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.

This year, the University of Maryland Carey School of Law is partnering with Single Carrot for the reading; it takes place this evening at 7 p.m. at the school’s Westminster Hall.

Taunya Banks, the Jacob A. France Professor of Equality Jurisprudence at the law school, helped organize it. We’ll talk to her, and to Donnie Andrews, inspiration for Omar Little’s character on The Wire, and founder of antiviolence activist group “Why Murder?”.

The Baltimore Playwrights Festival readings
Spotlighters Theater
Baltimore, readings at 11:00, 1:00 & 3:00

Motown & Paint Factory – Special Tribute to Michael Jackson
Hippodrome Theater
Baltimore, 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, 1/29
Les Violon Du Roy
Shiver Hall
Baltimore, 5:30 p.m.

Han Bennink & Friends
The Windup Space
Baltimore, 8:00 p.m.

An Evening of Decadent Desserts
Delaplaine Visual Arts Center
Frederick, 5:00 p.m.

Sunday 1/29 through 3/22
Passage on the Underground Railroad
Albin O Kuhn Library Gallery
Baltimore, Times vary

We’ll learn about Al Shabab and what it means when an American faces these charges from Anthony Villa, a Senior Law and Policy Analyst at the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security.

Images of SN Primo from Hubble