Commentary

Now that Daniel Snyder no longer owns the Washington Commanders, speculation is churning about a new stadium for the team. Though its storybook Super Bowl seasons unfolded at RFK Stadium in D.C., the team has played since 1997 at FedEx Field in Prince George’s County.

I have taught in the History Department at Towson University for 35 years; I plan to retire at the end of this semester. Of all the changes I have seen in this time, two stand out as most telling in the story of the institution: the diversity among students and the expectation that faculty members publish. In 1988, when I arrived at what was then known as Towson State University (“state” was dropped from the name in 1997), the demographics of the institution looked much different from today.

The fragmented state of U.S. health care data has been shaped by technological, legal, and financial factors. In the early 20th century, medical records were on paper and stored in paper filing systems. As technology evolved, electronic health records replaced paper records, but the lack of a national standard for data exchange hampered their introduction.

Before classes commence each day at Hampstead Hill Academy, the pre-K-through-8 public charter school across from Patterson Park in Baltimore, all student cellphones go into locked pouches. Six hours and 45 minutes later, at the end of the school day, students hold the pouches against a special magnet, the pouches open, and the kids have their phones again.

It comes as no surprise that the after-action report regarding the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting on July 2 offered evidence of police indifference toward the community. Clearly, some individuals responsible for public safety in this city demonstrated a stunning level of disinterest as crowds gathered for Brooklyn Day, an annual event for which the Southern District was ill-prepared.

Remember when you couldn’t wait for the first day of summer? “No more pencils, no more books. No more teacher’s dirty looks.” Suddenly the stress of exams and the burden of homework were gone. There was no alarm clock, no rush to catch the school bus. Instead of dodging that scary bully on the recess yard, you’d leap at trips to the beach, the local pool or the amusement park.

Labor Day marked the unofficial end of summer and the start of a patently uneven election season for Democrats and Republicans in Maryland. On their end, Democrats enter the fall still enjoying their electoral mandate and regained single-party rule. Their power is bound only by the limits of voter preferences, the looming structural deficit and their own political will.