MarylandReporter.com (http://marylandreporter.com/category/commentary/)
To try to control the rapid growth in gun violence and get guns of the street, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and Police Commissioner Kevin Davis are pushing a new city ordinance that would impose a one-year minimum sentence for carrying an illegal firearm in Baltimore. But a sunset provision could make the measure more palatable, writes Nate Loewentheil.
Though he’s a Republican, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan must pray each night that his fellow Republicans in Congress fall flat on their faces in their concerted efforts to wipe out Obamacare and replace it with a vastly inferior health care safety net.
Taken together, developments in Georgia (a special election) and Wisconsin (redistricting lawsuit) have been read by some Maryland Republicans as positive indicators that things finally are moving in their direction in a state overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats. a closer look at these two developments paints a far less rosy picture for Maryland’s minority party, outnumbered 2-1 by Free State Democrats.
There was more good news for the Bay this spring. There is clear consensus in the scientific community that the health of the Bay is improving. But the recovery is fragile and still could be undone with a loss of federal aid and the programs it supports.
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.
It could be a cringe-worry moment when U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake finally rules on the lawsuit by black state universities demanding sweeping changes in Maryland’s public higher education system that benefit only their own campuses. In no way is Judge Blake qualified to disassemble Maryland’s well-regarded higher education network and then re-assemble the pieces in an entirely new way that miraculously makes historically black schools integrated and thriving learning institutions.
This is the 12th and final part in a series of monthly essays leading up to Columbia’s 50th birthday celebration this month. Veteran journalist and longtime resident Len Lazarick wraps up by looking back over the past 50 years and looking forward to Columbia’s future. All 12 chapters have now been published as a 200-page book.
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.
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.
Former Gov. Martin O’Malley has admitted politics played a big role in re-drawing Maryland’s congressional districts after the 2010 Census. The state’s major newspapers and good-government groups went bananas. Editorial writers had a field day denouncing O’Malley and other Democratic leaders for this dastardly admission.
Exactly which alternative universe are these people living in? Politics and re-districting have been wrapped tightly together since the nation’s formative years.
The legal case against the gerrymandering in Maryland is getting curiouser and curiouser, thanks to depositions provided by former Gov. Martin O’Malley, Senate President Mike Miller, and Speaker of the House Michael Busch.
