Wednesday, October 30, 2024 | Baltimore, MD
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Commentary

Big money is the root of our evils but Congress has the power to unmask wealthy donors

Big money rules in Congress. Gun manufacturers can always prevent common-sense legislation like improved background checks, even though more than 90% of all voters and 83% of gun owners favor the measure. Similarly, we pay more for prescription drugs because our government officials — beholden as they are to corporate campaign spenders — will not allow our government to negotiate prices via Medicare and Medicaid. The same makers sell the same drugs in other nations for a small fraction of the price they charge in the U.S.A.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
The death of a Wicomico deputy is tragic, blaming it on Baltimore is highly misleading

Next week, family, friends and well-wishers will gather at Emmanuel Wesleyan Church in Salisbury to mourn the loss of Wicomico County Sheriff’s Deputy 1st Class Glenn Hilliard. The 16-year law enforcement veteran and father of three was killed in the line of duty, gunned down on Sunday evening by a man wanted on multiple criminal warrants, according to law enforcement. It is a terrible and cruel event. The only comfort to be found might be in the outpouring of love and respect for Deputy Hilliard so evident in this lower Eastern Shore community — including hundreds gathering at Perdue Stadium to light candles and give tribute to the him Monday — and that law enforcement already have a suspect in custody: Austin J. Davidson, 20, of Delmar.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
A new bridge will be great, but we can still use the old bridge

Then-Maryland Transportation Secretary Greg Slater was told in an email how to win approval of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan: “Perhaps we can offer them the old bridge for bicycles and save on the cost of demolishment,” Allen Garman, the Maryland Transportation Authority’s director of treasury and debt, said. Likewise, Jim Ports, then the executive director of the authority, voiced concerns about not wanting to waste public funds. Yet the Maryland Transportation Authority plans to spend $15 million to $23 million to destroy the existing Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridge, which should be given more consideration for conversion to a pedestrian/bicycle facility that will provide a missing connection at a fraction of the cost for a new structure.

Charles M. Blow: America’s ‘psychic numbing’ to gun violence

In 2020, there were more than 45,000 gun deaths in the United States — the highest number on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But there was no major push for gun safety legislation. Why? Last year, there were nearly 700 mass shootings in America — the highest number ever recorded by the Gun Violence Archive — and again, there was no major push for gun legislation. Why?

Read More: Baltimore Sun
This was captured well waiting for the doctor who was busy at the time
Dougherty: The ‘COVID cancer effect’ calls for creative and collaborative solutions

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for women in the United States. Yet breast cancer doesn’t impact all communities in the same way. Despite having similar rates of breast cancer, Black women in the United States are more likely than white women to die of the disease, due to a range of social, economic, political and environmental factors that contribute to an individuals’ health conditions and disparities. COVID-19 also has wreaked havoc on cancer detection and further compounded these disparities, creating a “COVID cancer effect.”

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Opinion: Why we need a national day of remembrance for COVID victims

With the rollback of mask mandates and increased demands for a return to “normal,” survivors feel left behind, their grief unseen. Worse yet, many face the outright denial of their loss, especially when they read social media posts that claim the death rates are exaggerated or that the virus is nothing but “a hoax.” Or that age, infirmity or some other disease besides COVID is to blame. Last summer, the U.S. surgeon general issued an advisory regarding the “urgent threat” to public health posed by misinformation about COVID. Despite that, counterclaims and falsehoods have continued relatively unchecked, compounding the grief of families and hindering an already incomplete mourning process.

Reiner: On Father’s Day, some dads just want to parent without the stereotypes

Recently, I was sitting in the cafe of a large chain grocery store when two employees walked by. One of them must have been training the other one because he said to his colleague, “You saw how crazy things were for Mother’s Day? How we sold out of flowers?” The trainee nodded. “Father’s Day won’t be anything like that,” the veteran said. “It’ll be just another Sunday.” Americans spend on average, $71 more for mothers than they do fathers on their respective holidays. And research from 2021 found that 84% of Americans were planning on feting their mothers, while 75% said the same for fathers.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Rosen & Kessler: New health care laws in Maryland

The Maryland General Assembly’s 2022 legislative session resulted in the enactment of many new health care laws that will impact health care facilities, providers and insurers in the State. Here are some of the highlights from the 2022 session. Value-based care: New value-based care legislation:  (1) amends the Maryland Self-Referral Law to align with federal law permitting health care providers to be paid under certain value-based arrangements; (2)  amends the law governing health care practitioner compensation arrangements with insurers and health maintenance organizations to permit voluntary two-sided incentive arrangements with certain health care practitioners in which the practitioner can assume risk;

Tall buildings in baltimore city
Opinion: Making Baltimore City government work: Take the little steps

For much of the past century, there has been a dominant philosophy in Baltimore City government that in order to get big things done, the mayor needed to have extraordinary powers. And boy, the city’s mayor has them. From the power to set water and sewer rates to approval of multimillion-dollar contracts through the Board of Estimates, where the mayor controls three of five votes, the city’s chief executive wields far greater power within his or her domain than any other local elected official in the state — a level of authority above and beyond most fellow mayors across the country.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Opinion: City, state leaders must push for answers on CSX coal silo explosion in Baltimore

On Dec. 30 last year, a fire and explosion at South Baltimore’s CSX Curtis Bay Coal Piers shook homes in the neighboring community and sent a cloud of toxic dust across Curtis Avenue, choking residents unfortunate enough to be outdoors at the time. The massive silo explosion, which shut down operations at the country’s second-largest coal export piers, was heard three miles away in Anne Arundel County. Environmental disasters and toxic air emanating from dirty waterfront industries are nothing new in Curtis Bay. Neither are city and state officials lacking transparency and formal processes in their response.

Read More: Baltimore Sun

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