Commentary

Even as local governments ponder how to shower tens of millions of dollars in American Rescue Plan assistance on distressed businesses, Maryland workers eligible for enhanced unemployment payments under the same federal legislation are getting word of an early end to that extra $300. Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday announced that the enhanced payments will stop on July 3 in Maryland and that work search requirements will be reinstated. Why?

Baltimore is a charming city with a proud past. Fort McHenry and the city’s railroad network were pivotal to the nation’s victories in the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The first gas streetlamp was illuminated in “Charm City,” and the first American telegram was sent to … you guessed it, Baltimore. But for all its successes, the city has been marred by endemic corruption and the long shadow of segregation.

Not to be outdone by San Francisco; Portland, Oregon, or several other contenders, Baltimore is now considering the nation’s most restrictive ban on facial recognition technology. Passed on May 27 by the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety and Government Operations, the proposed ordinance would not just prevent city government from acquiring facial recognition technology, but also ban most commercial uses, thereby cutting off city businesses, workers and residents from a wide range of beneficial applications.

There’s something awfully peculiar when a governor vetoes legislation that passed the General Assembly with just a handful of dissenting votes, as did the bill to provide more transparency in emergency procurements. And when he announces he’s allowing more than 400 bills to become law without his signature — including such benign measures as the establishment of a task force on oral health, which passed the legislature with just one dissenting vote among 188 lawmakers — it only seems stranger.

When state Sen. Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery) publicly attacked Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) about the state’s 911 emergency system recently, cynical political watchers nodded knowingly. “Aha!” they said. “She’s campaigning to become Wes Moore’s running mate.” Never mind that Kagan has been riding Franchot’s office on the issue for the past six months, and has worked obsessively to improve the state’s 911 system for several years. Or that Moore, the former foundation CEO, author, military veteran and anti-poverty advocate hasn’t even declared for governor yet.

The lab-leak hypothesis has emerged as one of two leading theories for how covid-19 began. As a physician, I believe it’s crucial to understand the origin of the pandemic and prevent future ones. As a Chinese American, I worry that unproven speculation could increase racist attacks against Chinese people and further fuel anti-Asian hate. This is not a hypothetical concern. Since the beginning of the pandemic, people of Asian descent have been blamed for coronavirus, and harassed and assaulted as a result.

One Saturday night in May 1993, on 36th Street in the heart of Hampden, two young guys — one with a ponytail, the other with a “Dumb And Dumber” pageboy — got into a fistfight after a wedding reception. I don’t recall what sparked the brawl — a crack about hair maybe, or perhaps a tussle over the bridal bouquet — but it spilled into the street and ended with police arresting the guy with the pageboy.

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.

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.

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.