Commentary

Maryland should require rigorous standardized tests of students starting at the ages of 4 or 5. No kidding. This proposal is sure to shock and enrage many parents and educators. “Too much testing” is already a common criticism of public schools. On top of that, many parents and early childhood practitioners think public schools have already gone too far, too fast in academically “drilling and killing” our youngest schoolchildren.

Since I was sworn in as the eighth county executive for Prince George’s County over three years ago, I have had the privilege of making numerous appointments to help move our county forward. Among them; a fire chief, a police chief, a school CEO, a chief administrative officer, a chief information officer, and many more. Each time I have sought a candidate to lead an agency or entity, I have kept one thing top of mind: choose the best qualified person for the position, who will do their level best for the residents of this county.

Two major transportation projects have hit something of a crossroads. First, there was Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge John M. Maloney’s Feb. 17 ruling to delay, in ortder to consider a bid protest, what has proven to be Gov. Larry Hogan’s favorite transportation initiative: the widening of Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway, and replacement of the American Legion Bridge under a public-private partnership.

The National Guard has been activated, state police are on high alert, snow trucks are positioned to thwart the invasion, and Capitol Hill is full of unmarked cars parked in strategic spots and waiting. A crisis has erupted overseas. But these measures — and the millions of dollars they will cost us — have nothing to do with Vladimir Putin. Bob Bolus and his four trucks are coming.

I can’t imagine being employed as a bank teller and accepting check No. 6602, for $175,000, drawn on the PNC Bank account of a Maryland woman named Myrle Bratcher and made out to a Chinese technology company. I can’t imagine that any teller presented with this check in a JPMorgan Chase branch in New York City on or about March 2, 2021, would process it without first asking a manager if the check looked legit.

Two major events are taking place during March. First is the rescheduled 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Awards Dinner, which will take place at 6 p.m. on March 11, at the BWI Westin Hotel in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. The next major event, scheduled for March 29, is the Fourth Annual Michelle Obama Awards that honor women of various racial backgrounds that have made a significant contribution to Anne Arundel County. The Martin Luther King awards dinner will h

U.S. District Court Judge Lydia Griggsby made the right call this week in quickly striking down a map proposed by the Baltimore County Council, which was a textbook violation of the Voting Rights Act. With this ruling, the County Council now has a golden opportunity — in addition to a legal obligation — to create a fair map that allows for more equitable representation and greater civic participation. And they have an opportunity to craft a map that reflects today’s rich diversity of Maryland’s third largest jurisdiction.

When I was a teenager, my mother told me that her father had been a philosophical anarchist who wrote articles about anarchism for a Yiddish-language newspaper in the early 20th century. He died when I was a little girl, so I never had an opportunity to discuss his political beliefs with him. Wondering what philosophical anarchism was, I did some research and decided that I was an anarchist, too. The “philosophical” part meant that my grandfather didn’t believe in using violence to reach the utopian goal of a stateless world. As a pacifist I agreed. For me anarchism was a benign, unachievable substitute for religion that I sentimentally clung to for many years.