Commentary

I was going over my monthly Amazon subscription order a few days ago and settled on my regular haul of KN95 masks I’ve kept on hand since the start of COVID-19. I wondered if I’ll ever be comfortable taking them out of my cart. Well, certainly not this week! That distinctive haze and terrible burning smell across the state and up the East Coast is the result of wildfires in Canada that have put the air quality at a code red, making it dangerous to breathe.

I remember hooting when I watched “Reefer Madness” at some point in my college days, when smoking marijuana was secretive but common enough that no one was either shocked or scandalized. The movie, released in 1936, was straight up propaganda, warning parents that if their children got ahold of “marihuana,” there would be a direct line from a toke to a life of crime and depravity.

Data centers — those vast computer server farms that provide the backbone of the internet — may be the future of Frederick County, but the future has gotten off to a bumpy start. Quantum Loophole, the Texas-based company, is developing a campus of data centers on more than 2,100 acres in the Adamstown area, to much acclaim from local officials and business leaders.

The school systems of Howard and Harford counties have sued the world’s social media giants for exploiting the psychological vulnerabilities of children and causing a mental health crisis among the more than 100,000 students in those two suburban districts.  That’s a big, bold claim, but it’s a thing now. Similar suits have been filed across the country, pleading that addictions to Instagram and TikTok, among other apps, have caused tweens and teens to lose sleep, struggle in school and become anxious and depressed.

For those who have not followed the HonFest saga, it boils down to this: Organizers of this annual Hampden festival — a campy event that celebrates Baltimore women of a certain age and beehive hairdo, who appear to have stepped out of a John Waters movie set in the 1950s — denied Planned Parenthood of Maryland a booth, even though the organization has had one in prior years.

The Upton neighborhood in West Baltimore is famous for its role as one of the city’s earliest and most vibrant African American neighborhoods. Many of Baltimore’s civil rights and cultural icons — including Thurgood Marshall and Cab Calloway — have lived among its historic row houses. One hundred years ago it was an economic, political and cultural center of the city’s Black community, and its architectural landmarks remain in proximity to jobs, schools, churches, subways and bus lines.

Imagine a nation where more than 10% of its population has no high school diploma, job skills or clear path toward future opportunities. Imagine how that affects those individuals, their families and their communities. Imagine how that hobbles the nation’s economy and makes individual lives more difficult. That nation is the United States of America in 2023, where as many as 40 million people lack a high school diploma and have not been able to acquire skills and knowledge a high school education provides.

When government doesn’t get in the way, small businesses are vibrant engines fueling the American economy. They create good-paying jobs, invest in local communities, and provide innovative products and services that improve our lives. In Maryland, there are more than 600,000 small businesses employing nearly half of the state’s workforce.