Dan Rodricks

For more than two decades, Christine Lemarié and her sister, Dominque, sat in Maryland courtrooms for WBAL-TV and WJZ-TV to capture scenes from trials for the evening news. Cameras were not allowed in Maryland courtrooms -- they are still prohibited -- so it was left to the Lemarié sisters, immigrants from France, and their talented colleagues … Continue reading Deadline Art: The courtroom drawings of Christine Lemarié 

Readers might recall Bassam Nasser, head of the Gaza office for Catholic Relief Services and the subject of a recent column. He's the man who, after an interview at CRS headquarters in Baltimore a few years ago, surprised me with a gift of handmade rosary beads. When last we heard, he and his family had … Continue reading With love, from Palestine

Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, bowed out of the Republican presidential campaign tonight, and as I reflected on his effort over the last several months — his loud and consistent takedowns of Trump as a threat to democracy — I thought of another former Republican governor, Maryland’s Larry Hogan.Where is he? What has … Continue reading Chris Christie spoke the truth about Trump loudly and clearly. Larry Hogan? Meh.

Sometimes, as when the fishing's slow or when the whole world seems cloudy and ominous, I like to stand peaceably by a river, throw the dead branch of a tree in the current and watch it go. I did this when I was a kid -- so that my friends downstream would have something to … Continue reading A river ritual to start the year

Just a quick note on this penultimate day of 2023 to remind members of the Trump cult that Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, was banned from holding public office in New Mexico last year because of his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection against Congress. In September 2022, a state judge removed Griffin … Continue reading “If Griffin is disqualified, then it’s a little hard to see why Trump wouldn’t be disqualified.”

In his strong and convincing performance as Linwood Taylor in “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” Kevin Richardson plays a lifelong mentor to the recovering Harry Calloway. At one point in a monologue about the difficulties of former inmates in recovery, Richardson’s Taylor says, “I figure, if you’re not encouraging someone somewhere at some time, you’re … Continue reading  A gift we have to give with words and deeds

Newspaper photographers hate check-passing photographs – every newspaper I worked for had an official aversion to them – but sometimes that’s all you’ve got and you gotta go with it because there's a good story to tell. In this case, I post the photo sent to me Thursday by Kate Loveless, executive director of the … Continue reading Picture this: The last child of a 9/11 victim from Maryland has graduated from college

A waitress at a diner saw my bumper sticker and asked what it meant: “Baltimore, You Have No Idea.” I told her it was the title of my play, but that it could mean a lot of things. I’ve heard the expression in so many forms and used in so many contexts that it’s impossible … Continue reading It means what you want it to mean

My weekend column is about Chef Michel Tersiguel's decision, after the pandemic, to turn his menu from a conventional one to a "chef's choice," offering the same six courses for all diners at just two seatings only four nights a week. He charges $99 for this, a fixed price that includes wine, making Tersiguel's French … Continue reading The problem with a ‘chef’s choice’ menu

Dear Mike Bloomberg: The last time I asked you to consider making a $1 billion donation to Baltimore Community Lending for a housing program here, Forbes estimated your net worth at $59 billion. In its most recent estimate, Forbes has you at $96.3 billion. Since you took the pledge to give away most of your … Continue reading Dear Mike Bloomberg: Giving to Johns Hopkins is great, but what about the rest of Baltimore?