Commentary

In a daring political gamble, Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater has proposed increasing the property tax rate by 4.7% to increase the funds available to renovate and build new schools, the first increase in the rate in about 20 years. In an interview with The Frederick News-Post, Fitzwater said residents from around the county told her during her listening tour this year that aging school buildings were a huge problem.

Abigail Diehl knew how crucial Wednesday night was to her long-shot campaign for Congress. Born and raised in Severna Park, she works in cannabis and owns popular produce stands that sprang from the one her dad opened 53 years ago. She talks about her ideas with anyone who will listen. Plenty of people recognize her in return — one person even sent Diehl a photo of them together in the second grade.

The members of the Maryland Delaware DC Press Association (MDDC) are deeply concerned about the potential consequences of HB1258 on local journalism. This bill, which is on the Governor’s desk now, would upend the longstanding practice of publishing public notices in local newspapers and their associated websites, threatening the vitality of Maryland’s communities and the essential role of the press in fostering civic engagement and accountability.

Earlier this month, I went down for an obligatory day of jury duty, expecting to be sent home at the end of another eight-ish hour experience that gives new meaning to tedium. I’ve been doing this every few years for 40 years, and my previous experiences were always the same. I was never selected, which was the only part of it that ever made me happy.

You don’t need a flooded basement to be concerned about the growing impact of climate change these days. Maryland’s winters have gotten milder, the heat waves more intense. There’s worsening coastal flooding and saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers around the Chesapeake Bay. On the other hand, the state isn’t exactly a hotbed for climate deniers either.

When President Joe Biden came to Baltimore to survey the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, he made a promise all of Baltimore and the region desperately needed to hear. “We’re going to move heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as rapidly as humanly possible. And we’re going to do so with union labor and American steel,” Biden said, adding that he had a “simple reason: They’re the best workers in the world, and that’s not hyperbole.”