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Commentary

Times have changed, but we still need a local newspaper
February 22, 2023 -

Early one Sunday morning more than 20 years ago, I traipsed downstairs to find one of my four children, my 12-year-old daughter, Alexandra, scribbling away at the dining room table. “What are you doing?” I sleepily inquired. “Writing a letter to The Washington Post!” she answered. The “Sunday papers” had been a fixture in our household for many years. Alexandra’s mother and I encouraged our kids to take an interest in current events by subscribing to several newspapers and by reading interesting articles from the papers out loud to them. So our “tween” had read the Sunday papers and taken offense at one of the news articles (about the content of books in schools). She was familiar enough with the Post’s op-ed page to believe a letter to the editor was in order. Her letter ran the next weekend.

Read More: Fredrick News Post
Gun 9mm
Opinion: Longer prison terms won’t end gun violence in Baltimore
February 21, 2023 -

The Maryland General Assembly is considering legislation endorsed by Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates this session that would increase the maximum prison term for illegal gun possession from three years to five years. Supporters of these increased penalties have been touting them in public safety forums and through the media as necessary to deter crime, garnering support from numerous elected officials.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Radio is dead in Annapolis. Was anyone listening, anyway?
February 21, 2023 -

When WRNR went off the air this month, Annapolis mourned the demise of its only FM station. It was a refrain similar to the one two years ago when Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak sold WNAV for $1 to develop the land under the city’s only AM station. The new owners dropped local programming in favor of that syndicated sound you can find anywhere and everywhere. “Oh, woe is me,” cried Annapolis.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Kalman Hettleman: The big lies that schools tell parents
February 21, 2023 -

The observance of George Washington’s birthday reminds us not to tell lies. Yet, if he were a public school teacher these days, he would be forced to fib a lot. And if, in addition to being father of our country, he was father of a school child, there’s a good chance he would be badly misled about his child’s academic progress. Teachers are my heroes. They are under-valued, underpaid and overworked. And yet, am I suggesting that they are untruthful?

Read More: Maryland Matters
Commentary: A roadmap for Montgomery County schools to address antisemitism
February 20, 2023 -

Chaperoning my 7th grade Hebrew school class on a recent trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., a featured quote from renowned survivor Elie Wiesel stood out: “The Museum is not an answer. It is a question.” As Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) continues to grapple with an explosion of antisemitic attacks against our children — one that mirrors a deeply troubling increase nationwide — Wiesel’s words resonate as much today as they did when he declared them at the Museum’s dedication 30 years ago. Nobody has the answer to combating antisemitism; if that answer existed, antisemitism would not fester across generations. But that doesn’t mean progress is impossible; we can and should do much better than we are now. To mitigate the damage antisemitism adherents inflict while’ making meaningful inroads toward prevention, MCPS must start by asking the right questions.

Read More: Maryland Matters
A tribute to Richard Belzer of ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’
February 20, 2023 -

Baltimore wears its weirdness, the grand and the shabby, on its star-spangled sleeve. We named a football team after a poem about a guy being haunted by a bird because its troubled creator died here. We obsess about crab seasoning. We know you don’t understand our accents, and we like it that way. In short, we’re the only kind of place that could have created a character as singularly and endearingly odd as Detective John Munch, played by comedian Richard Belzer, who died Sunday at age 78. For six years, he was the conspiracy theory-spouting soul of “Homicide: Life On The Street,” filmed in and around Baltimore and based on real-life Detective Jay Landsman from the David Simon book that inspired the series.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Rodricks: Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services rendering aid in Ukraine as war continues
February 20, 2023 -

By the time Erik Heinonen, a humanitarian worker for Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, returned to his home in Irpin, Ukraine, last month, the coffee shops and grocery stores were open again. It was safe to walk the dog and take his daughter to the playground. Heinonen’s house was still standing. But his neighbor’s house, across the alley, was gone. The apartment building across the street had been hit with missiles. “We were lucky,” Heinonen said over the phone the other day, as the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine approached. “A shell had landed in our front yard. It broke windows and punctured a fence and left divots in the wall of the house. We were fortunate.”

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Opinion: Don’t abandon traffic relief between Maryland and Virginia
February 20, 2023 -

One of the first major decisions that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) will have to make is whether to move forward with the plan to widen the American Legion Bridge and Interstate 270. The plan includes two new high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in each direction, major transit investments in Montgomery County, free travel for carpool and transit vehicles, and new bike and pedestrian connections. The federal environmental study shows significant congestion relief in HOT and existing lanes. After years of extensive study, planning, environmental mitigation and community input, it’s time to approve construction for this urgently needed improvement. The plan has changed significantly since its proposal in 2018 and is nearly identical to the alternative proposed by Montgomery, Prince George’s and Frederick County elected officials in 2019.

Read More: Washington Post
Should Maryland give a $50M bonus to military retirees?
February 20, 2023 -

U.S. military richly deserve not just the nation’s thanks, but, whenever possible, financial benefits from retirement pay to health care. A lot of seniors deserve pension relief, particularly at a time of heightened inflation. Just last year, the Maryland General Assembly and then-Gov. Larry Hogan approved legislation providing a tax credit to retirees of up to $1,000 per individual and $1,750 per couple. Yet now, lawmakers in Annapolis have been presented by Gov. Wes Moore with a costly proposal, the Keep Our Heroes Home Act, that would further reduce taxes on military pensions — for individuals as young as 37 years old.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Vote pin back buttons
Ranked-choice voting is the right choice to advance democracy in Montgomery County
February 17, 2023 -

As the nation looks to its 250th anniversary in 2026, Maryland has an opportunity to be a beacon for our vulnerable democracy and a role model for reforms that will strengthen our democratic processes. As a result, the Montgomery County Women’s Democratic Club, with hundreds of politically active members, will be advocating for a menu of legislation that empower voters, creates equality of voice and representation, and ensures the responsiveness of government institutions.

Read More: Maryland Matters

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