Commentary

Collins: Time for the state prosecutor to get involved?

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Two intertwined issues exploded last week in what some consider a constitutional crisis, but this dispute is a bit overblown. The showdown was initially between Gov. Larry Hogan and the legislature over whether or not Dennis Schrader could be paid after being appointed acting secretary of health. The plot thickened, however, when it was revealed that Schrader’s nomination was pulled before a vote because Senate President Mike Miller allegedly attempted to secure an unethical—possibly illegal—quid pro quo as the cost of confirmation.

Chesapeake Bay

Oysters making themselves at home on reefs of concrete, granite

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Typically, shells of other oysters are the natural landing pads for recently hatched bivalve larvae, which need to attach to something hard as they begin sedentary lives of filtering algae from the water. But the Chesapeake is running short on shells; there aren’t enough to go around to sustain the traditional wild fishery. Scientists have turned to old highway concrete and granite, and found they work just as well.

Chesapeake Bay

Smith Island losing land, people and now its shepherd

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Pastor Rick Edmund made Smith Island his home for 17 years. It was the longest he had lived anywhere, and islanders believe he is the longest serving preacher in the centuries-long history of this three-village archipelago across Tangier Sound from Crisfield, Md. June was his last month here — his last island communion, his last crab cake supper. His last commute by car, skiff and golf cart to the three churches he served on Ewell, Rhodes Point and Tylerton.

News

Aquaculture reviving Md. oyster industry – as well as watermen

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Decades ago, Wingate Harbor was full of working oystermen in the late fall and winter, plying the Honga River’s thick oyster bars and bringing their catch to the dock. But when diseases took hold and the harvest plummeted, the oystermen hung up their dredges and tongs and left this lower Dorchester County village for other lines of work.
Today, three watermen are back, pulling up oyster cages from leased bottom about one-half mile from the dock at the Honga Oyster Co.

Commentary

Collins: Hot air on the Paris climate agreement

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There has been a lot of noise from Democratic office holders and candidates that they will uphold the Paris Agreement on climate change. They also demand to know if Gov. Larry Hogan and other Maryland Republicans will do likewise. Such progressives think it is a great strategy to label Republicans as climate and science “deniers.” Republicans should not take the bait.

Smokestack air pollution by Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Commentary

Opinion: President Trump was correct on Paris accord

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By repudiating the Paris climate accord, President Trump began the work of restoring proper limits to presidential power. He also returned authority on treaty-making, usurped by his predecessor, to its proper place: the U.S. Senate. It was the right decision.

Commentary

Commentary: New law protects victims of violence at every age

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A new law in Maryland prohibits a person from serving as a health care agent for a patient if that individual is the subject of a protective order for that patient, or if that individual is the spouse of a patient who has a separation agreement or has filed for divorce. The legislation is another step forward in protecting all victims of domestic and family violence at every age, especially those most vulnerable, from being continually controlled and potentially further harmed by their abusers.