As Gov. Wes Moore said in a recent op-ed of his own, jump-starting our economy is the key to unlocking Maryland’s promise and making sure no one is left behind. As chairman of Sparrows Point Alliance, a grassroots organization built to support the revitalization of Sparrows Point, I could not agree more. But unlocking the promise of Maryland will take more than just words; it takes real-world projects that create high-quality jobs, significant investment, and life-changing opportunities for our communities.

Air pollution in South Baltimore’s Curtis Bay — a residential area surrounded by industrial facilities — is on par with pollution near major highways and the city’s downtown area, according to a new study by the University of Maryland and other collaborators. The study, published last week in the Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, focused on the prevalence of black carbon in Curtis Bay and other pollution hot spots in the region.

Harry Huntley wants you to know he’s not the mayor’s man. Despite being labeled an “insider” in a local news headline about candidates for an Annapolis City Council vacancy, he says he’s not that, either. “I don’t know how the heck I’m the insider,” he said during an interview Thursday morning. “I wasn’t terribly incensed about it, but it didn’t seem particularly accurate to me.”

Munching on a piece of yellow cornbread, I tried to find its story as food historian Joyce White might. Native people ate hoecakes, made from stone-ground corn and water cooked on a flat surface. English settlers gobbled them up, replacing mortar and pestle with water-powered mills on the Chesapeake Bay. As they were supplanted by industrial mills, parts of the grain and a lot of the flavor got left on the factory floor, pouring tons of cheaply produced, bland cornmeal into Maryland kitchens. (Photo: Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner)

President Joe Biden is returning to southwest Wisconsin to make good on his promise to provide new investments in rural electrification and other infrastructure improvements. Biden will be in Westby on Thursday to announce $7.3 billion in investments for 16 cooperatives that will provide electricity for rural areas across 23 states. The intent is to bring down the cost of badly needed internet connections in hard-to-reach areas.

 

Baltimore City election officials are putting out the call for election judges to serve in November in the closing weeks of the election calendar. On Tuesday, the Maryland State Board of Elections posted the 2024 general election ballots for public review. On Wednesday, Baltimore City Elections Director Armstead Jones put out a call for election judges.

Being human in 2024 is hard — we live in chaotic and stressful times. Perhaps no group of humans is more stressed than our teenagers, who report levels of anxiety, stress and self-harm unparalleled in prior decades. As someone working with teenagers on a daily basis to help them navigate the college application process, I’m deeply concerned that our society’s collective approach to high school is not only misguided but harmful.

It’s not unusual to see dead fish around the Inner Harbor as summer ends, but several thousand floating in the water Wednesday could be one of the largest fish kills in decade, according to an official from the National Aquarium. State officials said about 24,000 fish died, mostly juvenile Atlantic menhaden. Other dead fish include catfish, white perch and blue crabs.

The Federal Reserve is expected to shift gears this month on monetary policy and enact the first rate cut since the central bank started its inflation-fighting tightening cycle 30 months ago. Although key inflation readings, including the closely watched Consumer Price Index, are due out a week before that crucial decision, the size of the rate cut likely will be determined this Friday.

Instead of warring over whether their microphones will be muted while the other is speaking during the upcoming presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump should be worried that they could essentially be muted for millions of Americans who don’t hear well during the live Sept. 10 broadcast.