Our editorials
Now that the prosecution and defense have rested in Mayor Sheila Dixon's trial on charges she stole gift cards meant for the poor, at least one thing is certain: The case has painted an unflattering picture of how charity is handled at City Hall. Let's look at some...
The remnants of Tropical Storm Ida and an early season nor'easter combined to pack a one-two wallop that lashed at Ocean City, along with much of the East Coast, last week. It was a storm of a magnitude that hadn't been seen for more than a decade at the resort...
If there are two groups of people held in disregard these days, it's anyone who works for an insurance company or the government. That makes those employed by the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, the state's quasi-public auto insurer of last resort, something of a twofer in the public's eye.
It's hard to decide which is worse: the notion that dozens of Baltimore City parking lots might not be paying the taxes they owe, or the fact that the city is so disorganized that it's not sure whether they are.
Our view: Odorless carbon monoxide gas can be deadly; Balt. County should require all rental units to install detectors, and it should study reported alarms for patterns
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. made the right decision to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accomplices in criminal court in New York rather than before a military commission abroad. A criminal proceeding on U.S. soil that is open...
While the mentally ill this country face numerous inequities -- a lack of adequate health care and employment opportunities and ostracism from the mainstream of society are among the more obvious injustices -- it is not an exercise in discrimination but in common sense to try to keep guns out of the...
Our view: Towson University did the right thing by banning smoking everywhere on campus; what's taking all of Maryland's other colleges and universities so long?
Our view: Something's amiss when a $52 ticket mushrooms into a $1,000 fine, but weaning Baltimore off such ill-gotten gains is going to be easier said than done
The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. went too far when it threatened the City Council last week that it would halt its social service programs in the capital if lawmakers there approve a gay marriage proposal next month. According to The Washington Post, the church...
We treat children differently from adults in all sorts of ways because we recognize they are not fully formed intellectually, emotionally or ethically. We restrict their ability to see R-rated movies, to buy alcohol, to get tattoos or vote.
In deciding not to become the first university system in the nation to adopt a policy about how and when pornography can be shown on campus, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents showed admirable courage and stood up for the traditions of academic...
Baltimore's a-rabs, men who sell fruit from horse-drawn carts, are a charming tradition. But the city's health department was right that it could not ignore the poor conditions in which horses were being kept in the city's largest a-rab stable, which was infested...
It's not hard to spot the flaws in the study released this week that ranked Maryland 49th among 50 states in per capita spending of federal transportation money on pedestrian and bicycling projects. In looking for big projects, researchers missed the far more...
When proposed environmental regulations draw criticism from polluters as too tough and from advocates as not tough enough, it's possible the proverbial "sweet spot" of middle ground has been hit. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest plans for the...
The case against Carlos Silot, whom police last year accused of running a brothel near Patterson Park, seemed clear cut. Officers put his rented rowhouse under surveillance, then watched as more than a dozen men entered and left over a span of hours. When...
Our view: Women's reproductive rights come under assault on Capitol Hill as House passes health-care reform with unnecessary and onerous restrictions
Perhaps no one could have anticipated that the stresses of his job as an Army psychiatrist counseling traumatized veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, coupled with his own conflicted feelings about Islamic terrorism and dread of being deployed to a war zone, would...
Our view: President Obama must lay out clear benchmarks for reforms in Afghan governance before committing thousands more troops to an unpopular war
While headed to a football game last weekend, more than a dozen members of the Morehouse College "House of Funk" marching band were injured in a crash on Interstate 75 south of Atlanta. Not one of them was wearing a seat belt, as the vehicle lacked passenger...
Our view: Mayor Sheila Dixon promises the truth about the accusations against her will come out in court; let's hope so, because we've gotten little of it so far
To baby boomers, Mickey Mouse is the perpetually cheerful and wholesome host of the "Mickey Mouse Club." To senior citizens, he's the star of movies and shorts dating back to 1928. But to youngsters today, he's mostly a corporate icon - a shill for Walt Disney...
Public whining over speed cameras appears to have, at least momentarily, softened hearts at the Maryland State Highway Administration. The SHA has decided that motorists shouldn't have to pay a $40 fine for driving too fast in construction zones for another two weeks.
Just as the Baltimore Fire Department failed Racheal M. Wilson in life, now it has failed her in death. A dispute between the city and the U.S. Justice Department over little more than paperwork could cause her two children to be denied the nearly $300,000 death...
You'd think that after 14-year-old Destinee Parker, a Montebello Elementary/Middle School student with no underlying health conditions, died this fall from the H1N1 virus, city parents would be rushing to get their children vaccinated. And with news of the vaccine'...
