Commentary

“In my life,” Eric Schuster said, “except for my father and father-in-law, there has been no man I respected more than Judge Joseph W. Hatchett.” Schuster is an attorney with Funk & Bolton in Baltimore, specializing in financial law and, specifically, creditor rights. In 1983, after he graduated from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, he scored a clerkship with Hatchett, who at the time sat in Tallahassee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. (Judges on the 11th Circuit review and rule on cases from Florida, Georgia and Alabama.)

Children and adolescents in our country are in crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a comprehensive survey that chronicled a startling decline in adolescent mental health from 2009 to 2019. According to that report, more than 1 out of every 3 high school students had experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2019 — a 40% increase since 2009. This is not an occasional bad day.

Like most mothers, some of my first thoughts every morning are about my children. I have two daughters, both now adults, who are deaf. I am immensely proud of them, and as their mother, I am no less concerned with their happiness, health and safety today than when they were little. Like other families of children with disabilities and special health care needs, our thoughts never stray too far from concerns that our kids have continued access to the resources they need to thrive.

In order to counter the destructive forces of the coronavirus pandemic and correct a supply/demand imbalance in the economy by increasing demand, the Federal Reserve and the Congress took extraordinary action. They poured more than $5 trillion into the US economy — a macroeconomic stimulus closer to World War II levels than to normal recession levels. The primary drivers of inflation are wages, housing and energy. Inflation is likely to get worse before it gets better. Washington Post economics columnist Heather Long expects inflation to reach 10%.

The foundation of Howard County’s nationally recognized quality of life is our exceptional education system. One of my most meaningful responsibilities as county executive is to provide needed resources that create a nourishing environment allowing our students and educators to flourish. My proposed capital spending plan builds on our strong foundation and seeks to expand opportunities for all, containing an historic $105.9 million for school construction – the most in the past 20 years.

The toxic chemical industry has engulfed entire residential areas of Baltimore. But in the long-suffering neighborhood of Curtis Bay, the local community is fighting back. Recently, I heard Dr. Nicole Fabricant, Professor of Anthropology at Towson University, discuss the environmental injustices experienced by residents of the Curtis Bay community in South Baltimore. Historically, Curtis Bay was a working-class white neighborhood. In recent years, Curtis Bay has seen an increasing Black population, from 25.18% Black in the 2000 Census, rising to 38.74% in the 2020 Census. Every one of those locals has one poisonous neighbor: Curtis Bay is home to the largest medical waste incinerator in America.

In the legislative redistricting challenges, Fair Maps Maryland and Republican petitioners seem obsessed, insisting that all districts are drawn to be, primarily, compact. However, compactness is not the main goal of legislative redistricting. Article III, Section 4 of the Maryland Constitution instructs that, “Due regard shall be given to natural boundaries and the boundaries of political subdivisions.”

Quick, and without doing Google: What’s the capital city of Belarus? (Hint: It rhymes with Pinsk.) Second question: Is Poland a landlocked country? Third question: What is an oblast? Bonus question: Which of these countries are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization? (a.) Norway (b.) Georgia (c.) Ukraine. (d.) Latvia. Answers: Minsk is the capital of Belarus; no, Poland’s northern coast is on the Baltic Sea; an oblast is a political district, similar to a province, a term still used in Russia and other East European countries; and neither Ukraine nor Georgia are members of NATO, though a commission chaired by Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin recently urged the Biden administration to declare both countries “major non-NATO allies,” signifying an upgrade of the U.S. defense relationship with them.