Delusions, paranoia, poor judgment, grandiose thinking — all are symptoms of what behavioral experts define as thought disorders. It does not take a psychiatrist to make a diagnosis on Capitol Hill, where, fresh from their extended reckless behavior over leadership, the House GOP finds itself scrambling to find some way to keep the federal government open past the end of this week.
Delegate Malcolm Ruff (D) is a West Baltimore Delegate sworn in by Governor Wes Moore in July of 2023 and serving on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Ruff is a seasoned civil rights attorney working with Murphy, Falcon & Murphy in the prized One South Street building located in burgeoning Downtown Baltimore.
There is no question that Howard County and Maryland face a housing affordability crisis. Right now, county officials are grappling with how to address it. Authorities on the U.S. housing market agree that when it comes to lowering rents, nothing is more important than making it easier to develop housing. But the question of whether rent control measures provide such relief is far from settled.
Last month, a man shot a Maryland judge callously and coldly in the judge’s driveway before apparently shooting himself, according to law enforcement; the man’s body was found a week later. The Washington County circuit judge, Andrew Wilkinson, had presided over divorce proceedings involving the suspect, Pedro Argote, mere hours before the shooting, and awarded custody of Argote’s children to his ex-wife.
We are Jewish organizers and activists who have worked closely with CASA for years in its efforts to support Maryland’s immigrant communities. We have always found CASA to be an organization that acts with respect, solidarity, and love for people of all backgrounds. We are outraged that elected officials are weaponizing Jewish pain in the wake of the recent atrocities by Hamas to attack and undermine CASA in response to its tweets criticizing Israel and calling for a ceasefire. To be clear: As Jews, there was nothing in CASA’s statements that we found to be antisemitic or hateful.
If Baltimore had only one homicide per year, that would be too many. Each life is precious, and no family should have to endure the heart-wrenching loss of a loved one due to violence. I start with this reminder of the sanctity of human life, because media discussions of homicide data and crime stats are often devoid of context and divorced from a deep concern for the victims, grieving families and communities experiencing trauma.
Nobody asked me, but if Mayor Brandon Scott can pull off even half of what he proposes for downtown Baltimore in the sweeping “action plan” he revealed on Thursday, it would give the city, and his reelection chances, a huge boost. Glad to see, in the plans for a spruce-up, an attack on graffiti. It is depressingly out of control.
State government faces a growing gap between revenues and expenses. This is not entirely unexpected given that the Maryland General Assembly voted in 2021 to significantly increase spending on K-12 public schools under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future without fully funding the initiative. The numbers recently presented to the legislature’s Joint Spending Affordability Committee are not encouraging.
If you tell me a guy had a serious drug problem and needed thousands of dollars to pay a dealer who put a gun to his head, I could understand why the guy would run a financial scam and risk going to prison. If a woman had a serious gambling problem and needed a pile of cash to pay off a loan shark, I could understand why she stole money from her employer. But a scam to buy a 31-foot boat?
Over the last year, a record 80,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses. It is a real problem that has grown astronomically worse in Baltimore and Maryland due to the rise in synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which accounts for the vast majority of drug-related deaths. To fight this epidemic of addiction and misery, it will take resources for public health agencies, addiction services, law enforcement and the courts.
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