Commentary

When the economic future seems stormy for small businesses, pivoting your business model to sell services or products to the Maryland State Government or the Federal Government and all of the related agencies can be a viable and profitable alternative marketplace for Maryland business owners. You will want to consider this strategic move if you are ready to adjust your focus, evolve your services or products, continue to educate yourself and energize your business growth.

Over the course of a 30-year career in Maryland as a licensed psychologist, I had an opportunity to view the workings of the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) from a number of perspectives. I consulted at both boy’s and girl’s facilities. I also spent 12 years conducting psychological evaluations of juvenile offenders for the courts throughout Maryland. This diverse background has given me a number of views of the juvenile justice system.

I was disheartened but not surprised by the suggestions made in a recent letter to the editor about how to reduce traffic deaths (”Rise in traffic deaths: an explanation and a suggestion,” Sept. 16). It’s a perfect example of how self-centered we can be and having what we want at the expense of taking personal responsibility for our actions. First, mention was made that 55 miles per hour is too slow as a speed limit. No one is getting pulled over for doing 65 in that zone, so that’s not a problem.

Most Marylanders probably aren’t aware of the Chesapeake Bay’s Atlantic Sturgeon. They are a subset of an ancient species with roots hundreds of millions of year ago in the Early Jurassic period. With smooth skin and bony plates, sturgeon look a bit like sharks and live in the ocean, growing up to 16 feet long, but spawn in fresh water each spring. They have long been prized by fishermen for their eggs (beluga caviar comes from a variety of sturgeon found in Europe) and smoked sturgeon is a delicacy also prized by gourmets.

Coming out of the pandemic, students will have spent substantially more time on screens than usual — a predictor of poorer mental health and increased stress, making their teacher-student relationships more challenging. Meanwhile, teachers who are coming off of historically stressful school years will now face heightened expectations for student achievement, while still managing their own pandemic stressors. That means children will need more relational support from their teachers, who may have less energy to provide such support. Fortunately, new understandings about a fundamental building block of relationships have emerged.

My son was sitting on our living room floor in front of the TV, playing with his Harriet Tubman finger puppet, part of a pair of notable Black historical figures (the other is James Baldwin) rendered in felt. It was a gift from his godmother. To explain who Tubman was, and why she’s important, I had to talk to him about how she led people out of slavery and then about how our ancestors had been enslaved. I also added that Ms. Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, less than three hours from the home where we were sitting, the modern beneficiaries of her bravery.

It is very concerning the direction that the Carroll County Board of Education is taking. First, it decided to adjust the manner in which we the public is allowed to comment in meetings. The Board of Education believes it should be allowed to limit the number of people who may participate in public comment. The board also wants to limit public comments to only those that relate to agenda items for that meeting. Has our Board of Education forgotten it is the public that funds them with our tax dollars? This is censorship plain and simple. Then our Board of Education decided to look at redistricting, but only for the southern part of the county.