Commentary

Transportation issues are rarely about getting from here to there. Usually they involve money, race, labor unions, jobs, votes, and whose back porch will disappear in the bulldozer’s path. So saying, there are two sticks of dynamite in the newly invigorated push to revive Baltimore’s stranded Red Line project: (1) The party of the governor who’s elected next year; or (2) The costly and redundant tunnel section of the original plan.

The national tragedy of addiction has touched families in every ZIP code in Harford County. The good news is that recovery is possible and life in recovery is wonderful. Harford County will bring this message of hope to local families as we celebrate National Recovery Month this September. Working with community partners, we have planned activities and events to remove stigmas about mental health and substance use disorder, share resources, and spread the word that treatment works.

As the delta variant rages and threatens to disrupt another school year, it’s past time for Gov. Larry Hogan to step up, heed the science and acknowledge that the COVID-19 emergency is not over. He must reject short-sighted partisanship by following the example of the more than dozen states – including Delaware, New Jersey and Virginia – which have already established statewide mandates for indoor masking in schools, and governors like California’s Gavin Newson, who is requiring vaccinations for educators and education support professionals.

I joined the Army before there was a war, and I never thought that one would come so soon. I joined because so many of the virtues and values I believed in as a young man had been taught to me by the instructors and Army officers I met at the military school my mom sent me to in hopes that I would stay out of trouble. I later became a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division and sought to live the values

Just about every day I see things that prompt me to ask, “What’s taking so long?” This happens a lot with regard to climate change. The clock is ticking, and ticking louder, as the planet gets warmer, and we human beings — supposedly the most advanced form of life on the planet — still fail to come up with solutions. Check that: We come up with solutions, or know what they are; we just don’t bring them to scale fast enough.

The county is taking its Livable Frederick Master Plan out for a test drive, using the document which was approved by the County Council in 2019 as a template to examine the future of the Sugarloaf Mountain area. The beautiful rural and agricultural region looks like a good place for a real-world test of the principles and policies of Livable Frederick.