Commentary

Gun violence is so regular an occurrence in the United States that no incident, however tragic, comes as a surprise. But events in recent days deserve special attention all the same, as they underscore a core truth about responding to gun violence: changing just one or two rules would not be enough. Early this month, a 6-year-old boy shot and wounded an elementary school teacher in Newport News, Va. This, according to authorities, was no accident: The first grader pulled out a handgun and fired a bullet through his instructor’s outstretched hand and into her chest. His family says he has an “acute disability”; The Post reports that administrators brushed off concerns about the boy after he threw furniture in class, barricaded the doors to a room and threatened to light a teacher on fire and watch her die. The day of the shooting, his backpack was searched after a tip that he may have had a weapon.

Sometime in 2025, an Australian boat builder plans to float a 426-foot, all-electric ferry that can carry up to 2,100 passengers and 226 vehicles. The company, Incat, says the ferry will be the largest of its kind, with a power range of 100 nautical miles. A South American ferry operator, Buquebus, will use it to carry passengers between Argentina and Uruguay. The original design called for the ferry to be powered by liquefied natural gas, but, with advances in battery technology, both Incat and Buquebus decided to go electric. That is the case in many other ports of the world, where ferries are either being constructed or retrofitted with electric engines for service in waterfront communities.

Expectations in Maryland are high for Gov. Wes Moore to lift from the bottom. His campaign put ending poverty — a systemic, intractable issue that politicians usually shy away from — on the agenda, by raising the minimum wage, increasing affordable housing and making pre-K free, among other reforms. Over half a million Marylanders live in poverty, which is defined as making less than $25,926 annually for a family of four. Many others who earn slightly more are unable to pay for inflated rents, high food prices or child care.

Given all the billions of taxes collected from sales of tobacco products, not to mention the billions more provided through a 1998 settlement over the cost of tobacco-related illness, one would think that states like Maryland would fully fund programs that deter young people from using tobacco (or encourage them to quit). Yet a recently-released report from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Lung Association and other health advocacy groups, found most states fall woefully short in this mission. In Maryland, the good news is that the state ranks better than most. The bad news is that its 11th ranking is mostly because so many of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are abysmal.

A treatment that improves Alzheimer’s disease would be a great advance, but Leqembi (lecanemab), which recently received accelerated approval from the FDA, is not that drug. Yes, lecanemab slows decline to an extent detectable on a test, but not to an extent that a relative or caretaker would notice. This drug doesn’t actually make anything better. It just slows the rate that someone goes downhill over 18 months — by less than half a point on an 18 point scale. And we don’t know whether things get better or worse after that. Leqembi is similar to Aduhelm (aducanumab), approved last year by the FDA, despite its advisory committee soundly rejecting it.

Early last week Ivan Bates was sworn in as the new state’s attorney in Baltimore City. His first announced change to the office once headed by Marilyn Mosby was to do away with his predecessor’s policy of not prosecuting low-level criminal offenses, such as marijuana possession and prostitution. Bates has made clear that prosecuting these types of cases will be discretionary rather than having a total ban on prosecution. We agree with this rational approach to prosecuting even what may appear to be minor crimes in the city. While we applaud Bates for this change to his office, we do encourage him to keep two units created by Mosby that are truly critical: the Sentencing Review Unit and the Conviction Integrity Unit.

I own a small business in Fells Point. I like eating outside. I love Baltimore. The prevalence of outdoor dining is one of the best things to come out of the pandemic. But cost is among the issues that must be considered. I urge the city to fully consider safety and equity for its citizens and all types of businesses as well as its own revenue stream. We’re now at a crossroads. The permissions granted to restaurants to create parklets at the beginning of the pandemic will be extended beyond the experiment of the past three years. The new iteration of Baltimore City’s curbside retail guidelines incorporates feedback from its first iteration as well as addresses a number of challenges faced by other municipalities in making these accommodations permanent.

More than 20 states have banned TikTok on government-owned devices, with New Jersey and Ohio joining their ranks just days ago. Though the impetus behind these bans is to protect state government information from Chinese spyware, these laws also evict TikTok from devices owned by public school districts and state-supported postsecondary institutions. This is a necessary protection to prevent the Chinese government from exploiting its control over ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, to gain access to America’s schools and the minds of its students.