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Commentary

Achieving Our Climate Goals With Composting
February 25, 2021 -

If Maryland is to achieve its climate goals, we need to source more renewable energy, reduce our energy usage and improve our waste management. One of the easiest and most effective strategies to reduce our waste stream is by removing organics from the system. In other words: support more composting. More and more residents are turning to recycling their fruits, vegetables and other food because these valuable resources should not be disposed of in landfills and in incinerators, but instead should be turned into soil building compost or diverted to food pantries for food insecure residents.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Montgomery should minimize the spread of the coronavirus before it reopens schools
February 25, 2021 -

In-person reopening during the coronavirus pandemic has become one of the most consequential battles in Montgomery County. Unfortunately, when teachers and administrators — people who dedicate their lives to working with students — voice their legitimate concerns regarding an incoherent plan, they are portrayed as uncaring, selfish boogeymen, especially if they’re unionized, as is the case in Montgomery County. Alternatively, proponents of prematurely reopening, such as the #OpenMCPS and #TogetherAgainMCPS groups who are calling for reopening without phasing in or meeting health metrics, often cast themselves as the saviors of low-income students and students of color.

Read More: Washington Post
US Navy Blue angels and US Air Force Thunderbirds flypast the US Capitol Building, May 2nd, 2020.
Editorial: The Senate’s first hearing on the Jan. 6 riot offered good questions — and few answers
February 24, 2021 -

“Who’s in charge? Who was ultimately responsible for the safety of the Capitol?” Those were the questions asked by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) Tuesday after the Senate concluded its first hearing into the breakdowns in intelligence-gathering and security preparations ahead of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Good questions, and no clear answers emerged from six hours of maddening testimony marked by finger-pointing and blame-shifting. Congress has much more work to do in finding out what went wrong and what needs to be done to prevent a recurrence.

Read More: Washington Post
Editorial: Maryland State Police must investigate allegations of discrimination against Black troopers
February 24, 2021 -

Some disturbing allegations have been made against the Maryland State Police and the way it treats its Black troopers. More than 20 of the officers took their complaints to members of the General Assembly’s Legislative Black Caucus, and last week lawmakers grilled Secretary of the State Police Col. Woodrow “Jerry” Jones III about an alleged culture of discrimination where Black officers feel there is little room for advancement and that they are disciplined more harshly for infractions than their white colleagues.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Rodricks: A Baltimore councilman at war with city cops
February 24, 2021 -

Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey calls the local police union a “racist brotherhood” and the union president “psychotic” and says he has no interest in engaging the city chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police in any kind of dialogue. That language is shocking, vicious and counterproductive, but followers of Dorsey on Twitter are used to his rants on cops and, specifically, the FOP. In fact, the 3rd District councilman appears to relish being a constant critic of the union.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Bresnahan: Annapolis Showdown on Utility Rip-Offs
February 24, 2021 -

This is the year the Maryland General Assembly needs to act. For years advocates having been trying to stop third-party energy providers from ripping off low-income and elderly customers on fixed incomes. Since 2014, Maryland families have paid $750 million more for their deregulated electricity and natural gas supply. Maryland households, especially vulnerable households, have been losing money by being duped into switching from their regulated utility to a third-party energy supplier.

Read More: Maryland Matters
McKinney and Orr: Immigration Status Should Not Be a Barrier to Working Family Tax Credits
February 24, 2021 -

Most Marylanders would agree economic supports should be available to all who need them. Seeing so many of our neighbors in need of additional financial assistance to continue to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, state leaders smartly looked to maximize one of our most powerful anti-poverty tools, the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Zurawik: An otherwise productive hearing on Capitol attack ruined by presence of Cruz and Hawley
February 24, 2021 -

As a media critic, I have developed a pretty high tolerance for hypocrisy. But not when seeing Republican Sens. Ted Cruz, of Texas, and Josh Hawley, of Missouri, Tuesday questioning law enforcement authorities about Capitol security and choices they made before and during an insurrection — an attack that was fueled by a lie that the two senators helped spread. That was too much for me.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
brown wooden tool on white surface
The case against cameras in Maryland courtrooms
February 23, 2021 -

The British courts have sweeping bans against press coverage of ongoing trials, and the Federal Judicial Conference, after several experiments, banned broadcast coverage in United States federal courts. Many state courts, too, forbid such recording, including Maryland’s, which in 1981 outlawed the use of electronic news media, cameras and recording devices. It is the only state I know of to impose an unequivocal ban by statute. Two U.S. Supreme Court cases drove much of the thinking in this area.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Kids already know ‘stop, drop and roll’ for fire emergencies; it’s time to teach ‘stop, wash and mask on’ for COVID-19
February 23, 2021 -

We all remember fire drills in school and “stop, drop and roll!” Sure, they were fun — firefighters often came in and showed off their cool gear — but they also prepared us for the exceedingly rare, but very real, possibility of an emergency. There is no doubt that now we are truly in an emergency that none of us can escape from — virus particles literally linger in the air all around us. Students will be returning to schools in greater numbers over the coming weeks with the governor’s push for hybrid learning by March 1.

Read More: Baltimore Sun

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