Commentary

Kudos to the Supreme Court of Maryland for reversing an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge’s ruling and allowing Question F voting to proceed. Whatever one may think of the state of Harborplace and MCB Real Estate’s plans to tear down the once-popular retail and dining pavilions and build four high-rise buildings, including hundreds of apartments along with retail and office space and off-street parking, the voters of Baltimore should be trusted to render judgment on its future.

Those who watched Thursday’s televised debate between former Gov. Larry Hogan and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, especially those paying attention to Maryland’s U.S. Senate race, probably weren’t surprised by what they heard. On one side was the familiar presence of the two-term GOP governor, who has elevated his national profile in recent years as a staunch critic of former President Donald Trump.

When downtown Annapolis floods, you can watch the water climb the familiar tableau of Alex Haley telling a story to children, rising from nuisance at his bronze shoes to catastrophe when it reaches his chest. Right now, the “Roots” author and the kids are dry. But Annapolis’ $100 million plan to protect its historic downtown from the most drastic impact of a warming climate is struggling to keep its head above water.

Ninety-nine days after the Francis Scott Key Bridge fell, Robyn Bianchi’s job was finally complete. On July 3, the assistant salvage master for New Jersey-based Donjon Marine lingered on a pier to watch a container ship pass through the channel where she had worked seven days a week, sometimes 18 hours a day, directing divers’ underwater efforts to cut and clear away the bridge’s wreckage.

Renew Baltimore, the organization behind a widely discussed ballot initiative aimed at significantly reducing the city’s property tax rate, has submitted over 23,000 signatures — more than double the amount required to place the measure on the ballot. However, the Maryland Supreme Court recently blocked the proposed charter amendment from appearing on Baltimore City’s 2024 Election Day ballot.

Howard Stern does not know it, but we have had a one-sided beef since 1997. This dates back to his obnoxiously crude days, when I covered a remote news conference announcing his then-terrestrial radio show’s debut on a local York, Pennsylvania, station. Stern, talking to us via satellite from New York, discovered I was a young Black woman and demanded that the men in the room determine if I was hot (they said I was), asked me graphic questions about whether Black or white men were better lovers, and then queried the next female reporter at the microphone if she would make out with me.