Commentary

Last week, CNN aired an interview during which former head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Robert Redfield said that COVID-19 “most likely” originated in a lab in Wuhan, China. This was unfortunate for a number of reasons, one of which being that it’s probably untrue. Most leading experts have dismissed the theory of accidental infection of a lab worker (deliberate release by the Chinese government is strictly the province of QANon conspiracy theorists) as doubtful, including the World Health Organization.

I have more than three years of full-time math teaching experience in two different school districts. Every year I have been in the classroom I’ve received a rating of either effective or highly effective. Additionally, I prefer to teach in Title 1 schools, which are traditionally harder to staff. It is my aim to teach in Baltimore City next school year and do my best to serve the Charm City community, but when I applied to Baltimore City Public Schools I was told I did not meet the requirements.

Google is everybody’s rap sheet. Grand juries usually launch with a paper trail and people wearing badges riffling through swatches of newspaper clippings, or, these days, printouts from news sites. Those stacks of paper are a form of autobiography. They tell who a person is, what the person does, where the person’s been, and, if the proctoscopic analysis is thorough, where the pot of gold is buried.

It was a normal transaction. A man went to a licensed gun store north of Atlanta, filled out paperwork, got an instant background check, paid the bill and walked out with a gun. No waiting period; no required safety or training class. And just hours later, according to authorities, that 21-year-old man used that 9mm handgun to kill eight people in a rampage that targeted Asian spas. The obvious question that emerges is “What if?”

For nearly a decade, CASA, ACLU of Maryland, advocates and hundreds of immigrant families across the state have fought to end Maryland’s partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After years of little movement in the General Assembly, Maryland lawmakers are in a greater position than ever to pass the Trust Act this session. Black and Latinx immigrants across Maryland live in fear of being unlawfully arrested, detained, separated from their families, and deported because of the cruel policies of state and local law enforcement.

The League of Women Voters believes that voting is a fundamental citizen right that must be guaranteed. This is why we have been working with other organizations and our legislative champions to pass HB 222 – The Value My Vote Act. In 2016, voting rights were restored to Maryland citizens who had been convicted of a felony but are no longer incarcerated. However, no process was put in place to ensure that these citizens could exercise those rights, and many are unaware that they are now allowed to participate in democracy. In addition, Marylanders who are incarcerated while awaiting trial, or who were convicted of a misdemeanor, have the right to vote but don’t have access to voter registration forms or mail-in ballot applications.