Commentary

As of last week, all Marylanders receiving regular and/or federal unemployment benefits are again required to actively search for work. The good news for these individuals is the current job market is plentiful, as local employers look to fill hundreds of thousands of open positions across the state. But for workers displaced by the pandemic, a surplus of openings doesn’t necessarily mean it will be easy to get back to work.

If a tree falls in West Baltimore, how long will it take to blame Marilyn Mosby? To watch much of the news in Baltimore City, someone might come to the conclusion that the driver of crime in our city is not income inequality, easy access to guns or lack of employment opportunities — it is Marilyn Mosby. Yet the reason Ms. Mosby has become such a lightning rod is that she is trying to accomplish something difficult that many voters have asked for: criminal justice reform.

Thank you for publishing the commentary “Deaths from diseases rising, that’s unacceptable,” in the July 14 edition of The Aegis. The editorial responsibly and straightforwardly addressed the necessity for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine and to trust the expertise of doctors and scientists, not that of quacks. Missing from the commentary, however, was any mention of substance use disorder, often referred to as “drug addiction.” The National Institute of Health defines drug addiction as “a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences.”

To continue a dialog about landfill solutions, it would be helpful to delve a little deeper into the pile of debris left in the wake of efforts to truly explore a number of alternatives to operating a landfill in Carroll County. The long and short of the problem is, the county has left itself at the mercy of federal and state mandates about what we do with the tons of trash generated every day. We have taken the short view, and it will cost us in the long run.