Commentary

The Minneapolis Police Department will face the intense scrutiny of a federal program after a state investigation spurred by the killing of George Floyd concluded that the city’s officers stop and arrest Black people more than white people, use force more often on people of color, and maintain a culture in which racist language is tolerated. The court enforced plan, known as a consent decree, has been credited with bringing significant reform in some places but scorned by critics elsewhere as ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money.

Five years ago on Friday, Lt. Richard Collins III, a young Black man, was killed at a bus stop on the College Park campus of the University of Maryland. His murderer was a man with white supremacist ties, who demanded Richard step aside and then stabbed him to death when Richard refused. Lt. Collins was the best of America. He was a leader and a student athlete; he was kind and compassionate and had a deep desire to serve his country.

The largest increase in federal funding for Chesapeake Bay restoration in recent memory is quickly headed to on-the-ground projects where communities need them most. The announcement from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials earlier this month is cause for celebration, and reason to take careful note of what works. The Chesapeake Bay and the 18 million of us who share its 64,000-square-mile watershed face interconnected challenges.

In the broadest sense, what goes by the name “replacement theory” — the idea that American elites are conspiring to replace so-called real Americans with immigrants from poor countries — is merely a description of the American way, enshrined in tradition, codified by law, promoted by successive generations of American leaders from Washington and Lincoln to Kennedy and Reagan. There have been four, arguably five, great replacements in American history.

Do Maryland’s stewards realize that they are investing $8.3 billion to procure electricity with a probable market value of $3.3 billion? Decarbonization is an unprecedented challenge in both its political and system engineering complexity. America’s engineers have used science to build some amazingly complex systems, but their methodology is incompatible with Maryland’s political management structure. While policymakers are skilled at representing the will of the people, they lack the discipline required to set rational goals and the experience to develop complex systems.

As maternal mental health advocates, we appreciated Jennifer Wadsworth’s May 10 Health & Science article, “Rise of perinatal and postpartum depressions.” This problem demands urgent action. But the health-care system responses mentioned must be the beginning, not the end, of reform. Well before the coronavirus, millions of pregnant women and mothers faced domestic or community violence, poverty and the denial of health care, food and child care, among other threats. Under those circumstances, anxiety, depression and other “disorders” are best understood as normal responses to very real dangers.

As we are progressing further into the 21st century, more and more businesses are moving their operations online. The days when eCommerce was a novel idea are long gone, and almost every major business has an online presence. As this trend continues, the competition for market share will become increasingly fierce. In order to remain competitive in 2022 and beyond, eCommerce businesses will need to overcome several challenges. The eCommerce industry is booming and is only going to continue to grow in the next few years.