MARYLAND VOICES

Setting limits on drones

Setting limits on drones

It's about time.

Carroll County's gun law nullification fantasy

Carroll County's gun law nullification fantasy

Nullification fever is spreading across the rural counties along the Mason-Dixon Line, with Cecil,...

Cellphones: Preserving a tool, combating a threat

Cellphones: Preserving a tool, combating a threat

In less than a generation, mobile communications have evolved from a luxury item to an essential...

Scouts and equality

Scouts and equality

One of the first things that an incoming Boy Scout must learn is the Scout Law. It's become so...

To keep corporations here, fix the tax code

To keep corporations here, fix the tax code

The report of Apple avoiding corporate income taxes the past four years signals it's time to...

Sister Gabriel taught us the meaning of pride

Sister Gabriel taught us the meaning of pride

There were giants in those days. And some of them were only five feet tall.

Progress on immigration

Progress on immigration

Just when Washington looked like it was completely preoccupied with the scandals, real and...


ABOUT THE EDITORIAL BOARD


Andy Green, the opinion editor, has taken the "know a little bit about everything" approach in his time at The Sun. He was the city/state editor before coming to the editorial board, and prior to that he covered the State House and Baltimore County government.

Mike Cross-Barnet, who spends most of his time running The Baltimore Sun's Commentary page, has been known to opine on whatever strikes his fancy including international politics, immigration, religion and culture.

Peter Jensen, former State House reporter and features writer, takes the lead on state government, transportation issues and the environment; he is the board's resident funny man and capital schmooze.

Glenn McNatt, who returned to editorial writing after serving as the newspaper's art critic, keeps an eye on the arts, culture, politics and the law for the editorial board.

The Baltimore Sun welcomes submissions of op-ed articles of 650 to 750 words. Local topics and authors are preferred. Please send your submission to op-ed page editor Mike Cross-Barnet at commentary@baltsun.com or by clicking here.
  • Although there's still a great deal to be learned about the scandals and controversies swirling around the White House like so many ominous dorsal fins in the surf, the nature of President Barack Obama's bind is becoming clear. The best defenses of his administration require undermining the...

The Sun welcomes comments from readers. All comments become the property of The Sun, which reserves the right to edit them. Comments should include your name and address, along with day and evening telephone numbers. E-mail us: talkback@baltimoresun.com; write us: Talk Back, The Sun, P.O. Box 1377, Baltimore 21278-0001; fax us: 410-332-6977.

The deadliest time of year for teens on the road

Memorial Day marks the beginning of the 100 deadliest days of the year on our nation's roads for teen drivers. Traditionally during the summer months, hundreds of teens are killed in car crashes and...

The Sun buries Obama scandals

It looks like this heavily Democratic state's main publication is going to ignore the problems of this administration just like the White House is. What is on the front page of The Sun? is there any...

A sensitive portrait of a troubled child

Thanks very much and congratulations on Kevin Rector's very informative and sensitive article, "Girl charged in father's death struggled with mental health" (May 19). As educators and professional...

Just how much do liberals want to reform the filibuster?

I have one very simple question for the ultra partisan, liberal Sun. Will you and the disingenuous Democrats still be demanding filibuster reform if the Republicans take control of the House and...

Marylanders should be proud of their EMS system

During the week of May 19-25, 2013, Maryland joins the rest of the nation in celebrating National Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week. I commend the Maryland EMS providers who respond every day of...

All you need to know about Maryland government: Open meetings board meets in secret

Due to my observance of a religious holiday at the time that Alison Knezevich reported on the Open Meetings Compliance Board's ruling on Baltimore County's approval of the so-called "rain tax" ("Board...

Asperger's does not make a murderer

Regarding your article about the teen girl accused of plotting her father's murder with her boyfriend ("Troubled child on a dark path," May 19), I found the article filled with misleading...

Triple Crown: Impossible dream?

After Kentucky Derby winner Orb finished in fourth place at the Preakness, we are on the longest drought ever for a Triple Crown winner ("Lukas kept prediction to himself: Oxbow," May 20). The last...

Let BGE investors pay for higher costs

In reference to the article, "BGE seeks rate increase on heels of last case" (May 17), BGE should be run like any other company. Every other company has to pass some of the cost to the stockholders,...

At heart of IRS scandal: flawed 501(c)(4) rules

Congress passes laws and usually the appropriate agency can write regulations implementing the law. However, the regulations cannot contradict the law. Nevertheless, with respect to the tax law...

Home Depot hammers the little guy, again

In regard to your article about the hot dog stands at Home Depot ("Home Depot tells owners of hot dog stands to relocate," May 17), I am appalled that the Big Box Bully would crush a small business...

Olszewski can't plead ignorance

Baltimore County Councilman John A. Olszewski Sr. claims his failure to disclose his outside employment was an oversight, but that does not pass the smell test ("County councilman hasn't disclosed...

City envy in the county schools

Baltimore City's schools are Maryland's oldest, and Baltimore County's are the second-oldest. The problems posed by the aging facilities in the two jurisdictions are different — the city has an overabundance of underused buildings, while the county has for years been dealing with...

Water bill whirlpool

There is an old adage, often heard in the local marinas, that a boat is nothing more than a hole in the water into which you pour money. Turns out the same could be said about Baltimore's water and sewer system — it is a money-soaking hole that puts the Queen Mary to shame.

The cost of BGE reliability

Baltimore Gas & Electric certainly isn't likely to win any popularity contests. It secured a rate increase from the Public Service Commission in February — its second in the last three years — and turned around and filed a request for another one on Friday. And at the same time,...

GOP can't help overreaching on Obama scandals

Well, that didn't take long.

Tom Perez and the 'nuclear option'

Republicans accuse Thomas E. Perez, President Barack Obama's nominee for labor secretary, of twisting the legal process in three cases in St. Paul, Minn., to suit his political purposes. But it is they who are twisting the Senate's role to "advise and consent" on presidential nominees for their...

MARC gets a boost

Last week presented the sort of opportunity that elected officials crave. As Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the gas tax increase into law, he announced a slew of new Maryland transportation projects — $1.2 billion in all — that can now move forward to relieve congestion, make roads safer...

Tough love for Coppin

Coppin State University is a mess, and the problems go well beyond its abysmal six-year graduation rate of 15 percent. A report to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents by a committee assigned to study the school in the wake of former President Reginald Avery's departure found massive...

Smith Island denial

Even the most jaded observer must acknowledge there's something admirable about the desire of so many living on Smith Island to see their community survive and prosper. Residents of this marshy (and shrinking in both population and real estate) archipelago on the lower Eastern Shore have had to...

The newest thing in Maryland horse racing: optimism

The Kentucky Derby winner and oddsmakers' favorite for the Preakness Stakes isn't exactly a Maryland horse, but he's close — Orb is partially owned by a Baltimore County businessman, and his sire spent some time in Harford County. Attendance at Saturday's races might or might not set an all-...

Alcohol and traffic deaths

The entire undergraduate student bodies of the Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Naval Academy combined. The population of Bel Air, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. The average attendance at a Hershey Bears hockey game (the highest in the AHL).

Maryland's model for gun regulation

Tomorrow, Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to sign into law the most comprehensive gun control legislation Maryland has seen in at least 25 years, a bill that will not only help guard against a mass shooting incident, like December's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, but will also help fight the...

Baltimore's noble but flawed hiring bill

On the face of it, City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young's local hiring bill sounds eminently reasonable. When Baltimore spends its residents' tax dollars, why shouldn't it do so in a way that supports hiring city residents, particularly considering the high rate of unemployment here?...

Obama administration assaults press freedom

In Washington, as in any seat of power, most acts of folly begin with hubris. Government leaders, elected or appointed, usually don't intend to do the wrong thing, to overstep or cause harm, but they become so convinced, so certain of their purpose, that they are blinded by their pride.

Baltimore's new downtown

Harbor East is moving farther east with baker-cum-developer John Paterakis Sr.'s announcement Friday that he will break ground this summer on a new, mega-Whole Foods and later on a new residential/retail building across Central Avenue from the glittering mini-city he has almost single handedly built...

Taxing the tea party

Loyal readers of this page are likely aware that we have not been great supporters of the tea party movement. Too often, we have found those anti-tax crusaders who call themselves tea party patriots are simply rebranded John Birch Society members of an earlier time with all the extremist anti-...