Commentary

The future of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is in the hands of the next governor. According to recent internal polls, the candidate who has, by far, the strongest education credentials — John King, the former U.S. secretary of education under President Obama — is well behind several other better known and financed candidates in the crowded Democratic field. Otherwise, it’s hard to pick an education favorite. In forums, gubernatorial candidates are usually lobbed softball questions that are easy to knock out of the park, and the Democrats tend to trot around the bases in lockstep.

When did I become me? I suppose I would have been conceived in January, at which point I would have been a mere single-celled, fertilized zygote. That zygote met pretty much all of the properties of life biologists typically use to distinguish what is alive and what is non-living: It was organized by molecules and organelles, had a metabolism, could maintain homeostasis and was growing. It is at this point that 95% of biologists would consider me “alive.” Some cultures protect this zygote’s life, with countries like Honduras, Montenegro, and the Philippines banning even the morning-after pill.

In Maryland’s solidly Democratic 4th Congressional District, anchored in Prince George’s County, the party’s primary this summer is a contest between two relatively well-known “formers.” It pits former representative Donna F. Edwards, running to regain the seat she held from 2008 to 2017, against Prince George’s former top prosecutor, Glenn Ivey. Both are able, savvy, qualified candidates, but Mr. Ivey would make a more effective member of Congress. He has our endorsement.

In the Washington area, we are emerging from an intermittently chilly spring into the full glory of May’s greening trees and blooming wildflowers, the return of migratory birds and the awakening from slumber of turtles, frogs and other creatures for whom warmth is essential. At the National Arboretum, the azaleas have passed their peak, and trillium, increasingly hard to find, are blooming here and there throughout the arboretum’s winding paths and woodlands.

The baby formula debacle has taught the nation many lessons. Among the most important is how the Food and Drug Administration failed. The agency did an insufficient job inspecting and monitoring formula factories. It reacted sluggishly to a whistleblower and to reports of sick infants. And it neglected to take timely action to prevent the shortage after a major production plant closed in February.

Gov. Larry Hogan’s political brand has been about being the no-nonsense guy who doesn’t play games but tells it like it is, especially in recent months as he attempts to define himself to a national audience for a potential presidential candidacy in 2024. We know this because he’s made whole speeches on the topic, including at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library several weeks ago where he expressed a preference for “work horses” over “show ponies.”

The joyous graduation celebrations of Frederick’s high schools and colleges are back at Mount St. Mary’s University for the first time since 2019, and it is worth remembering something: These students have been through a lot. At Frederick High School’s ceremony in the Mount’s Knott Arena, home to FCPS graduations for decades but not since 2019, the choir once again sang the classic Simon & Garfunkel song “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

The Youghiogheny River, in Western Maryland, is considered a Scenic and Wild River by the Department of Natural Resources. A few years ago, I hiked along four tough miles of the river and learned firsthand to appreciate what that special designation means. The Youghiogheny, or the Yock, flows for miles through Garrett County into Pennsylvania. The Maryland section, upstream of the town of Oakland to the town of Friendsville, is well known to white-water kayakers and rafters, visitors to Swallow Falls State Park and people who fish the Yock’s long pools and riffles.