Commentary

I have met hundreds of men who spent many years in prison — decades, some of them — and who eventually came home with the hope of restarting their lives by avoiding their old neighborhoods, old associates, old habits and traps. Many failed and ended up back inside. But others succeeded, quietly moving into jobs, reconnecting with family and living honorably the remainder of their days. Some came out of prison with an ambition — not always acted on — to do good, using their stories as cautionary tales for boys and young men. That’s where we find Warren Boardley, trying to do for Baltimore kids what someone tried to do for him in a previous life.

Walking into Maryland’s State House is stepping out of time. The brick Georgian-style building, trimmed with marble and topped with a wooden dome, is the oldest continuously operating legislative building in the nation. The tiny elevator you ride up to the second floor seems like it’s probably the oldest elevator in Maryland. The window panes are all wavy and distorted in the way 18th century glass always is.

Americans can breathe a sigh of relief: The government is not coming for our gas stoves. There was a moment, a couple days ago, when it seemed as though they might. In an interview with Bloomberg, Richard Trumka Jr., a commissioner at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, hinted that the days of cooking over an open flame might be numbered because it pollutes the air inside your house.

Twenty years after the passage of the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act (Maryland’s first medical marijuana law), voters passed a ballot measure in the fall to fully legalize marijuana for adult use. Question 4 asked, “Do you favor the legalization of the use of cannabis by an individual who is at least 21 years of age on or after July 1, 2023, in the State of Maryland?” As predicted in a previous op-ed, legalization passed by a 2-1 margin with over 1.3 million votes, making it more popular than any of the state’s constitutional officers. Marylanders overwhelmingly voted to make cannabis legal.

As a lifelong newspaperwoman, I thought I was familiar with the pioneering women in my profession, such as Nellie Bly or my idol Ida B. Wells, journalistic unicorns for their time. A century later, there are lots of female journalists, but still a dearth of us in top newsroom positions. I can’t imagine what it was like as truth-tellers in what must have seemed a hostile environment, and I’ll always be grateful for them laying a path not just for journalists like me, but women in the workplace.

As a freelance communication and design consultant, I’ve had the pleasure and sometimes the misfortune of working with many arts organizations and events producers in Baltimore. The Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts had been a repeat contract for me from 2017 until 2020, for roles reviewing applications for grant funds and during major city events, such as Artscape. The organization known as BOPA became better known in recent days as Mayor Brandon Scott demanded the resignation of Donna Drew Sawyer, its chief executive officer, in a letter to the board of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit. His action followed the announcement of the cancellation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade.

The Patuxent River has earned a 23 percent on the Chesapeake Bay report card and has scored low (D-) since 2006, when reports cards were first issued. The measurements suggest a failing, big, fat F. For at least 16 years, even though the problem has been recognized, nothing has been done. The Patuxent River Commission, with about 35 members, was formed in 1984, but nothing has happened. Despite all the fanfare surrounding the issue, nothing has been done.