Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) recently updated its policy regarding student meal debt. Among other changes, students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals will not be required to repay debt. MCPS’s superintendent can pursue private donations to reduce the amount families owe. And a proposal requiring students in debt to receive an alternate meal — which invites stigma and abuse — was shelved. The new plan is an improvement. But the fact that it is needed at all is an abomination. If all students received school meals at no charge, school meal debt would not exist.
I came to Baltimore in 1970 to work at the Regional Planning Council, a predecessor of today’s Baltimore Metropolitan Council. My work was as part of a team analyzing the demographic and economic trends shaping the region consisting of Baltimore City and the five surrounding counties. As part of our studies, we tracked the major employers that played a key role in the regional economy. Standing out above them all was Bethlehem Steel, with its steel mill and associated shipbuilding activities at Sparrows Point in southeast Baltimore County.
Climate change has become a mainstay in public discussion due to its pernicious long-lasting implications that increasingly affect communities around the U.S., particularly Edgewood, Maryland. Our dependency on fossil fuels has led to irreversible changes that exacerbate the intensity and frequency of natural disasters. A growing cause for concern is the prevalence of natural disasters resulting from climate change. The latter are unfortunate industrial accidents due to natural hazards like wildfires, tornadoes or floods. Lacking proper preventive measures, facilities impacted by such events can spread dangerous chemicals into the surrounding environment.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly took a major step forward in supporting Maryland’s working families by passing landmark legislation establishing a paid family and medical leave program.
For the past dozen years, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) has been introducing legislation in Congress to create a national green bank — a mechanism to provide some level of government support for the private sector to develop clean energy projects as the climate crisis worsens.
Transportation in Central Maryland has been top of mind, and at the forefront of the news recently. But it’s an issue that we at United Way of Central Maryland have seen systemically, and historically, affecting underserved communities.
On Saturday — the day before he departed for Uvalde, Tx- President Biden told University of Delaware graduates: “In the face of such destructive forces, we have to stand stronger. We cannot outlaw tragedy, I know, but we can make America safer.” He also warned of the “oldest and darkest forces in America” preaching hate and “preying on hopelessness and despair.”
The gun lobby is already going into overdrive with comments we have all heard ad nauseam after these frequent occurrences. These include the bromide that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens make our country safer. With about 400 million guns owned by civilians in this country, the United States should be the safest place in the world if this reasoning were sound. It is not. We are not safe in schools, supermarkets, churches, synagogues, mosques, cars, out in the street or in our homes.
The gleaming white marble. The massive columns. The huge statue of a man sitting straight up with purpose and solemn dignity. The face is wise and weary and staring resolutely ahead. The hands — one clinched and the other relaxed. The inscribed speeches calling us to find our better angels and forge ahead.
Addressing a sea of red, white and blue clothing and military-themed hats at Mount Olivet Cemetery, William “Bill” Hartmann recounted an experience from March 2003 that, to this day, prompts a profound debt of gratitude he feels for service members killed in war.
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