Commentary

Archimedes figured out how buoyancy makes a boat float 2,300 years ago. It’s up to the Maryland Natural Resources Police and federal investigators to sort out why the Lovebug, 104 feet of floating opulence and high-tech nautical equipment, did not. “We’re treating it just like any other recreational boating accident,” said Hunter Dortenzo, a police spokesperson.

The origins of the Fund for Educational Excellence date back to 1984, when Baltimore’s then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer requested the creation of an organization that would facilitate public and private partners to uplift Baltimore City Public Schools. From its inception, the Fund has been dedicated to our mission of improving the quality of education in Baltimore, upholding the belief that a thriving public education system is critical to the overall health of our city. Simultaneously, the Fund has evolved to meet the changing needs of Baltimore’s students, educators and families.

I talk a lot about how a fundamental fear of change is at the heart of most opposition to new, denser housing, zoning reform, and affordable housing developments. These are things we need, but far too many of us are far too good at finding reasons they should go somewhere else. Most people that oppose the policies I advocate for aren’t driven just by misanthropy, malice, or greed, but by a combination of those fears.

In August 2020, Joe Biden accepted the Democratic nomination for president, promising to “choose a different path.” Instead of governing a country “becoming angrier, less hopeful, more divided,” Biden would help us “to heal, to reform, to unite.” Now, Donald Trump, accepting the Republican nomination four years later, also pledges to unite.

When hyperthermia claims a life, it’s said the body undergoes a horrifying transformation. Initially sweating profusely, the victim quickly stops sweating as their skin becomes hot and dry. Organs fail as the core temperature soars. The brain swells. Muscle tissue breaks down. The heart, strained beyond its limits, eventually succumbs to cardiac arrest.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury announced that the gross national debt reached $35 trillion – that’s more than $266,000 per U.S. taxpayer. To put it in perspective, it would take 22 years to pay off this debt if every family in the country donated $1,000, per month. Worse, it is projected to double over the next 10 years! Folks, this is a national crisis.

Maryland voters must know by now that the stakes are high in the U.S. Senate race between Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and former Gov. Larry Hogan. It’s within the realm of possibilities that the outcome could tip the balance of Senate leadership from Democratic to Republican if Hogan wins. So, under these extraordinary circumstances, is it really too much to expect these candidates — both experienced public speakers and campaign veterans — to square off in multiple debates?

Among the last things Gene Oishi wrote, the preface to the new edition of his 1988 memoir refers to “the resurgence of racial prejudices and animosities in the United States.” But then it veers away from that troubling subject and resists reference to Donald Trump. “My memoir,” Oishi wrote in March, “is not about the state of our country, but about how I view my place in it.”