MD State Senator Richard Madaleno, Senator David Vitter and Larry Kudlow joined WMAL on Thursday.

Listen here to today's show podcast.

  INTERVIEW LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm

INTERVIEW – SENATOR DAVID VITTER – R-LA, member of Senate Judiciary Committee

INTERVIEW – MD STATE SENATOR RICHARD MADALENO — (D-Montgomery), vice-chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee and an important advocate for county school funding — a key figure in school funding legislation

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

5am – A/B/C Officers Ask Map App To Remove Police Tracking. (NPR) — Waze, the popular navigation app boasting more than 50 million users worldwide, has a new critic: police officers. Over the past few weeks, law enforcement officials have been urging the app and its owner, Google, to disable a feature that allows users to report when they've spotted a police officer, in real time, for all other Waze users to see. Sergio Kopelev, a reserve sheriff in Orange County, Calif., is one of the law enforcement officials behind the push to remove Waze's police tracker. He says he first discovered the feature through his family. "In early December, or mid-December, I saw my wife using the app when she picked me up from the airport," Kopelev tells NPR. "I saw her tag a location of a police officer. And then as the officer was moving, I saw her update the location. … She told me about Waze, and I said, 'Look, this isn't good.' "

5am – D/E     ISIS News:

• White House: Taliban An "Armed Insurgency," Not A "Terrorist Group" Like ISIL. At Wednesday's White House press briefing, deputy press secretary Eric Schultz wouldn't call the Taliban a terrorist group, instead referring to it as "an armed insurgency."
• ISIS militants have threatened to behead Obama in the White House in a video released on Jan. 26.  The video shows ISIS militants standing in the streets of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, following an artillery barrage on the city by Kurdish Peshmerga forces. In front of the militants is seated a Kurdish soldier who is executed at the end of the video.  Prior to the Kurdish soldiers execution, the ISIS executioner delivered a message in Kurdish which was subtitled into Arabic in the video.
• Al Jazeera English bans words: ‘Terrorist,’ ‘Islamist,’ ‘jihad’ off-limits to news employees. (The Washington Times) Al Jazeera English executive Carlos van Meek banned his news employees from using words like “terrorist,” “Islamist” and “jihad,” explaining that it’s important to realize that some might take offense — that one person’s idea of terrorism is simply another person’s fight for freedom. “All: We manage our words carefully around here,” he wrote to staff at the news channel’s New York and Washington, D.C., offices, the National Review reported. “So I’d like to bring to your attention some key words that have a tendency of tripping us up.” Some of the banned words: “Terrorist,” “Islamist” and “jihad,” the email said. Why? “One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fight,” Mr. van Meek wrote, National Review reported.

6am – A/B/C Loretta Lynch: Illegal Aliens Have Right To Work As Much As American Citizens. (Breitbart) — President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States, Loretta Lynch, said on Wednesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing that she thinks illegal aliens have the same right to work in America as American citizens do.  “Senator, I believe the right and the obligation to work is one that is shared by everyone in this country, regardless of how they came here,” Lynch said when asked by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) who has a greater right to work: Illegal aliens, or lawful immigrants and American citizens? “Certainly, if someone is here—regardless of status—I would prefer that they be participating in the workplace than not participating in the workplace,” Lynch said.

6am – D         VCU president calls SATs ‘flawed,’ stressing GPA instead. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Commonwealth University is stressing grades over SAT scores. President Michael Rao announced Tuesday that the Richmond school no longer will require applicants with a high school grade point average of 3.3 or higher to submit SAT scores. He made the announcement during his annual state of the university. Hundreds of universities around the country already have dropped the SAT requirement. At VCU, the SAT still will be required for some programs, such as engineering, and for some of the university’s endowed scholarships. Rao stressed that the GPA has proven to be a better barometer of how well a student will do in college. He called the reliance on SAT scores a “fundamentally flawed” system.

6am – E         Boehner: ‘I Was the Tea Party Before There Was a Tea Party.’  House Speaker John Boehner isn’t terribly beloved by conservatives and more tea party-types these days, but he still has to work with a lot of them in Congress to get things done. Fox News’ Bret Baier asked Boehner about this in an interview tonight; whether he can get everyone working together better just on his side of the aisle. Boehner said, “I do, I do. Listen, I was the tea party before there was a tea party.” The speaker elaborated, “I understand their concerns, I understand their frustrations. But we have a constitution that we abide by and we’re gonna live by.” He said they’re going to both hold Obama accountable and try to find common ground with him in the next two years.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – MD STATE SENATOR RICHARD MADALENO — (D-Montgomery), vice-chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee and an important advocate for county school funding — a key figure in school funding legislation

• Montgomery legislator: Letting Starr go ‘a huge gamble’ with future of school system. (Washington Post) — As reports of Montgomery Schools Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s likely departure circulated Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, one key state legislator has already weighed in, thrashing Board of Education members for putting “personal passions” over signs of progress in their refusal to renew Starr’s contract.  State Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery), vice-chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee and an important advocate for county school funding, said in Facebook entries this morning that letting Starr go would be a mistake. “Not sure who will be running MCPS next,” Madaleno wrote. “Our school system is our county’s most important civic enterprise. This is a huge gamble with its future. If the school board cannot decide on the current leadership, how will they agree on a new direction? Who will want the job in these conditions?”

7am – B         Public reaction to limits on e-cigarettes in public mixed. Council to discuss bill later this week. A bill to ban electronic cigarettes and vapor inhalation devices wherever Montgomery County already prohibits tobacco products has gotten a mixed public reaction. The bill also prevents the sale of the electronic products to minors. “I’m quite confident we’re going to enact this,” Council President George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) of Takoma Park said Monday at his weekly press briefing. Leventhal noted that most people testified in favor of the bill Thursday at a Montgomery County Council Health and Human Services Committee hearing. Councilwoman Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) of Garrett Park proposed the bill, which specifically would add e-cigarettes to the county’s ban on smoking in certain public places. The county prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants, businesses, workplaces, elevators, hospitals, county buildings, rail stations, bus stops and schools and on county property and at bus stops. Also known as personal vaporizers or electronic nicotine delivery systems, e-cigarettes provide both nicotine and nicotine-free options.

California declares electronic cigarettes a health threat. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California health officials Wednesday declared electronic cigarettes a health threat that should be strictly regulated like tobacco products, joining other states and health advocates across the U.S. in seeking tighter controls as “vaping” grows in popularity. The California Department of Public Health released a report saying e-cigarettes emit cancer-causing chemicals and get users hooked on nicotine but acknowledging that more research needs to be done to determine the immediate and long-term health effects. “E-cigarettes are not as harmful as conventional cigarettes, but e-cigarettes are not harmless” said California Health Officer Ron Chapman. “They are not safe.” New generations of young people will become nicotine addicts if the products remain largely unregulated, Chapman said. Last year, 17 percent of high school seniors reported using e-cigarettes, known as vaping, according to the report. “Without action, it is likely that California’s more than two decades of progress to prevent and reduce traditional tobacco use will erode as e-cigarettes re-normalize smoking behavior,” the report says. E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine into inhalable vapor without the tar and other chemicals found in traditional cigarettes. A cartridge of nicotine can cost anywhere from $5 to $20 dollars and can be reused.

7am – C         Romney: Marriage is one answer to poverty. Mitt Romney praised marriage as an antidote to poverty, noted that he’s “not a big fan of Vladimir Putin’s” and acknowledged that “short term, our economy is looking up” during an appearance Wednesday evening.

7am – D/E     Delaware Exploring Digital Driver's Licenses. (PC Mag) — Residents would be able to access these digital driver's licenses through a secure smartphone app. Your wallet could soon get a little lighter — if you live in Delaware, at least. The state is aiming to be the first in the U.S. to adopt digital driver's licenses, which residents would be able to access through a secure smartphone app, according to a report from Wilmington's News Journal. The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles is now studying and considering digital licenses after the legislature last week adopted a resolution asking the agency to look into it. The DMV already appears to be onboard with the idea. "We'd like to go first," Jennifer Cohan, director of the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles and the governor's nominee for secretary of transportation, told the News Journal. "If it works for Delaware, then it will be a new option for Delaware citizens to show proof of driver's license and identification."

8am – A         INTERVIEW – SENATOR DAVID VITTER – R-LA, member of Senate Judiciary Committee

• U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., grills Loretta Lynch in hearing on AG nomination. WASHINGTON –  U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., aggressively questioned attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch about her defense of the Obama Administration’s controversial immigration policy in her confirmation hearing Wednesday. “I have a huge concern regarding what I think is the president’s illegal, unconstitutional executive amnesty,” Vitter said to Lynch in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “and I have a huge concern that you think it is within the law.”

8am – B         President Obama Singing "Uptown Funk." (NBC Washington) — Some people may remember President Obama showing off his singing voice in 2012, with his rendition of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." Now, the President has shown off his vocal skills again — sort of — in a rendition of the hit song "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson (ft. Bruno Mars). The popular YouTube channel Baracksdubs has posted a mashup of the President's speeches put together to the tune of the song. The video has already racked up more than 300,000 views in its first two days. Previously, the channel has posted videos of Obama seemingly singing "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea and "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer.

Broadway Legend Joel Grey Opens Up About His Sexuality. (People) — He reached the heights of stage and screen, was married for 24 years and proudly raised two children. But for decades, Joel Grey kept one aspect of himself decidedly out of the spotlight. Now, at 82, the Cabaret Oscar winner talks for the first time in PEOPLE's new issue about his sexuality. "I don't like labels," says Grey, "but if you have to put a label on it, I'm a gay man." While it's not a secret to his friends and family, the entertainer's never spoken about it publicly before. "All the people close to me have known for years who I am," Grey tells PEOPLE. "[Yet] it took time to embrace that other part of who I always was."

8am – C         Gun-Control Advocates Want Fox 5 Reporter Emily Miller Fired for Richmond Speech. A group accuses Miller’s reporting of veering into pro-gun-rights advocacy. (Washingtonian) — Members of a pro-gun-control group want Washington Fox affiliate WTTG to dismiss reporter Emily Miller for her speech last week at a pro-gun rally in Richmond. A petition, being circulated by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, takes umbrage with Miller’s longtime advocacy for looser gun regulations, much of which she’s documented during her career in journalism.  “In its Code of Ethics, the Society of Professional Journalists states that journalists should ‘act independently’ by avoiding ‘conflicts of interest, real or perceived’ and ‘political…activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality,’” the petition reads. “By this standard, Emily Miller has no business being the Chief Investigative Reporter for WTTG.” The petition goes on to say that Miller’s reportage, which often includes stories about changes to DC’s gun laws, verges into outright advocacy, citing her book, Emily Gets Her Gun: …But Obama Wants to Take Yours, a 2013 chronicle of her becoming a registered handgun owner while living in the District. “This is the behavior of an activist and pundit, not a journalist,” the petition reads. “Given her record, DC residents can’t trust that Miller will provide objective coverage on matters of concern to their city. If WTTG is at all concerned with journalistic integrity, it is time for them part ways with her.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm

• Russian Ruble sinks to new record low
• Romney: Marriage is one answer to poverty

TOMORROW:          Bret Baier, Trevor Matich and Cully Stimson