Our listening tour of West Oakland’s Lower Bottoms continues as we meet the volunteers at a local food pantry, a street ball legend known as ‘the greatest player never to make the NBA,’ a transplant from Compton who’s become a wilderness survival instructor, a former Tesla engineer who’s developing an affordable co-housing living space, a US Army veteran determined to help others get their military benefits, and a pastor who relies on the power of prayer to effect social change.

Special thanks this episode to field producer Ariana Proehl, KQED, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

This North Baltimore neighborhood is just inside the city line, but it’s got the cloistered feel of an affluent suburban hamlet. High-end consignment boutiques, beauty salons, and restaurants bring well-heeled locals to Sulgrave Avenue in Mount Washington Village, a quiet world away from the traffic and sirens of downtown.

We visit Baltimore Clayworks, where artist Sam Wallace teaches a pottery technique he learned as a kid in Jamaica. We talk with the crew at The Mount Washington Tavern about romance, oyster shucking, and a major fire that put the place out of business for a year. And we drop in at The Village Vet, where the staff cares for ailing animals and the worried humans that come along with them.

Stories from a Dominican barbershop, a tattoo parlor, a lawyer’s office, a coffee counter, and a collaborative arts hub, all neighbors in the melting pot that is Eastern Avenue in Baltimore’s Highlandtown neighborhood. 

In this episode: The perfectly nice lady behind one of the most menacing overdubs in television history, the tireless purveyor of Baltimore’s most famous pizza, two barbers who’ve paid their dues to learn their trade, the operators of a make-it-from-scratch ice cream shop, and a tenacious entrepreneur for whom failure is not an option.

A therapist plumbs his own psychology by creating artistic collages, a Central American kitchen staff cooks the menu at a Peruvian chicken restaurant, a general store sells everything from microwaves to original artwork, a neighborhood handyman makes his living out of a Radio Flyer wagon, a marketing firm gets caffeinated, and high school sweethearts get married, open up a wine shop, and stay in love.

We take the show to Charleston West Virginia’s West Side neighborhood to visit a family barbecue joint, a country music jamboree, a faith-based after-school program, a women’s drug recovery house, and a bustling Goodwill headquarters. Plus, conversations with an activist preacher, a vacant-home rehabber, an open-eared neighborhood planner, and a retired theater technician who’s projected more than 50 years of movie history.

Special thanks this episode to Maryland State Folklorist Emily Hilliard, The West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Our audio tour through Charleston’s West Side continues with a community gardener, an antique collector, a symphony clarinetist, a deli owner, and a retired pro basketball player. Plus, a visit to a local auto shop, a barbershop, a Girl Scout meeting, and Mary C Snow West Side Elementary.

Special thanks this episode to West Virginia State Folklorist Emily Hilliard, The West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

We love it on this podcast when we meet people who are natural storytellers. And it’s an extra bonus when they happen to be talented musicians or poets, too.  This episode, we celebrate some of our favorite musical and lyrical moments from Out of the Blocks.

Change is knocking on the door of Baltimore’s iconic Lexington Market. Ground has been broken on a new market building, and local vendors are wondering if they’ll have a place in the much-hyped new structure. In this episode, merchants, artisans, security officers, and custodians reflect on their lives and the uncertain future of the market they call home.

This episode, we reconnect with Traci ‘B-Love’ Bartlow, who runs a boutique hotel on the ground floor of her home in West Oakland’s Lower Bottoms neighborhood. She tells us how her life and her business have changed over the past few years. We also check back in at a day shelter that helps families in crisis in the St Louis neighborhood of The Ville. Director Kelli Braggs talks about how the organization is bearing up under the strain of the pandemic.

Last season, Maryland beat Indiana so bad that the Hoosiers fired their offensive coordinator less than 24 hours later. How much things can change in just one year, as Indiana is at 4-0 in 2024 as they await the Terrapins on Saturday.

The Washington metro area is a hotbed for basketball talent. You can find all the proof you need of the area's hoops legacy at the Washington D.C. Basketball Hall of Fame.

Offering some political speak in a year of election, Maryland coach Mike Locksley laid out a "state of the union" of his program Tuesday, saying internal-yet-unspecified changes have been made after one of the worst losses of his term.

The Maryland Terrapins are used to hoeing a difficult road during the football season. In 2024, however, the difference is a team that has not only failed to reach rather mild expectations, but one that is severely underperforming.

Buoyed by a season-shifting comeback win over Southern California, Maryland now has a pep in its step as it hits the road again in the Big Ten this week.

Maryland is a 'developmental' program, as coach Mike Locksley likes to frequently remind, and it is in the midst of producing the next offensive player with star potential -- Octavian Smith Jr.

Year 1 for Kevin Willard was a supernova streaking through the sky, but year two brought high expectations that quickly crashed back to earth. For year three, the Maryland coach believes he has found the answer to the Terrapins offensive woes via both the transfer portal and one dynamic freshman: Derik Queen.

Last season marked the first time Maryland posted a .500 or better mark in the month of November under Mike Locksley. College football's final month has always been a gauntlet for Locksley's teams, a trend that continues Saturday at No. 1 Oregon.

Tyler Reddick went high and overtook Ryan Blaney on the final turn to win at Homestead-Miami on Sunday to secure a spot in NASCAR's winner-take-all finale in Arizona in two weeks. Reddick led 98 of the 267 laps, the last of them the one that mattered most.

Max Verstappen suggests he won't change his aggressive driving this weekend at the Brazilian Grand Prix as he bids for a fourth successive Formula 1 title.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has received a five-place grid penalty at the Brazilian Grand Prix after he again decided to change his engine.

Ryan Blaney had the checkered flag in sight and a spot in NASCAR's title-deciding race within his grasp last week on the last lap of a contentious battle.

Ivanna Richards hopes to one day crack the Formula 1 boys club.

McLaren driver Lando Norris will start Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix from pole with Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen in 16th after struggling in his Red Bull during a rain-affected qualifying session that was marred by five crashes.

British driver Lewis Hamilton has won seven Formula One titles, holds multiple records and has clocked some of the fastest laps in history. But the greatest honor of his career, according to the 39-year-old, came on Sunday as he drove the late Ayrton Senna's title-winning car around Interlagos ahead of this afternoon's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Ryan Blaney celebrated his victory at Martinsville Speedway, a win that launched NASCAR's defending champion into the title-deciding season finale.

Roger Penske already won two sports car championships this season and heads to Phoenix Raceway with two chances to win a third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series title with both Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney in the winner-take-all season finale.

Drama continued to encompass NASCAR ahead of its championship-deciding season finale as the sanctioning body issued $600,000 in fines and suspended nine team members from three different teams on Tuesday for alleged race manipulation at Martinsville Speedway.

Sauber has signed 20-year-old Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto to make his debut in Formula 1 next year as Nico Hulkenberg's teammate.

Formula 1 drivers have criticized the president of the sport's governing body, the FIA, and asked to be treated like adults in an escalating row over swearing in news conferences.

All four NASCAR Xfinity championship drivers said the right things heading into the season finale.

There is no such a thing as a perfect season. At least that is what Roger Penske told The Associated Press hours after winning his third consecutive NASCAR championship.

Formula 1 race director Niels Wittich will be replaced in a surprise move with three races to go and the title yet to be decided.

Parents of high schoolers are now the most powerful force in higher education.

While researching "The Boy Crisis," I interviewed a young man from Mill Valley, California, a city with deep Democratic ties. As the interview concluded, he said, "I wish I hadn't been born male."

The president-elect and vice president-elect undoubtedly understand that until they are inaugurated an existential threat shadows both of them.

President-elect Donald Trump's top allies are working to thwart either Sen. John Thune or Sen. John Cornyn from becoming the next majority leader and are pushing for Trump stalwart Rick Scott of Florida to win the post.

President-elect Donald Trump is to return to Washington with the distinct advantage of having previously served in the Oval Office. He is wiser.

Last week, a majority of Americans voted for common sense. It was a repudiation of the outrageous - a call for the restoration of policies that serve families not the special interests of politicians.

The hard-left billionaire George Soros and his heir apparent son Alex have championed, with donations, defunding the police movement, open borders and soft prosecutors.

Kamala Harris's defeat runs deeper for Democrats than its surface appearance. Even at first sight, it was stunning: Ms. Harris didn't just lose the presidency but, unthinkably, the popular vote too.

I imagine the past few weeks have been stressful for you and Dr. Jill. I noticed that on election day, she was dressed in red - not blue. Was her Freudian slip showing?

Stocks are reasonably priced and are a good place for ordinary folks' long-term savings.

No matter how you slice it, we are a divided nation. Our country is morally adrift in a sea of confusion. I know at least half the country is partying like it's 1999 because the GOP just won in a landslide, but am I the only one who thinks that we are just whistling past the graveyard?

More Love More Power is part of our Contemporary Christian Music Library.

A doctor accused of criticizing the war in Ukraine in front of a patient was convicted Tuesday of spreading false information about the Russian military and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, part of an unrelenting Kremlin crackdown on dissent.

United Nations peacekeepers warned Tuesday that the Israeli military has committed "severe violations" of a cease-fire deal with Syria as its military continues a major construction project along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria.

A Wisconsin man apparently faked his own drowning this summer so he could abandon his family and flee to eastern Europe, investigators say.

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday, authorities reported, as the Pentagon said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow's war effort are fighting to drive Ukraine's army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.