Commentary

LaVonda N. Reed will become the new dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law beginning July 1. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome UB law’s first woman dean to Baltimore, and we wish her all the best in her new endeavor. Reed is currently the dean of the Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta, where she has served since 2021.

The haunting videos and images of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsing into the Patapsco River are powerful and terrifying. The world will never be able to unsee them. Combined with the 2021 snapshots of container ships lining up at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, these images will become iconic tools in teaching supply-chain management for years to come.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but boy, does Baltimore need the good feelings that come with an Orioles Opening Day right about now. From Tuesday’s traumatic bridge collapse to the more everyday challenges of concentrated poverty, drug addiction, crime and urban blight, today’s home opener against the Angels — assuming weather permits — looms large. And not just as a distraction from unhappy circumstances.

Jim Moran is worried about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Like all of us, he sees the tragedy of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster — the loss of life, the major disruption to traffic and the gigantic injection of chaos into the local economy. Moran is a Queen Anne’s County commissioner, though, and his vantage point across the Chesapeake puts the Bay Bridge at the forefront of his “what-ifs.”

We all drive, or at least most of us do. Here’s a funny thing about that. In the age of the automobile, when a car is an extension of ourselves, where you drive is probably a bigger part of what defines you than what you drive. If you crossed the Francis Scott Key Bridge daily on your way to work and back, the 1.6-mile erector set confection that served as an entrance to the outer harbor was a frame of reference on the world.

In early 2023 an increase in serious crime by young people was creating panic in Baltimore and throughout Maryland. While the hysteria may have been somewhat exaggerated, data from the first quarter of the year did show a significant uptick in some kinds of youth crime, including serious offenses like juvenile-involved shootings and armed robberies.

For nearly two decades, the EmPOWER program has served Maryland well. By helping residents and businesses access and install more efficient appliances in their homes and buildings, the popular program has saved ratepayers in the state more than $4 billion, helped thousands of low-income households lower their utility bills, reduced strain on the power grid and created thousands of jobs.

Organic growth is the most attractive type in the financial world, where new Orioles owner David Rubenstein made his fortune — the kind where a clear plan and strategy allow a company to live within its means and grow at a sustainable rate. In many ways, that’s what he acquired in his newest asset. The Orioles have proved general manager Mike Elias’ data-driven strategy to unlock value and develop homegrown talent could work, as evidenced by a 101-win season and a division title after years in the baseball wilderness.