Tuesday, April 23, 2024 | Baltimore, MD
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Commentary

OC Air Show’s Move To Late August Unfortunate

It was a good news, bad news deal for the OC Air Show this week. First, the event date change from mid-June to late-August is a major negative. The event will not be as successful and well received late in the season as it has been held in June for every year except 2020. The 2024 air show will likely be held the same week as the annual Jeep event, raising some logistical concerns with the daily beach parades, although the “Jeeps and Jets” marketing opportunity exists.

Will MoCo’s safety plans ever fully see fruition?

Montgomery County’s Vision Zero Plan is failing even with infrastructure improving upgrades being introduced and reduced speed limits due to driver misbehavior. Risky behavior changes for drivers that were emulated during the pandemic, which include violating traffic regulations and clown driving, continued afterward.

Read More: MOCO360
Road in Singapore
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore needs to get moving on transportation funding

Like a driver caught in a traffic accident that was not his fault, Gov. Wes Moore finds himself in an awkward position when it comes to a projected six-year cumulative $3.3 billion shortfall in the state transportation budget. He could assert himself and singlehandedly devise a plan to clean up the mess, or he could, perhaps more strategically, offer to have a lot of those metaphorical vehicles scrapped to see if that prods his fellow motorists into action.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Biden suffers if foreign policy dominates the 2024 campaign

Conventional wisdom suggests Americans know little about foreign policy and care about it even less. Opinion polls regularly show that international issues take a back seat to topics more prosaic (economics, education) or provocative (culture wars, gun control). Next year’s presidential election, however, might be a bit different. Continued international crises could focus attention on the benefits and burdens of American global leadership, and our polarized politics may turn on battles and events far from home. We might experience the rare phenomenon: a foreign policy election.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Coach Tuberville can learn something from the Army-Navy game

Coach probably won’t make it to Foxborough on Saturday. That’s a shame, because U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville would learn something important by attending the 124th Army-Navy game. He could have learned the same lesson at Pearl Harbor remembrances in Annapolis and Baltimore on Thursday, but he’s a former football coach who brandishes his old job title as a sign of wisdom.

Friendly game of poker
iGaming is a bad bet for Maryland

On behalf of the more than 5,000 UFCW and SEATU represented employees working at three of Maryland’s casinos — Rocky Gap Casino & Hotel, Hollywood Casino, and Live! Casino & Hotel — and approximately 16,000 gaming industry workers who live in the Free State, we take issue with the Lottery Commission’s recent report to the General Assembly on iGaming — or “internet gaming” which would bring slot machines and poker games to your cell phones for unlimited gambling.

Registering to vote is a good prerequisite for government service

Since 2012, the requirements for being appointed to serve on Frederick County’s boards and commissions have included residency in the county and being registered to vote. The requirements were repealed in September because they had been enacted during the time when the county was governed by a Board of County Commissioners.

The Blackest ‘Cinderella’ you’ll see in Baltimore is also the most important

As a child raised in the video-on-demand era who also spent the first half of his life as a Walt Disney World pass holder, my 10-year-old Brooks was pretty clear on the specifics of the “Cinderella” story before we saw ArtCentric’s live version at Baltimore Center Stage last week. When it was over, I asked for a recap. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was coming for my job as a cultural critic.

a close up of a police car with its lights on
There are seeds of opportunity in the police hiring crisis

It has been said “Within crisis, are the seeds of opportunity.” The field of policing in Maryland, like policing throughout the nation, is in the midst of a crisis and within this crisis are the seeds of opportunity. The problem is twofold, the need to fill a record number of police officer vacancies and keeping the experienced officers we have, stemming the current tide of retirements and resignations.

Keeping Maryland judges safe shouldn’t require lessening transparency

In March, the Maryland Senate approved legislation to give Maryland’s state and federal judges — along with the state’s governor, lieutenant governor, prosecutors and their “immediate family members” — the right to keep their home addresses and phone numbers out of public records. It would have applied to both current and former public officials.

Read More: Baltimore Sun

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