Commentary

There is a maxim that most politicians have learned by the time they are elected to Maryland’s General Assembly: “Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel.” In other words, don’t publicly disagree with your local newspaper’s publisher. Another maxim publishers intuitively understand when lobbying to preserve their government subsidies: “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The stick in this case is controlling information about local politicians and their opponents. The speak softly refers to exercising this power below the public radar.

I was working on a column about AI fakes, motivated by allegations that a former high school athletic director had ginned up a phony recording of his former principal saying terrible things. Then somebody went and old-schooled me. A man taking photos of students at a local school Tuesday afternoon was approached by staff members who asked who he was and what he was doing.

I am writing to bring attention to a matter of utmost importance to Carroll County, the funding of our local school budget. Carroll County has been slowly starving its schools of the funding needed to best support students and communities, and implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. However, the blame does NOT lie with our current Board of County Commissioners. As Superintendent Cynthia McCabe has said at numerous town hall meetings, surrounding counties are better equipped to handle the national educator shortage because they retained the additional staff they needed to stay nimble.

The Baltimore region’s business community has long identified public transportation as a crucial component of our region’s economic competitiveness. A world-class transit system bolsters inclusive economic growth, ensures access to opportunity and attracts top talent to the region. That’s why it’s so important that we celebrate the action taken by the Moore-Miller administration and the Maryland General Assembly this session to make smart, fiscally responsible investments in our region’s transit.

Political campaigns are, by their very nature, theatrical events. Characters are presented — often with personalities larger than life — and a narrative emerges. We’ve certainly seen this throughout the Baltimore mayoral race, but the voting audience was hit with quite an Act III plot twist Wednesday. Attorney Thiru Vignarajah, running a distant third in the crowded Democratic primary for mayor, dropped out of the race and endorsed former Mayor Sheila Dixon after having loudly blasted her as “corrupt” in his campaign ads.

On an exceptionally hot spring afternoon at “The Beach” Tuesday, near the East Gate of Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus, a group of about 100 students (with some non-students mixed in) were, in the words of one participant, acting “pretty chill.” Most sat on the grass as if attending a picnic. Food and drinks were provided, there was a scattering of pop-up awnings for shade, and small groups quietly chatted.