Commentary

For those who tuned in to Mayor Brandon Scott’s State of the City address Monday evening, live from the Middle Branch Fitness and Wellness Center, the experience was likely underwhelming. That doesn’t make it bad, necessarily. Such annual assessments — whether in Towson, Annapolis or other seats of local government — are usually aimed at the political class and public servants who follow the minutia of bureaucracy, budgets, political alliances and the like, because, let’s face it, their careers center on it.

Friday’s announcement by Gov. Wes Moore that Maryland is moving to stockpile mifepristone, the abortion pill that is now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, was a welcome development given the uncertainties over access. Other states have made similar moves in recent days — including New York, California, Massachusetts and Washington — and we expect more to follow, at least in areas where women’s reproductive rights are still valued.

As the first state to require service learning to graduate — a 75-hour volunteering mandate adopted in 1992 — Maryland has long had a reputation as a place that prepared young people well for civic life. Yet as the state gears up to implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, civics is strangely missing. Yes, the Blueprint invests $3.8 billion in education over 10 years, and promises new programs to eradicate achievement gaps and improve outcomes.

Drivers are the heart of Lyft. Right now, they are showing us the future of our business — and it’s electric. On our platform, we saw trips in electric vehicles increase by over 90% last year, outpacing even the rapid growth of electric vehicle adoption across the U.S. and in Maryland. Drivers with Lyft see a huge opportunity in going electric: it’s greener, the technology is new (and fun), and, perhaps most importantly, they save money on gas and maintenance costs.

In 2020, Montgomery County adopted Question C, expanding the County Council from nine seats to 11. In Montgomery County, seven council members (five before 2020) are elected by district and four are elected at-large. Question C was competing with Question D, which would’ve instituted nine districts and no at-large seats.

The Maryland General Assembly concluded its work this week in a session that dealt with important, weighty matters, as well as more mundane concerns, as it always does. Newly elected Gov. Wes Moore had a successful first session, getting almost his entire agenda approved, as would be expected when a Democratic governor has an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature with which to work.

Baltimore doesn’t have celebrity home tours like in Los Angeles — and even if we did, it would be bad because they’re creepy stalker bait. But between the movies and TV shows filmed on location, the city’s professional athletes and just random folks hanging out here, we’ve got a lot of stories of just running into celebrities. Sometimes literally.