Commentary

When President Biden visits the Port of Baltimore on Friday, he and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore should announce that steel from the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge will be recycled into the bones of a replacement span over the Patapsco River. Such a goal would be as practical as it would be symbolic because melting scrap into new steel is, more than ever, a major practice inside U.S. mills.

There is some very good news out of the Frederick County Public Schools’ report on 2023 graduation and dropout rates. For several demographic groups, including students experiencing homelessness and students receiving free and reduced-price meals, the graduation rate increased and the dropout rate decreased, compared to 2022.

Our region woke to a shock on the morning of March 26, 2024, with the news that the Francis Scott Key Bridge over Baltimore’s Patapsco River came tumbling down after being struck by a freighter. While first thoughts naturally went to the eight individuals who were on the bridge at the time and the families of the six whose lives were lost, concern has turned to the businesses and workers on the vast portion of the Baltimore Harbor that has been choked off from the shipping world by the bridge collapse.

Bank of America’s Greater Maryland President Janet Currie says she recently had the opportunity to explore the National Museum of African American History and Culture with students from Coppin State University as part of the Harbor City Chapter of The Links, Incorporated’s Harbor City Links Scholars Program.

Harold Coleman, 56, of Reisterstown, has served the public honorably for 15 years as a maintenance worker on Maryland’s bridges. His work for the Maryland Department of Transportation is a source of pride and purpose, along with his extensive ties to his ample community of family and friends. However, Mr. Coleman has two past convictions on his record that continue to hold him back from starting the business he has dreamed of for years.

In 1998, two cousins from different sides of the track, one from East Baltimore and the other from West, were both charged with murder in two separate cases. The 18-year-old from the east side intentionally hunted down a perceived enemy and shot his victim a dozen times for what was later confirmed to be a case of mistaken identity.

Last week’s disastrous collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River after being rammed by a giant container ship five times as long as Baltimore’s Washington Monument is tall in the early morning hours of March 26 shocked the world. It led to the death of a half-dozen men; crippled the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, putting thousands of jobs in jeopardy; disrupted supply chains; dead-ended the Baltimore Beltway’s eastern half and raised critical maritime safety issues.