Commentary

Following the June 8 nomination of acting Baltimore City Police Commissioner Richard Worley to fill the position on a permanent basis, as violent crime spiked, one question frequently arose: “Can Baltimore’s new police commissioner keep the city safe?” Baltimore has had a succession of police commissioners in recent years, some good and some not so good. One constant during their tenures has been how violent crime persists.

Upon entering my classroom this summer, students would ask immediately: What are we creating today? My answers varied from comic strips to rhythmic skip counting to 3D self-portraits and morning virtue bracelets. Meanwhile, the sound of students discussing their aspirations and visualizing how to create something tangible has made the Summer Arts for Learning Academy — where I taught this summer — a unique space for learning.

Though they have big brains, the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins that visit the Chesapeake Bay cannot be expected to have the capacity to read a report card. They have no way of knowing the waters they’ve been cruising all summer received a D+ grade last semester. “Efforts to restore the bay are struggling to reduce agricultural pollution,” the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said in its annual report card in January.

Giving children independence to stride unaccompanied to school is a perplexing decision for parents, given the preponderance of unsafe traffic conditions, especially around school zones. In her Aug. 27 Metro column, “A back-to-school quandary for parents,” Theresa Vargas pointed to the multitude of vehicles that speed through school zones, ignoring regulations to slow down, and the vulnerable stream of children crossing roads.

Nothing tickles the pleasure center of a Republican candidate’s brain quite like culture-war country music, the angrier the better, so it came as no surprise that while the first GOP presidential debate may have lacked the “800 pound gorilla” of Donald Trump, it was graced by a song that targets obese people eating snack food subsidized by tax dollars.

At a time when prices remain sky-high and local families are scrounging to make ends meet, we should all come together in a sense of common good to deliver relief. Instead, the Anne Arundel County Council took the bait, raising costs on struggling residents in the name of green policy that lines retailers’ pockets.

A group led by students has challenged the Frederick County Board of Education to take ambitious and dramatic actions to help combat climate change in the school system. Maybe the old Bible verse holds true, that a child shall lead them. Sunrise Frederick is the local chapter of the youth-led nonprofit Sunrise Movement. The group encourages organizations to adopt sustainable practices as a local way to battle climate change.