Commentary

Maybe it was the sudden and distressing news about a relative, or because 800,000 Americans have died in the pandemic, or because of the incessant gun violence in Baltimore. Whatever the reason, I decided it was time to pull over and watch a man carve a bear out of wood with a chain saw. Near Grantsville, in Western Maryland, Bob Wilt, the bearded bear carver of Bittinger Road, put on a face shield and hearing protectors.

For 81 years, the Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridge has provided a crucial highway link between Southern Maryland and Virginia. But the two-lane Potomac River crossing on U.S. 301 has in recent years been regarded as wholly inadequate with increasing traffic congestion and delays. Plans for a replacement showed up on the Maryland Transportation Authority’s drawing boards about a decade ago with construction finally launched last summer.

Last December, Mackenzie Scott, the philanthropist and former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated $85 million to three of Maryland’s four Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs. The recipients of the generosity were Bowie State University, Morgan State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). The gift generated a lot of buzz. But truth be told, there has been an abundance of good news unfolding at those three HBCUs as well as the fourth, Coppin State University, with more good news to come.

The parade of public statements emanating from colleges and universities following the brutal murder of George Floyd last year, and those released by large multinational corporations, shared common features. They embraced the activist language of racial equity and social justice organizations; they proposed administrative and academic hiring campaigns intended to foster greater “diversity, equity, and inclusion”; and they addressed the ongoing consequences of systemic racism in consciousness raising lectures and academic courses.

At a time of increasing demand for outdoor opportunities, our state parks are in crisis. Last year, 21.5 million visitors sought refuge in state parks — a 45% increase from 14.9 million in 2019. Thousands more were turned away with a record 292 closures due to overcrowding and lack of staffing. These turn aways were nearly triple the number in 2019 (101) at 15 state parks.

Though details of the recent cyberattack on the Maryland Department of Health are scarce — including implications for coronavirus reporting and Medicaid applications — malicious actors targeting state and local governments with sophisticated cyberattacks is nothing new. This incident follows a long line of incursions, including an attack against Baltimore City (which cost an estimated $18 million), MedStar and Baltimore County Public Schools, which prevented hundreds of thousands of Marylanders from accessing medical care or their classes.

Last Wednesday, members of the Carroll County Board of Education were on the verge of approving new restrictions on political speech among county educators when the proposal was tabled, apparently because a last-minute addition — the suggestion of a tracking system to help report teachers who stray from political “neutrality” — caused a bit of a stir. Might it be a violation of their free speech rights guaranteed by the 1st Amendment? The board’s lawyer thought that could be the case.

In 1955, the nation was horrified by the film “Blackboard Jungle.” It showed an inner-city school out of control where students terrifying teachers was a daily rite of passage. I saw the film in the early 60s, and I shuddered when Vic Morrow turned to Glenn Ford to say, ”You want to take me to the office Daddio? Then take me to the office.” Was this film an accurate portrayal of public education at the time? Absolutely not. Did it represent what was happening in far too many classrooms across the nation- then and now? It did indeed.

The Prince George’s County Council has maintained as a top priority, advancing the county’s new zoning ordinance and countywide map amendment. On Nov. 29, in its final legislative session of 2021, the county council unanimously adopted Council Resolution-136-2021, approving the countywide map amendment and completing a seven-year, multimillion-dollar effort to modernize the county’s 50-year-old zoning ordinance.

It is hard to imagine that any governor of Maryland would approve Lenny Cirincione for parole from prison. A jury convicted him of murdering a Baltimore police officer in 1986, and no governor — Republican or Democrat — wants to be the one who declares 35 years of incarceration sufficient punishment for that. Not even an outgoing governor planning to retire to Ocean Pines would dare grant Cirincione freedom.