Baltimore school officials were wise to suspend the rule stating that only Western High School students accepted at four-year colleges could participate in this year's graduation ceremonies. Given that some Western students' college application efforts were botched by the school's failure to send transcripts and other materials to admissions offices, they could hardly have done otherwise. But the policy needs to be shelved for good.
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Maryland's uneducated high school graduates - May 10, 2011
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Terps hope to avoid repeat of 2009 matchup with Syracuse - May 16, 2011
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Want to fix the Preakness? Fix Pimlico first - May 14, 2011
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Baltimore City schools CEO Andrés Alonso says he's not concerned about the "optics" of hiring 16 new highly paid headquarters staff at a time when school budgets are shrinking and the system is shedding hundreds of "excess" teachers and other personnel through buyouts.
The lunchtime drama that played out Wednesday in downtown Baltimore offered fresh evidence that the city needs to get its act together regarding food trucks.
Put yourself in the shoes of honor student Lindsay Michocki, the C. Milton Wright High School senior who found out she lost a $3,000 scholarship last week. That was just four days after committing herself to the University of Maryland in order that she might take advantage of that state-funded...
Maryland is heavily invested in restoring the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population, as well it should be. The tasty bivalves are not only prized by epicures and the watermen who harvest them but also by all those who care about the bay's health because, as filter feeders, oysters remove excess...
Talbot County residents are no doubt sleeping easier after the school system used a policy of zero tolerance for deadly weapons to crack down on two high school lacrosse players who were caught with a small penknife and a lighter used to repair their sticks. However, we feel it important to warn...
Virtually every major environmental group in the state is urging Gov. Martin O'Malley to veto a bill that would classify waste-to-energy incinerators as a "Tier 1" renewable resource, on par with wind and solar power, but the governor has yet to commit to either signing or rejecting it. On the...
Osama bin Laden's death in Pakistan last week at the hands of Navy SEALs was a moral and symbolic victory for the U.S., but it complicated the already tense relationship between the Obama administration and Islamabad. The feeling in Washington is that the Pakistanis either were complicit in hiding...
Lawsuits brought by government and private parties to address damage done to the environment became a necessary fact of life in this country long ago. In a perfect world, perhaps nobody would pollute — or at least those who did would immediately and appropriately be corrected by a...
It didn't take long for Republicans to seize on President Barack Obama's proposed executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose their political donations to third-party groups as supposed Chicago-style, bare-knuckled Democratic politics. That's right — to the GOP and its...
The Internet has crowd-sourced the mint julep, encouraging the addition of alien ingredients to this once hallowed beverage, the signature drink of today's Kentucky Derby.
Gary Williams is a man full of passion and perspiration. His basketball teams at the University of Maryland played with bulldog intensity that reflected his toss-the-suit-coat-into-the-stands style. His announcement this week that he was retiring from coaching was stunning, and since more...
No doubt the city and the Baltimore Development Corp. are right that the Inner Harbor, like any tourist attraction, needs updating every now and then. But some of the proposals they've gotten for a new signature structure feel a bit random — more like the latest version of the "Man/Woman"...
Long lines of cars snaked around Baltimore Polytechnic Institute last Saturday during a one-day collection of household hazardous waste. Some 1,800 vehicles inched their way through the school's parking lot so the drivers could dispose of their cargo — solvents, paint thinner, pesticides and...
What a sorry spectacle to see the usual suspects — a veritable coalition of the willing-to-torture crowd from the Bush era — seizing on the death of Osama bin Laden as evidence that enhanced interrogation techniques work. It is a leap of logic on par with justifying the U.S. invasion...
The thrust of Gregg Bernstein's campaign against longtime incumbent Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy was that her office was badly managed and too often produced incompetent performances in the courtroom. In that context, his pledge to personally try cases if he was elected — in...
April is the cruelest month: It's the time of year when the state's high school seniors anxiously await those long-anticipated college acceptance letters in the mail. As they focus on their futures, they have enough on their minds without having to worry about their high school guidance...
Surely the worst example of junk science is that old canard about April showers bringing May flowers. The showers came, but the evidence of any additional blooms is anecdotal at best. Better the ditty should go something like, "April showers bring May sinus infections."
Ten years, two wars, and countless false starts and wrong turns after the most terrible criminal act ever committed on American soil, the man responsible for nearly 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11, 2001, has been killed. It is unlikely that ever before in history have so many resources been committed to...
Kevin Seawright, the high-ranking school department official who resigned Thursday after The Sun questioned his academic credentials, may have been good at his job. But that doesn't change the fact that no one apparently bothered to check out his background before offering him the post. Either the...
Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker III took office this year pledging to clean up the county's reputation for government corruption and a "pay-to-play" culture that, if federal indictments are accurate, forced companies to offer officials bribes as a cost of doing business there....
When a student is chronically absent from class, school officials rightly hold parents responsible. Because school attendance in Maryland is compulsory until age 16, parents have a legal obligation to make sure their children show up for classes. If they don't, the courts can step in and compel them...
Last week's deadly rampage of twisters through Alabama and the Southeast was a shocking and sad reminder of how quickly and unexpectedly disaster can strike. In Tuscaloosa on Friday, President Obama said he had "never seen devastation like this." With so many homes completely flattened, cars...
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict underwent another evolution this week when the Fatah-backed Palestinian National Authority, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, the radical Islamic movement that rules the Gaza Strip, announced they would put aside their differences to make common cause for an...
By the time you read this, millions of Americans will have risen this morning at an hour best suited for dairy farming to watch wall-to-wall coverage of the televised wedding of Britain's Kate Middleton and Prince William. The TV networks are certainly milking the royal nuptials for all they are...
It's time for U.S. to pass an energy billThe old saying goes that if you put a million chimpanzees into a room with a million typewriters for enough time, one of them will... |
Naval Academy puts tradition ahead of ConstitutionAs an adjunct instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy, I take the oath at the beginning of each academic year to support and defend the... |
Boardwalk blues: The hazards of walking in Ocean CityMemorial Day is fast approaching, and for thousands of Baltimoreans, that day marks the beginning of the summer sojourns in Ocean City.... |
Save boaters from themselves: Require life jacketsSadly, while we Americans rail against big government's intrusion into our personal lives, our unwillingness to stop certain reckless... |
Geronimo: Bin Laden's problematic code nameWhat's in a name? Shakespeare had a point when he had Juliet telling Romeo that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But don't... |
Dan Rodricks: 'Illegal' immigrants and the next economyToday in Boca Raton, a South Florida woman named Ann Van Wagner pays a debt to an illegal immigrant who saved her life. Ms. Van Wagner has... |
As antitrust case ends, Microsoft is victorious in defeatThe Department of Justice's antitrust case against Microsoft was one of the largest and most carefully watched in history. The courts... |
Don't give up on the Chesapeake Bay oysterFor nearly a century, oysters have been pummeled from two sides: us and nature. Our appetite for oysters has spurred overharvesting; at... |
Freedom Ride revisited: Looking forward, but seeing the past in a mirrorWe are on the 2011 Student Freedom Riders bus rolling toward Augusta, Ga., watching "The Murder of Emmett Till," a PBS documentary on the... |