Commentary

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.

Wes Moore is inheriting a serious crisis the Hogan administration failed to address. We are neglecting children and youth who have high-intensity behavioral health needs because of insufficient therapeutic residential care options. Many in foster care are relegated to boarding for weeks or months in emergency rooms or to living in short-term psychiatric hospital wards with no end in sight because of the shortage. Others are being “placed” in hotels with gift cards for fast food and 24-hour supervision by contractors. This is an act of pure desperation for the local departments of social services and their case workers, who are charged with providing for the well-being of these children and youth and held accountable by the juvenile court and state and federal agencies.

Chances are that, at some point growing up, you enjoyed reading “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” or “A Christmas Carol.” You’re lucky. Around 60 percent of all Maryland children will probably never have that pleasure because they’ve never been taught to read proficiently. The gift that most of our children desperately need is literacy. In conscience, it should not be thought of as a gift but a sacred civil right. It’s the magic carpet not just to success in school but to meaningful participation in the world of work and civic life. “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free,” Frederick Douglass wrote, adding “To deny education to any people is one of the greatest crimes against human nature.” Why do we as a state and nation commit the crime of illiteracy?