Commentary

Recreational cannabis sales show no signs of slowing down in Maryland. They reached $92 million in August, up from the previous month, and state officials believe they will continue to increase in excess of a billion dollars by 2025. This trajectory shows cannabis has tremendous potential to help drive the state’s economy through job creation and by injecting revenue into neighborhoods. Also, as we’ve seen in other states, the tax revenue from cannabis can be immensely beneficial for community investment, education programs, and social services.

Montgomery County is ground zero in the education culture wars. However, the incursion by conservative activists has been so subtle that people may not see it. The battle is happening in the courts and in attempts by nationally-funded conservative groups to influence local public opinion in advance of the 2024 Board of Education elections. In 2023, three families filed suit against MCPS over a list of approved supplemental texts featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

The dogs fought and died on a bloodstained piece of carpet. I was confused by the word “hooked” as I read through court documents unsealed this week detailing what federal prosecutors said was a long-running dogfighting ring. Then I realized it describes a fight and how an animal plunges its teeth into an opponent after charging onto the carpet square. Combat sometimes lasts more than an hour.

On a second floor wall of the Baltimore County Historic Courthouse, not far from the men’s restroom, visitors can view a portrait of Spiro Theodore Agnew. This is because the Republican was elected Baltimore County executive in 1962 serving one four-year term. There is no attached explanation of his time leading the county, nor of his subsequent election as Maryland’s governor in 1966 and certainly not of his time as vice president of the United States under Richard Nixon.

Nobody asked me, but nobody in Birdland should be even mildly upset with baseball experts who predict that the Houston Astros — and not the Orioles — will represent the American League in the World Series. The Birds are underdogs, and Orioles fans should be fine with that. Better to be underestimated than overrated, I always say.

The Frederick County Board of Education and the staff of the school system have shown an admirable and necessary willingness to adapt to new conditions as the county grapples with an extreme shortage of classroom space in the schools. The board last week approved a site for a new school in the heavily congested section of the county east of the city of Frederick, even though the plot of land is far less than ideal and will require an innovative construction plan.

The Latino community in Baltimore is a vibrant tapestry of diversity, comprising individuals from a multitude of countries and backgrounds across Latin America. We are Mexican, Salvadoran, Honduran, Guatemalan, Dominican, Puerto Rican, Peruvian, Ecuadorian and Colombian. Our community spans a spectrum of skin colors, a testament to the complex history of colonization and the trafficking of human beings that shaped our ancestral homelands.

This week, I am stepping down from my position as Maryland state superintendent of schools and transitioning to a role as senior advisor to the State Board of Education. It has been my great honor to serve the children and families of this state, and to lead the Department of Education, as we’ve worked to recover from the pandemic and transform public education through the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.