Baltimore City's charter is a foundational document dictating how the city is run, similar to how the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution sets the responsibilities and limits of the federal government.

And like the U.S. Constitution, the city charter is not easy to amend. Amendments need to be voted on and receive majority support at the polls to pass.

This year, voters in Baltimore City are set to consider several charter amendments. Midday is taking a deep dive into these important ballot questions.

Question H, if passed, would reduce the size of the City Council from 14 district seats to eight. Proponents say with Baltimore shrinking, the city council should shrink, too. Opponents of Question H, including Mayor Brandon Scott, argue a small city council would be more easily influenced by lobbyist and political action committees (PACs).

We discuss the question at hand with Dayvon Love, Director of Public Policy for Leaders of Beautiful Struggle, and Jovani Paterson, Chairman of The People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement (PEACE).

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John Grisham's name is a common sight on book store shelves and the annual lists of best-selling works. His gripping thrillers, including A Time for Mercy and The Runaway Jury, are known across the world.

In 2006, Grisham published The Innocent Man, a nonfiction work chronicling the story of Ron Williamson, who wrongly convicted, sentenced to death row and eventually exonerated.

Grisham’s latest book is his second of nonfiction. Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions chronicles the cases of ten people who have been wrongly convicted and the strenuous efforts taken in the attempt to secure their freedom.

The book is coauthored by Jim McCloskey, a longtime advocate for the wrongly-convicted and founder of Centurion Ministries. Grisham serves on the board of Centurion.

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Millions of people around the country have already cast a ballot in this year’s election. With competitive races for President and for U.S. Senate, Maryland voters are expected to turnout in high numbers.

The 2020 election, which put President Joe Biden into office, saw 66% participation. Two years later, in the 2022 midterms, only 46% of eligible voters cast ballots.

But besides low turnout, recent election suffered from a lack of poll workers. And with early voting in Maryland beginning in 10 days, election officials are continuing to call for more residents to get involved in the election process.

Marylanders working to ensure a secure and fair election join Midday today. They are organizing to get as many people as possible to cast votes, and they are getting young people involved in the electoral process.

Jared DeMarinis is Maryland’s State Administrator of Elections. We ask him about overseeing the state's election at a time of heightened paranoia and fearmongering around electoral integrity.

Then, we talk to Sam Novey, Co-Founder of Baltimore Votes Coalition. He is working to get more people involved in the election process, including young people. High school students Aleni Lila and James McLaughlin are new election judges participating in the upcoming election.

Maryland residents can register to vote at the polls during early voting and on Election Day.

The deadline to register to vote online is Oct. 15 by 11:59 p.m. By mail, registration must be postmarked by 5:00 p.m. local time on Oct. 15.

Early voting starts on Oct. 24 and runs through Oct 31, where voters can cast their ballots at any specified early voting center in their county. The final day for voters to cast their ballots in-person is on Election Day, Nov 5.

You can find more information at the State Board of Election website, vote.md.gov.

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Kim Klacik speaks to Midday about her run for U.S. Congress in another edition of Conversations with the Candidates. She is the Republican candidate to represent the second congressional district in the House of Representatives. Her opponent in the race is Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski, Jr.

Klacik ran for Congress in 2020 in the seventh district, a seat held by Democratic congressman Kweisi Mfume.

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Dr. Mileah Kromer, pollster and Director of the UMBC Institute of Politics joins Midday to recap the debate between Angela Alsobrooks and Larry Hogan, who are vying to succeed Ben Cardin in the US Senate.

The Institute of Politics recently released a poll to capture the thoughts of registered voters in the 2024 General Election.

Kromer is also the author of Blue State Republican: How Larry Hogan Won Where Republicans Lose and Lessons for a Future GOP.

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Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Midday to share another weekly review of a local theatrical production.

Rousuck reviews Joe Turner's Come and Gone, which runs at the Chesapeake Theatre Company through October 13. The production is the second show in The Baltimore August Wilson Celebration.

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After four grueling months in the summer of 1787, most, but not all, of the framers of the US Constitution signed the document that has been the fundament of our government ever since.

However, Midday's guest today has written a book that asserts the constitution itself poses a threat to our republic.

No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States is a new book by Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

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Tom speaks with the two congressional candidates for Maryland's third district. Rob Steinberger (R) and State Senator Sarah Elfreth (D) join Midday to discuss the priorities of their campaigns.

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How can the United States be the home of widespread, debilitating poverty while simultaneous being one of the wealthiest countries on Earth?

This is the question that confronts readers early in sociologist Matthew Desmond's new book, Poverty, By America. We must look beyond the poor to answer this questions, Desmond writes. To understand the causes of poverty, Americans living lives of privilege and plenty must examine themselves.

Desmond joins Midday to talk about his book, and the ways the country's affluent keep poor people poor. What can everyday people do to help and change society?

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Mike Scott joins Midday's Conversation with the Candidates. He is the Libertarian candidate in the race for the United States Senate.

Scott is an Air Force veteran who lives in Bowie, where he is a realtor. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and a master’s from Central Michigan University. What does it mean to be a libertarian running in Maryland for statewide office?

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Today marks the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack in Israel by Hamas. On Midday we examine how Israelis have reacted to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the crisis, and what the anniversary means to the Baltimore Jewish community.

This year, Oct. 7 falls at the midpoint between the two major holidays observed by those of the Jewish faith, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. The attack led by Hamas last year was the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and on today’s program, we will focus on the Jewish response to the attack and how the ensuing trauma has affected Jews in our community and around the world.

A number of ceremonies are planned here in Baltimore and around the country to remember the people lost in the Oct. 7 attack and the nearly 100 hostages who remain in captivity.

Many pro-Palestinian ceremonies are also being held on college campuses and elsewhere to protest the Israeli prosecution of the war, and increased hostilities in Lebanon and the West Bank. The trauma of the Palestinians cannot be diminished or understated, and next week Midday will hear Palestinian perspectives on this year's explosion of violence in this century-old conflict.

First, political correspondent for the Times of Israel Sam Sokol joins the program. Sokol also wrote for the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and Haaretz.

Then, we chat with Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi, the Senior Rabbi at Har Sinai-Oheb Shalom Congregation in Baltimore. She attended a ceremony earlier today marking the year anniversary of the attack on Israel.

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