2005 law to bring charges against physicians performing abortions.  Last week, lawyers for Nicola Riley filed a motion to dismiss, saying this prosecution undermines the intent of the 2005 law.

We asked Edward Rollins, the State’s Attorney for Cecil County, to speak with us about the case, but he told us that his office is in “no comment” mode now that they’re preparing for trial.  No trial date has been set for prosecution yet – both doctors have posted bail.

Meanwhile, Delegate William Frank, a Republican who represents Baltimore County, is planning to sponsor a bill that would expand Maryland’s fetal homicide law to include the entirety of a woman’s pregnancy.

Sheilah discusses the law, and how it compares to others around the country, is Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks laws and information surrounding reproductive health, and with Douglas Johnson, federal legislation director, National Right to Life Committee.

Here is a link to our conversation with Deputy Health Secretary Frances Phillips from earlier this month about the proposed state regulations of abortion facilities, which are still open for public comment.