1:39: Erin Cox, The Sun's State House bureau chief, talks about the Democratic candidates lining up for the 2018 primary in the hopes of challenging incumbent Republican Larry Hogan.

21:31: Heather Mizeur, the liberal Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for the gubernatorial nomination in 2014, has a new project: MizMaryland: Soul Force Politics. After retreating to her farm on the Eastern Shore for more than two years, Mizeur has re-emerged with her new organization, with a goal of bridging the political divisions, a daunting task in the time of Donald Trump. The project, the subject of a recent story by Erin Cox, involves a blog, a podcast and training camps for women interested in civic engagement.

Links:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-democrats-court-teacher-endorsement-20171021-story.html

https://mizmaryland.org/

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-mizeur-soul-force-politics-20171010-story.html

Hogan's prospective challengers; Heather Mizeur's new project (episode 318)

Jonathan Eig spent four years researching and writing his 623-page biography of the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time, Muhammad Ali. In today's episode, Eig talks about Ali's private and public struggles, including his willingness to go to prison over his opposition to the Vietnam War, a decision that forced him out of the ring in his prime. Eig also discusses Ali's comeback, his "Rope-A-Dope" boxing strategy, and his legacy. Eig's book is, "Ali: A Life," just published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Links:

http://www.alialife.com/

The larger-than-life life of Muhammad Ali (episode 319)

Justin Fenton, the Sun's criminal justice reporter, took a deep look at the Baltimore court where deals are made, breaking through the "white noise" of bench conferences to hear how prosecutors, defense attorneys and a judge work out plea bargains of criminal cases.

Our favorite tech-splainer, Sean Gallagher, Baltimore-based IT and national security editor for Ars Technica, is back, this time to explain how Twitter and Facebook were used by Russian operatives in an effort to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Links:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-baltimore-plea-bargains-peters-20171023-htmlstory.html

https://arstechnica.com/

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/10/twitter-drops-hammer-and-sickle-on-rt-sputnik-ad-buys-over-election-shenanigans/

Justin Fenton on Let's-Make-A-Deal Court. Plus, Facebook, Twitter and the Russian bots (episode 320)

In another in a series of interviews with candidates for governor of Maryland, Dan speaks with Democrat Kevin Kamenetz. The 59-year-old Baltimore County executive says Maryland under Gov. Larry Hogan is “standing still” on public education, mass transit and economic development, and needs a more progressive leader. Kamenetz was elected Baltimore County executive in 2010 and re-elected to that office in 2014. He is the current President of the Maryland Association of Counties and is a past president of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. 
You can hear earlier interviews with other candidates for governor by visiting a special page of the Roughly Speaking archives. 

We’ll be interviewing more candidates in the weeks and months ahead. Maryland’s 2018 primary election takes place on June 26.

Links:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/dan-rodricks/bal-roughly-speaking-2018-gubernatorial-candidates-storygallery.html

Kamenetz, candidate for governor, says Maryland under Hogan 'is standing still' (episode 321)

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference underway in Germany, dire warnings are being issued about the potential that tens of millions of people will be forced from their homes by climate change in the next decade, creating the biggest refugee crisis in history. According to The Guardian, US military and security experts say the number of climate refugees will dwarf those that have fled the civil war in Syria, creating huge humanitarian challenges for Europe and the West. 

In this episode: Dan speaks with the co-authors of  “Rising Tides: Climate Refugees in the Twenty-First Century,” published by the Indiana University Press. Denise Robbins is communications director for Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and Jack Wennersten is professor emeritus of environmental history at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and the author of several books about the Chesapeake region.

Links:

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-germany-jerry-brown-climate-change-20171108-story.html

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/02/climate-change-will-create-worlds-biggest-refugee-crisis

http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=808357

http://chesapeakeclimate.org/author/drobbins/

https://www.amazon.com/John-R.-Wennersten/e/B001JRZZEE

Will climate change bring the biggest refugee crisis in history? (episode 322)

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