Commentary

Spring seems just around the corner, 121 million doses of vaccine have been administered, and Americans are eager to get back to normal after a year of fighting the coronavirus pandemic. President Biden recently raised the prospect of a festive Independence Day. What could go wrong? Hopefully, nothing will. But there are dark clouds amid the rosy scenarios. The big decline in viral spread evident in January and early February has stalled. The pandemic’s winter surge tapered off into a stubborn plateau in the national rate of new daily infections, which has been running at about 53,000 on a seven-day average.

The Baltimore Sun is pleased to announce the 2021 class of inductees into our Business and Civic Hall of Fame, chosen for their leadership and community focus. We will honor these 13 accomplished women and men and at an awards banquet to be held at The Center Club in Baltimore on Sept. 9 and in a special section to be published shortly thereafter.

Men and women working on the frontlines at BWI Marshall Airport and Penn Station risk their health and lives every time they go to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite how crucial these sites are to Maryland’s infrastructure and economy, contracted workers are paid as little as below the state minimum wage. The majority of these workers are Black, and thus three times more likely to be infected by COVID and twice as likely to die from the virus.

Anyone who hasn’t eaten the tempura broccoli from Baltimore’s Ekiben restaurant is missing out on a real treat. It’s light and crispy with lots of flavor. But the sooner you eat it, the better the experience, lest it get soggy sitting around. You often hear of people devouring it in the car on the drive home from picking it up. It tastes that good. Some might say that the broccoli has its own cult following; at the very least it’s one of the popular fusion restaurant’s most loved dishes. This week, it made news around the world and showed that Ekiben’s owners aren’t just great chefs and businesspeople, but kindhearted and compassionate folks as well — people to look up to and emulate.

The Maryland Democratic Party is giddy. Two national political handicapping websites, The Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, recently took early assessments of the 2022 political landscape and rated the Maryland gubernatorial election as a very good pickup opportunity for the Democrats. The state Democratic Party and the Democratic Governors Association last week sent out fundraising emails boasting about it.