Commentary

When Maryland State Delegate Terri Hill told fellow lawmakers that she saw an older man with a walker seated outside a polling station waiting to vote, her voice choked with emotion. Testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee last week, Hill said she later learned that the man left after more than an hour, never given the opportunity to exercise his fundamental right to cast a ballot. “I hope we can find some way so that if another person like that man, who goes to vote, he doesn’t have to wait an hour to go home without being accommodated,” said Hill, a Democrat representing Howard and Baltimore counties. “It’s that simple.”.

The Food and Drug Administration vowed to make big changes to its food safety teams after the 2022 infant formula crisis exposed deep flaws in the agency’s culture, technology and structure. On Tuesday, the FDA finally revealed its fix: creating a new deputy commissioner for human foods. This is a major disappointment. The new deputy commissioner position would not even have authority over all food safety and nutrition. Confusingly, there will still be a separate Office of Regulatory Affairs at the FDA that handles food safety investigations. On a call with reporters, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock spent 45 minutes trying to explain which powers this new deputy would have and which authorities the Office of Regulatory Affairs’ leader would exercise.

The Orioles don’t seem to care what you think. On Wednesday, the team — meaning CEO and Chairman John Angelos and whoever he might have asked for input — decided to decline the option in its lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority that would have extended the agreement by five years. That choice, which leaves 11 months on the current deal that has existed since Camden Yards opened in 1992, does nothing to back Angelos’ claims about his intent to keep the team in Baltimore nor calm fans concerned about another professional sports team leaving the city.

In investing terms, a “glide path ” describes how a mix of investments changes over time. Typically, the mix gets more conservative — with fewer stocks and more bonds, for example — as the investor approaches a goal such as retirement. You also can create a glide path into retirement by making gradual changes in your working and personal life in the months or years before you plan to quit work. Retirement can be a jarring transition, especially if you haven’t set up ways to replace the structure, sense of purpose and socializing opportunities that work can bring, says financial coach Saundra Davis, executive director of Sage Financial Solutions, a nonprofit financial education and planning organization in San Francisco.

The Shakespeare canon would not exist had the deeds of its many characters — mad kings, rivalrous offspring, treacherous lords, treasonous courtiers — never been exposed or imagined. We would be deprived of understanding much of human nature had Shakespeare’s storytelling been restricted, by some supernatural force, to the fanciful and Arcadian, that is, no hatred, no tragedy, no “fall of man.” But, as the bard said, “All the world’s a stage,” and the thing that animated any of Shakespeare’s tragic plays — jealousy, prejudice, love, revenge, egomania, lust for power — remains alive right here in 21st century Baltimore. For evidence look no further than to spectacles playing out in our courts: Angelos Agonistes and the Marilyn Mosby matter.

Inside an American Legion hall, angry moms asked for better security four days after a killing in their neighborhood. They also sought help with cramped living conditions during agonizingly slow renovations. Across town, artists gathered in Maryland Hall to celebrate the opening of an exhibit inspired by death. And at a community rec center, a group of interns relaunched a program aimed at helping their community deal with violence. These three gatherings in Annapolis on Thursday night might seem like unrelated events linked by a coincidence of calendar. But they also were tied by the thread of gun violence, by people striving for change. I followed that thread in hopes of finding some meaning. Here’s what I found.

On Jan. 25, the James Beard Foundation announced its annual award semifinalists. Often described as the Oscars of the culinary scene, a Beard Award can make or break a chef. Baltimore fared exceptionally well with three contenders. Two were for best chef in the Mid-Atlantic region: Chris Amendola of Foraged and Steve Chu of Ekiben. And Charleston, a frequent contender in fine dining awards, was listed for “Outstanding Hospitality,” a category sponsored, oddly enough, by American Airlines.

We are waking up to the dangers of toxic “forever chemicals” called PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and the sources of these dangerous compounds. A recent alarming discovery: common pesticides, which are sprayed across our communities, farms, health care facilities, playgrounds, and schools, contain high levels of PFAS. “If the intent was to spread PFAS contamination across the globe, there would be few more effective methods than lacing pesticides with PFAS,” said Kayla Bennett, research director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.