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Commentary

Del. Shaneka Henson: Time to Clean Out the Medicine Cabinet
April 23, 2021 -

Over the last year, COVID-19 has dominated our national discourse and overshadowed other topics. We have seen how COVID has masked and even worsened the opioid epidemic that has continued to ravage our communities. Unfortunately, we see troubling evidence that addiction and the coronavirus may interact in ways that exacerbate both problems. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has documented how people with substance use disorders are at higher risk for contracting and suffering more severe consequences from COVID-19. Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of NIDA, and her colleagues also show through their research that this is especially true for African Americans.

Read More: Center Maryland
Annapolis is making headway on protecting the environment
April 22, 2021 -

Earth Day is when we celebrate the Earth and renew our commitment to creating a healthier, greener planet that will sustain generations to come. It’s a perfect time to reflect on how the coronavirus pandemic shined a light on the importance of our natural environment to our mental and physical health, how it sustains us in times of stress, and provides spaces for recreation, relaxation, teaching our children, and keeping our businesses alive. Over the past year, we saw our air and waters rebound because we drove less, and walked, biked, and paddled more.

Read More: Capital Gazette
In this 2017 photo, captured inside a clinical setting, a health care provider was placing a bandage on the injection site of a child, who had just received a seasonal influenza vaccine. Children younger than 5-years-old, and especially those younger than 2-years-old, are at high risk of developing serious flu-related complications. A flu vaccine offers the best defense against flu, and its potentially serious consequences, and can also reduce the spread of flu to others.
Vincent DeMarco: Public Health Legislation Bolstered by an Array of Supporters
April 21, 2021 -

I greatly appreciate Maryland Matters declaring “Public Health” to be a winner in the 2021 General Assembly session (“General Assembly Session 2021: Winners and Losers.”) As you note, one of the main reasons public health was a winner was the enactment of the Health Equity Resource Communities legislation, which will address health disparities and improve health equity in our state. We were thrilled that the General Assembly allocated $59 million in funding for health equity communities over the next five years from secure funding sources.

Read More: Maryland Matters
The case for legalizing online poker in Maryland
April 20, 2021 -

Marylanders will soon be able to wager in person and online on the outcome of a sporting event, but poker players in Maryland remain unable to compete and wager online. With the ascendancies of sports betting, it is time for Maryland to join six other states — New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, Michigan, West Virginia and Pennsylvania — in legalizing online poker.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
A police car
Having a mental illness is not a crime and shouldn’t be treated as one
April 19, 2021 -

Police aren’t the ideal people to handle mental health crises, but often find themselves doing just that. They’re frequently the first deployed when families call 911 because someone in the home is suffering mental distress and is a threat to themselves and others. Unfortunately, sometimes these calls can go horribly wrong, like when police can’t de-escalate the situation and end up using force — sometimes lethal — to subdue someone.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
A booster shot should not be cause for concern. It’s a window into the future.
April 19, 2021 -

WAIT, A BOOSTER? The chief executive of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, says those who have received its two-shot coronavirus vaccine are “likely” to need “a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination,” depending on the science. This should not be a cause for dismay. Rather, it is a window into the future — the battle against coronavirus will go on for years, and require agility and different behavior.

Read More: Washington Post
Ellen Moyer: We can’t learn from history if we make it invisible
April 19, 2021 -

Whoa! On April 5, the statue of Irishman John O’Donnell, who settled in East Baltimore in 1785 on land that is today the trendy upscale Canton neighborhood, was dismantled. Eight hundred people signed an online petition to remove him from the park of his name because he owned a 1900-acre plantation managed by 36 slaves. For Baltimore to heal and become “a city welcome to everyone, everywhere” this symbol of the enslaver and oppression had to go.

Read More: Capital Gazette
Downtown Baltimore needs an inflatable duck (or the 2021 equivalent in shameless self-promotion)
April 16, 2021 -

As expected, the latest assessment of downtown Baltimore shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has been unkind to retail centers, tourist attractions and the hospitality industry, and that the city still grapples with shooting deaths, population loss and neglect of the once-thriving Harborplace pavilions. But, and perhaps this is the biggest surprise, the metrics really aren’t so bad, particularly in residential growth and robust property values.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Our cities are eliminating the cash security deposit as we know it. Here’s how.
April 16, 2021 -

Over the past decade, housing costs in the United States have risen by roughly a third as cities across the country, including in the D.C. area, have experienced a significant spike in renting costs. In our nation’s capital, a majority of residents rent their homes, and nearly 45 percent of renters pay between 31 and 50 percent of their income on rent. Lower-income communities are even more cash-strained, with more than 60 percent earning less than $20,000 per year and spending more than half of their income on rent. The problem has been exacerbated throughout the coronavirus pandemic because of record layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts.

Read More: Washington Post
Buckley’s budget represents sound planning and good luck
April 16, 2021 -

Mayor Gavin Buckley’s first budget was transformational. It did away with a lot of budget gimmicks Annapolis used to hide the cost of city services and then paid for that honest total with a property tax rate increase. There were complaints aplenty, and there still are. Expect it to be the focus of every Republican, and some Democrats, thinking it might be fun to be the mayor. So Buckley could have been excused for hoping the final budget in his four-year term — he’s asking voters for another four this fall — to be less of a challenge.

Read More: Capital Gazette

The Morning Rundown

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