Commentary

The recent guest commentary by Maryland Advocates for Sustainable Transportation unfairly attacks Comptroller Peter Franchot and continues to propagate a series of misrepresentations about Maryland’s proposed public-private partnership to add new managed lanes to the American Legion Bridge and I-270. As we have learned in the recent past, just repeating fake news does not make it real. The commentary continues to cite the costs and impacts of implementing toll lanes on sections of I-495 east of the I-270 spur that are not even part of Phase 1 of the P3 program.

Forget the momentary shortage of gas. There’s an abundance of toilet paper. Most people are not hoarders. But those are the two commodities that seem to bring out the selfishness and impatience in people, though the correlation between the combustion engine and America’s bowel habits is difficult to discern. At the peak of the pandemic, toilet paper and disinfectant wipes were premium goods, nearly at cryptocurrency value.

A Gubernatorial “pardon” is a poorly named mechanism to redress the terror deaths of Black lynching victims, conjuring as it does the idea of absolution in cases where guilt — which generally was never or poorly established in the first place — was beside the point. The indisputable crimes, and the irrefutable guilt, belong not to the victims of the lynchings but to their perpetrators, the mobs that killed with the active assistance or complicity of local officials and law enforcement.

Spring is typically a time of new life, renewal and hope. The grass begins to turn from brown to green, the bare trees sprout new leaves, flowers pop up, and baseball season begins. As a lifelong, die-hard Orioles fan, Opening Day has long been a tradition and a day to celebrate the clean slate of the new season. But last year at this time, so much was stripped from all of us around the world. With the arrival of spring, we were faced with what felt like impending doom and uncertainty instead of hope and life. In those dark days, the absence of sports and especially baseball felt like such a low blow.

Medicare-eligible seniors in Maryland suffer from a limited number of health insurance benefit options compared to other states. While the share of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans climbed to almost 40% nationally in 2020, in Maryland only 13% of seniors enjoy the added security these plans provide. Thankfully, efforts by local leaders as well as the Biden administration can help our state’s seniors by improving access to coverage choices and supplemental benefits not otherwise covered under traditional Medicare.

There are a lot of unanswered questions in the case of a Baltimore County man killed by police after he fatally shot three of his neighbors and injured a fourth. Among them: Did 56-year-old Everton Brown have a mental condition that caused him to lash out? So far, all we know now is that people in his Woodlawn neighborhood speculated that was the case. Reports of extreme paranoia and a belief that the CIA, FBI and various neighbors were watching him certainly leave it within the realm of possibility. Other erratic behavior also raises suspicions.