Commentary

The battle over land in Harford County is not merely about saving trees, though it has all the markings of a classic conflict between developers and conservationists often seen in Maryland. The battle this time is about more than that. It’s about what we expect as modern consumers versus what we want as inhabitants of this coughing, wheezing planet.

With his announcement this week that Maryland will soon be formally adopting the “Advanced Clean Cars II” regulations first launched by California, mandating that 100% of cars and trucks sold in the state by 2035 be electric vehicles, Gov. Wes Moore has set an ambitious course. There’s simply no question that any serious effort to upgrade Maryland’s air quality, let alone reduce its greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, must navigate this road.

Seven years ago, a student lingered in my classroom after school. Seventeen and already shouldering an adult’s burdens — buying food for younger siblings, paying the electric bill — he’d made a choice he regretted. A crew of hustlers near his block had talked him into working as a lookout. They were neighborhood guys, and he was cool with them. He could’ve declined. So I said the obvious thing: “You won’t be able to help anyone if you’re locked up or worse.”

The future of horse racing in Maryland in general, and the fate of the Preakness Stakes in particular, hangs in the balance. The deal announced in October 2019 and approved by the General Assembly in 2020 to renovate both Pimlico and Laurel Park racecourses and keep the Preakness in Baltimore is in deep trouble. And there are no cheap or easy alternatives.

Last year doctors like myself were thrilled when the Maryland General Assembly passed the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program. As we look forward to watching the program benefit our patients and their families, we urge the General Assembly to ensure that the costs to implement the program are shared equitably. The Time to Care Act passed in 2022 was a huge step forward for Marylanders and their loved ones.

There was a time when indoor retailing space, with restaurants and food courts and major department store “anchors,” dominated not just retailing but the social scene. “See you at the mall” was a common refrain a generation ago — before the enormous popularity of online shopping made them largely extinct and COVID-19 drove a final nail in that coffin. So-called “dead malls” now can be found all over this country, empty shells of their former selves.

Ever come across a place and try to imagine what it was like 300 or 400 years ago? It’s not something you do every day, when you have errands to run, work to do, children to care for, meals to fix, politics to abhor. But sometimes and some place, you surrender to the moment and try to squint away all the clutter of the modern world — office buildings in the distance, plastic bags in trees, the board fence on the edge of a pasture.