J.P. doesn’t remember exactly when he bought the gun; perhaps he was either 11 or 12. But the now-15-year-old remembers why he felt a need to get it. “A lot of people hate, and they don’t want you in the world,” he said. The West Baltimore youth looked down as he spoke, arms folded across his chest, and described his preteen years as a time when he was younger, homeless and had to make money to feed himself. Not having a gun was not an option.

The Baltimore County Council voted unanimously Monday to overturn its prior approval of a controversial plan to build a 3-million-square-foot industrial park at the former LaFarge Quarry. The Middle River project, approved 4-3 by the council in October, has faced loud opposition from residents, who have said it would harm the environment and overwhelm roads in a rural area.

Naomi Cohen recalled taking part in a women’s health care march 20 years ago in Washington, D.C. Looking back at that time, she never would have dreamed that in 2023 there would be a need to fight for women’s reproductive rights, including access to legal and safe abortion. Then again, today she’s also astounded at the growing need to advocate for civil rights — a plight she undertook as a high school student.

State regulators have ruled in favor of four Baltimore-area insurance brokers who accused Erie Insurance more than two years ago of discriminating by engaging in insurance “redlining” of predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city. Three of the brokerage firms, all small businesses, filed separate complaints in January 2021 with the Maryland Insurance Administration; they are Baltimore Insurance Network LLC of Bowie, Ross Insurance Agency of Windsor Mill and Welsch Insurance Group of Baltimore.

Prince George’s County has a shiny, new $70 million medical center. The University of Maryland Laurel Medical Center opened to the public Sunday, June 4. The 83,742-square-foot facility replaces the Laurel Regional Hospital, which was downsized to an outpatient medical facility in 2018. The new center is another addition to the University of Maryland medical system’s expansion within Prince George’s County, with prior projects including the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center.

Imagine a nation where more than 10% of its population has no high school diploma, job skills or clear path toward future opportunities. Imagine how that affects those individuals, their families and their communities. Imagine how that hobbles the nation’s economy and makes individual lives more difficult. That nation is the United States of America in 2023, where as many as 40 million people lack a high school diploma and have not been able to acquire skills and knowledge a high school education provides.

“I want all of you to know that your work is more critical now than ever,” former U.S. Congresswoman Connie Morella (R-Dist. 8) told the Montgomery County Board of Elections at its swearing-in ceremony Monday at Montgomery County in Germantown. Morella addressed a packed crowd of Montgomery County politicians, officials and community members.

 

The surge of homelessness in our community is deeply concerning. The recent results of the Point in Time count found a significant increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in the Washington, D.C., region – a 53% increase in Montgomery County alone. The study also highlighted that a significant cohort of those experiencing homelessness are over the age of 55. This increase in homelessness coincides with the end of several pandemic assistance programs and inflation-driven economic pressures, which are pushing vulnerable people to the edge of homelessness.

Symbols are powerful, but it is flesh, blood and grit that bring them to life. Dating back centuries, Lady Justice symbolizes the ideal of impartiality in our justice system. She is blindfolded and holds a set of scales and a sword. The blindfold signifies that justice should be administered equally (although, to some, it may signify blinders to injustice). The scales represent the balance between competing interests in a dispute, and that the interests of the victim, the defendant and society must all be considered.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had a lot to say about Baltimore the other day. During his technologically shaky presidential campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces, DeSantis dismissed the NAACP’s travel advisory for Florida by bringing up us and fellow bogeyman city Chicago as places “kids [are] more likely to get shot than to receive a first-class education.” You know what DeSantis, who was my governor for a year before I left Florida to return to my native Baltimore, hasn’t said anything about?