Sun greatly overstates risk of dental rip-offs

A recent article by Kaiser Health News and reprinted in The Baltimore Sun and other newspapers, (“Some dentists push unnecessary procedures” June 7), sadly cherry-picked a select few dentists performing unnecessary procedures across the country to boost profits for their practice, some as many as 30 years ago, while ignoring the hundreds of thousands of honest, hard-working dentists providing oral health care to their patients. It was as if the reporter simply searched “nightmare dental cases” in Google.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Tiernan & Nelson: Commercial tenancies, COVID-19 and ‘frustration of purpose’

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Larry Hogan signed a statewide order shutting down all “nonessential businesses” on March 23, 2020. If not designated an essential business by the order, a business had either severely restricted operations or was unable to operate altogether. While affected by the order, many businesses have looked to their leases to determine what contractual rights are available to tenants to avoid paying rent while unable to operate at full capacity.

Conowingo Dam License Will Benefit the Bay

The commentary “Legislature Must Act to Save the Bay in Light of Conowingo Dam Decision” [Maryland Matters, June 10] was misleading and inaccurate. As an Exelon Generation employee and environmental advocate, I’d like to set the record straight. The Waterkeepers Chesapeake organization claims Exelon Generation and the dam have caused pollution in the Bay when, in fact, the opposite is true.

Hopkins: Juneteenth: a day to reflect, celebrate and educate

This week, many people throughout Baltimore and beyond are celebrating Juneteenth, which commemorates the moment enslaved people in Texas received the news that they were free. It marks the end of the institution of slavery and the beginning of the generational pursuit of freedom. Though the war had already been won and their emancipation proclaimed, the arrival of the news caused great celebration, and today, we celebrate Juneteenth with reflection, celebration and education.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
LeGendre: Keeping an eye and ear on social media trends

Summer 2021 is a great time for marketing organizations to review, renew or revise their somewhat costly (in terms of time and/or dollars) social media strategies. There are almost too many to count emerging social media platforms, so anticipate that this process will be a necessary, ongoing, and time-consuming challenge. There are several emerging platforms to literally keep an eye and ear on. Let’s begin with TikTok.

Sutherland and Mannion: Anne Arundel councilman’s budget analysis was just wrong

Councilman Nathan Volke began his recent guest column with, “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time” (The Capital, Jan. 12). But as the former county auditor and former assistant county auditor with, collectively, more than 60 years of government budget and accounting experience, the quote that comes to mind when reading Volke’s column is H.L. Mencken’s: “For every complex problem, there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”

If Society Values Redemption, Then Changes to Sentencing Rule Are Necessary

Opportunity for parole should be based on two factors: meeting terms of punishment and rehabilitation. The Court of Appeals is considering amending Maryland Rule 4-345 to provide a reasonable path to release for those who were convicted of crimes committed when they were younger than 25, when science tells us they had not reached the level of culpability that we ascribe to adult decision-making.

Kurtz: Political Potpourri

It should come as a surprise to nobody, but Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) is really leaning into her role as Prince George’s County executive now that she has publicly declared that she isn’t going to run for governor in 2022. In fact, ironically, Alsobrooks’ State of the County address last week had all the trappings of a gubernatorial address, including an enthusiastic, live prime-time audience. It also happened to be chock-full of substance.

Caminiti: Anne Arundel school board members hijack “All Means All” in debate of LGBTQ+ policy

On April 21, our Board of Education began discussing the proposed policy on “Safe and Inclusive Environments for LGBTQ+ students.” Unfortunately, since that time, many board members have made comments that demonstrate their lack of understanding about what this policy means to the LGBTQ+ community. At the meeting Board member Corine Frank said: “I heard in public testimony a lot of comments on bullying … To my mind, we already have a significant amount of policy addressing bullying … So, I would like to ask what we think another policy is going to do?”

One year, three months and 10 days

One year, three months and 10 days. That’s how long we’ve been under a state of emergency, a step Gov. Larry Hogan took back in March 2020 once the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Maryland. Since then, 9,472 lives around the state have been lost to the virus — including 331 in Frederick County. The number of confirmed cases has reached 461,392, with 19,814 right here in the county.