Sunday, November 24, 2024 | Baltimore, MD
FOLLOW US:

Commentary

Increase the federal minimum wage ─ it’s long overdue

The provision for a federal minimum hourly wage of $15 was stripped from the recently passed COVID-19 relief bill, disappointing many. That wage was last increased in 2009, some 21 years ago. It’s now $7.25 or $15,080 annually before taxes. In contrast, inflation increased 24% during the same period, and recent profits of some large retailers has increased 69%.

Policeman watching the St Patrick's parade
Editorial: Don’t forget policing in Baltimore public safety plan

By now it’s clear the zero-tolerance, lock-them-up crime fighting strategies of the past have done little to stop the violence in Baltimore, where murders have topped 300 for the past six years straight. Instead, they created a system where even low-level offenders cycled in and out of prison, saddled with criminal records that left no real hope of getting an honest job that would allow a different way of life. For many, crime became a career because they saw few other options.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Josh Kurtz: Are Dems Overconfident About 2022 in Maryland?

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.

Chladil: Pass the PFAS Protection Act

You may have heard of the toxic chemicals used in Teflon, but you may not know that these largely unregulated “PFAS” (short for polyfluoroalkyl substances) can be found in many products you use every day, and even in your body. FAS are a class of more than 9,000 chemicals used to make products grease- or waterproof. These man-made chemicals don’t break down in the environment, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.” The toxins build up in our blood over time, a dangerous and potentially lethal combination.

Editorial: Struggling Black farmers finally getting the financial relief they deserve

In their heyday, nearly 1 million Black farmers in America tended crops and raised livestock with ownership of total farmland peaking at 14% a century ago. The story is vastly different today, and farming as a strong livelihood for African Americans is now a distant memory. The same land enslaved people from Africa were forced to work to the benefit of a generation of wealthy white landowners is now out of reach for most Black families, thanks to decades of systemic racism and discriminatory practices by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and others.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Rodricks: Joe Biden to the rescue, and it’s low-income families first. The rich will be fine.

A few years ago, United Way conducted a national survey to get a more precise measure of financial hardship than the one maintained by Washington. Within the survey’s results you can find a good explanation for the wide popularity of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Using data from each state and specific counties — the minimum costs of housing, child care, health care, food, taxes and transportation — United Way determined the number of households headed by people with jobs but not enough income to support their families.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Editorial: Trump should tell his fans to get the vaccine

The coronavirus does not discriminate based on political affiliation. Yet public opinion surveys in recent weeks suggest that a large segment of Republicans are hesitant to get the new vaccines against covid-19 infection. They should overcome their doubts, for their own good and for the nation’s. The vaccine is a safe and highly efficacious shield for each person, and also for society as a whole. Only when enough people either develop natural immunity or vaccine immunity — say 70 percent or more — will the pandemic abate. So the larger good rests on individual choices.

half closed laptop
For rural America, broadband access today is what electricity access was 100 years ago; without it, communities can’t compete

A century ago, as American cities grew ever stronger and the U.S. solidified its place as the leading industrial economy, millions of rural people were still farming, cooking and cleaning in conditions basically unchanged for centuries. The modernizing world had left them behind, even as it depended on the food and raw materials they provided. But President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program to bring electricity to every corner of the country changed all that through a combination of vision, political will and large-scale federal investment. Broadband access today is what electricity access was 100 years ago. Without it, rural communities like those on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and elsewhere can’t compete.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
What will be the bang for Maryland’s new education bucks?

It may seem, at long last, like money is raining down on our underfunded public schools. Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of the landmark Blueprint for Maryland’s Future funding has been overridden. A trifecta of federal COVID-19 relief and recovery packages is here or on its way (the two so far total over $1 billion in aid to Maryland schools). On top of that, the General Assembly has already enacted a supplemental budget bill, in advance of the full state budget, that adds $150 million in state funds for schools.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
A Caucasian male doctor from the Oncology Branch consults with a Caucasian female adult patient, who is sitting up in a hospital bed.
Editorial: Congress just brought the country closer to universal health-care coverage

Tucked into the covid-19 relief bill that President Biden signed Thursday was perhaps the most significant health-care reform policy to pass Congress since the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is a major down payment on Mr. Biden’s promise to build on that law, also known as Obamacare, and move the nation closer to universal coverage without excessive cost or disruption. The ACA was supposed to cover people with very low incomes through the Medicaid program, and to cover everyone else who lacked employer-based insurance through private marketplaces, which would be regulated to guarantee a basic level of coverage and to protect people with preexisting conditions.

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.