Commentary

My wife is on a daily mission. She has taken it upon herself to get her immediate family members vaccinated. Her grandmother is 92.  Her parents are 70 and 68. Her sister is an elementary school teacher. Her brother works at a state university directly with student athletes. Everyone but her is eligible under some part of Phase 1 for vaccination. In fact, according to the Department of Health, over 2 million Marylanders (approximately one-third of the population of Maryland) is eligible under Phase 1, while we are only getting approximately 12,000 vaccine doses a day from the federal government.

The onset of a new administration means plenty of attention on high-profile Cabinet appointments. But beyond the Beltway, nominations that take place with far less scrutiny may have a bigger impact on the everyday lives of Marylanders. The nomination of federal judges and U.S. attorneys who would serve exclusively in Maryland presents a unique opportunity for Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-Md.).

This year, Del. Julie Palakovich Carr introduced House Bill 231:  “Establishing that the discovery or perception of, or belief about, another person’s race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation, whether or not accurate, does not constitute legally adequate provocation to mitigate a killing from the crime of murder to manslaughter or an assault from the crime of assault in the first degree to assault in the second degree or another lesser crime.” This bill was introduced previously during the 2020 Maryland General Assembly session as House Bill 488.

If Baltimore is to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and flourish in a way that it was not before the virus even arrived, what it needs most is for its residents to have better access to well-paying jobs. Expecting those jobs to suddenly plop down in Baltimore once herd immunity is achieved is beyond improbable. But what if the city could be served by a high-speed train that could get passengers from a station in Cherry Hill to the heart of Washington, D.C. and its wealth of employment opportunities in just 15 minutes?

The tax assessor is the stalking horse for elected officials. But officials now have a new cover: Speed cameras. When Baltimore City officials recently decided to install 45 new speed and red-light cameras, they imperceptibly shifted a portion of the city’s tax burden and potential revenue growth away from property owners and onto motorists. Those who are both could get a double whammy. The additional cameras will bring the total number in Baltimore to 165, with probably more to come as the merchants of menace scout additional locations.