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Commentary

At age 12, I’m participating in a COVID-19 vaccine trial. Here’s why
June 1, 2021 -

There’s a two-thirds chance I got an experimental COVID vaccine and a one-third chance I got a shot of salt water. Why would a preteen join a COVID vaccine trial now? I appreciate the chance to do anything to help return to normal. For 14 months, I have been waiting for the pandemic to end. Just waiting. There have been things I could not do — don’t go out, don’t touch things, don’t breathe on people — but this vaccine trial is my first chance to actively help.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Be warned, Maryland: Potentially fierce hurricane season ahead
June 1, 2021 -

The first day of June is the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, and while no one can predict the future with certainty, experts are already warning that things look bad for the eastern United States and Gulf Coast. Here’s one clue: Mother Nature has jumped the gun; the “A” name is already taken with the development of Tropical Storm Ana on May 21.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
COVID-19 may be waning in the U.S., but it rages elsewhere, which threatens our progress; we must intervene for all our sakes
May 28, 2021 -

The mood in the U.S. feels hopeful, but for tens of millions of others across the world the darkest days of the pandemic are just beginning. As the head of the Baltimore-based international humanitarian organization Catholic Relief Services (CRS) — and a man who recently lost family in India to the coronavirus — I can attest to the COVID-19 tsunami unfurling elsewhere. In Nepal, COVID cases have overtaken a struggling health care system. In Brazil, children are dying at alarmingly high rates. And in certain parts of India, the air is thick with crematorium smoke.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Neighborhood Drone image
Ending Single-Family Detached Zoning Benefits Everyone
May 27, 2021 -

Policymakers across the country are considering large- and small-scale revisions to single-family detached zoning regulations that would allow diversification of housing types in these areas. Most prominent among these is an effort to expand the availability of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, and multi-unit dwellings, or MUDs, in single-family zones that will create units at a lower price point/market rent within these otherwise cost-prohibitive neighborhoods.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Black Caucus Chair: Sports Betting in Md. an Opportunity to Promote Equity, Right Wrongs
May 27, 2021 -

“Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” This past legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly made history in passing what House Speaker Adrienne Jones referred to as “The Black Agenda.” With the passage of robust police reform, legislation requiring companies to diversify their corporate boards and approving historic funding for Maryland’s four HBCUs, Maryland made progress in righting historical wrongs that had for too long gone unresolved.

Read More: Maryland Matters
suburbs, homes, neighbors
The Champions of Doing Nothing
May 26, 2021 -

It looks as though some members of the county council are on the verge of cutting funding for affordable housing. Again. In protest, or, perhaps in weariness, I am running this post again: I’ve been thinking a lot about pie charts lately. I had an epiphany when reading an appeal to the community to donate school supplies. The writer, a local realtor, related that the cost to outfit a student with the requisite supplies would cost about sixty to eighty dollars and that there were many families in Howard County that couldn’t afford that.

Read More: Village Green/Town²
Simone Biles and the power of a woman’s voice
May 26, 2021 -

The awesomeness and Black Girl Magic that is Simone Biles had the perfect response when asked why she keeps performing such difficult moves, including the recent Yurchenko double pike: “Because I can.” She promised to keep pursuing such bold moves, despite lower scoring by judges who may be concerned about the danger of pushing to such heights, but also likely don’t want Ms. Biles to get too far ahead of the rest of the field.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Harford health officer: Should I resign for giving mask medical advice to marching band?
May 26, 2021 -

Last week a local politician asked me to resign as health officer because I had given my best advice on how to protect a school marching band during a 4th of July parade. Horns and woodwinds expel aerosols much farther than breathing and speaking, so even an outdoor performance with an infected musician could spread COVID-19 to other players and to the crowd.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Black Caucus Chair: Sports Betting in Md. an Opportunity to Promote Equity, Right Wrongs
May 26, 2021 -

“Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” This past legislative session, the Maryland General Assembly made history in passing what House Speaker Adrienne Jones referred to as “The Black Agenda.” With the passage of robust police reform, legislation requiring companies to diversify their corporate boards and approving historic funding for Maryland’s four HBCUs, Maryland made progress in righting historical wrongs that had for too long gone unresolved.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Millennials: Be prepared for volatility in your retirement planning
May 26, 2021 -

For those who have lived through the dot-com bubble bursting in 2000 and the housing market crash in 2008, they experienced how those financially challenging times impacted long-term retirement planning strategies. Fast forward to today, and many people are confident in their ability to save for retirement – even as we emerge from an economically difficult pandemic scenario. With millennials being the largest workforce in the U.S., they should also be prepared for future market volatility, even if confidence is currently high today.

Read More: The Daily Record

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