Commentary

It’s good news that in May, the National College Athletic Association and its power conferences agreed to pay college athletes over the next decade an estimated $2.8 billion from the megabucks that football and basketball teams generate. Athletes can give it the old college try while making a helluva lot of money.

As Gov. Wes Moore said in a recent op-ed of his own, jump-starting our economy is the key to unlocking Maryland’s promise and making sure no one is left behind. As chairman of Sparrows Point Alliance, a grassroots organization built to support the revitalization of Sparrows Point, I could not agree more. But unlocking the promise of Maryland will take more than just words; it takes real-world projects that create high-quality jobs, significant investment, and life-changing opportunities for our communities.

Harry Huntley wants you to know he’s not the mayor’s man. Despite being labeled an “insider” in a local news headline about candidates for an Annapolis City Council vacancy, he says he’s not that, either. “I don’t know how the heck I’m the insider,” he said during an interview Thursday morning. “I wasn’t terribly incensed about it, but it didn’t seem particularly accurate to me.”

Instead of warring over whether their microphones will be muted while the other is speaking during the upcoming presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump should be worried that they could essentially be muted for millions of Americans who don’t hear well during the live Sept. 10 broadcast.

We watched closely as Gov. Wes Moore spoke during a prime-time slot on the third night of the Democratic National Convention, wondering if he’d use one of the biggest stages in politics to make his rising star burn brighter or turn the spotlight toward Maryland. He did a little of both, serving as a loyal surrogate to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Mosquito-borne illnesses pose a serious threat to Americans that is bound to become even more dire as climate change worsens. Yet public health officials don’t have a strong grasp on strategies to protect at-risk communities. That must change — and soon. Just last week, a previously healthy 41-year-old New Hampshire man died of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a rare but serious mosquito-borne infection.

It wasn’t as hot as usual in Ocean City in August this year, as we attended the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) Conference, an annual ritual where elected officials, government agencies, community organizations and businesses congregate. Oftentimes, the tone for the next year’s legislative session gets set at MACo, as leaders take their cues from the governor.