Wednesday, January 15, 2025 | Baltimore, MD
Baltimore, MD
32°
Sunny
Baltimore, MD 10 days weather forecast ▸
FOLLOW US:

Commentary

Opinion: A Road Map to Combating Overdose Deaths
May 25, 2021 -

Misunderstandings about drug use and addiction run rampant, undermining the ability to reverse soaring overdose fatalities — a number that has quadrupled in the last decade and broke records in the last year. I realize it’s not uncommon for public perception to be shaped by mythology, and that mistruths surround other important issues. Yet this humanitarian crisis — claiming the lives of 200 Marylanders per month and as many per day nationally — is distinguished by the massive gap between research and practice.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Frank DeFilippo: America Built Thousands of Miles of Roads to Nowhere to Move Edsels, DeSotos, Studebakers and Packards
May 25, 2021 -

Baltimore’s “Highway to Nowhere” may finally be going somewhere, and as far as neighborhood residents are concerned the roadway could be reimagined as the 10th circle of Dante’s hell. Yet Baltimore is losing an important talking-point. Nearly every big city worth its name has at least one federally funded project that’s deader than a Pterodactyl and serves absolutely no purpose other than an archeological eyesore.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Nick Berry: Partisan elections produce an engaged democracy. Annapolis must keep them.
May 25, 2021 -

Scott Gibson is a Republican candidate for Ward 2 seat on City Council to replace the affable Fred Paone who is retiring. Gibson testified before the Charter Review Commission, recommending that the City Charter be amended to institute non-partisan elections. This would allow anyone wanting to run — Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, and Non-affiliated — to just pay $60 and fill out a candidate form designating the office sought. Only parties with 10 percent of registered voters could participate in primaries, now Republican, Democrat, and Green.

Read More: Capital Gazette
Forget restoration, focus on shaping the Chesapeake Bay’s future
May 25, 2021 -

After more than three decades and $24 billion spent on restoration, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s annual report card indicates that the bay is little better off now than when we started. The most recent annual report card gave it a D+. It has never received a grade higher than a C — and that’s on an inflated scale. Would the bay have been worse had we not made this effort? Absolutely yes. But should we accept a return on investment this low after nearly a quarter of a century, and continue to invest in this venture?

Read More: Baltimore Sun
refuel, petrol stations, gas pump
Going electric in Maryland means no gas, no anxiety, no panic at the pump
May 24, 2021 -

The panic at the pump caused by the Colonial Pipeline hack might have been brief, but it reminded Americans of a certain age of the unpleasant gasoline shortages of the 1970s. It also gave motorists in Maryland and at least 10 other states a dose of something we already have in abundant supply — anxiety. But I have a hunch it did some good, too. The panic probably pushed people who’ve been thinking about buying an electric car to automotive websites to see what’s going on.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
City man people woman
Look to HBCUs, not just flagship schools, to diversify professional talent pools
May 21, 2021 -

A recent Hechinger Report highlighted the persistent disparity between coveted admission to select state-supported flagship universities and the percentage of Black and Latinx high school graduates in those states. Admission to a flagship state university purportedly enhances career success opportunities based on prestige of the university as well as extraordinary educational opportunities both curricular and extracurricular available on these campuses. In Maryland at the College Park campus, the disparity was undeniably evident, a 24% difference between African American admission and African American high school graduation. Why is it critical to erase this disparity?

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Jimmy Tarlau: Many Workers in Md. Don’t Have the Right to Form a Union. That Needs to Change
May 21, 2021 -

Most people think Maryland is a state where all workers have full union rights. Unfortunately, this is not true. Thousands of public employees in our state do not have the right to form a union. Even if they want to form a union, it is not legal for them to form a union and negotiate with their employer. Public workers in Gaithersburg have no more rights than public workers in Hattiesburg, Miss. Why is this true?

Read More: Maryland Matters
Our Say: To find the news in Doug Emhoff’s visit to Annapolis, look close to home
May 20, 2021 -

As political events go, the visit to Annapolis by the second gentleman — a phrase we’ll all have to wrap our heads around now — was lowkey. Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, came to Annapolis to hear from small business owners about their experiences surviving the COVID-19 recession and how federal aid programs expanded by President Joe Biden helped them through it.

Read More: Capital Gazette
Kalman Hettleman: The Biden Deal to Revive Public Education
May 20, 2021 -

Ronald Reagan made famous the punchline, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” But Joe Biden is turning that on its head. He is, according to friends and foes alike, attempting a bold social contract on a scale not seen since FDR and LBJ. And public education is a big piece of the action. Two COVID-19 relief and recovery laws have already poured about $180 billion into state and local school budgets nationwide. In Maryland alone, the bounty is around $3 billion.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Josh Kurtz: Missing the Guy Who Might Have Been Able to Explain the Madness of the Last 5 Years
May 20, 2021 -

Other than my mom, who left this Earth a decade ago, the deceased person I’ve probably missed the most over the past five years has been Wayne Barrett, my mentor and role model in the journalism business, who died on Jan. 19, 2017 at the age of 71. That’s a significant date that we’ll get back to shortly. When I think about the madness of the last five years, I think maybe Wayne would have made sense of it all. He knew and understood some of the major players of the past half-decade better than anyone.

Read More: Maryland Matters

The Morning Rundown

We’re staying up to the minute on the issues shaping the future. Join us on the newsletter of choice for Maryland politicos and business leaders. It’s always free to join and never a hassle to leave. See you on the inside.