Letters to the editor

Mayor Brandon Scott should remove Baltimore homeowner properties from the tax sale auction, as he did last year, Allison Harris, director of the Home Preservation Project at the Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland, says. Campuses of historically Black colleges in Maryland are among those urgently in need of modernization, Paul Clary, co-founder of MD Energy Advisors, says; the work of the state Attorney General's Office in the Baltimore Archdiocese sex abuse investigation merits praise, a city resident says.

Segregation remains a reality in Baltimore County schools, a parent of a county school student says; lack of an effective inclusionary housing policy reinforces a system that subsidizes segregation in Baltimore, a policy analyst says; families can take steps to ease the transition of people with developmental disabilities into adulthood, a services coordinator says.

All Maryland jails need to reach compliance with a requirement to offer medication-assisted treatment for opioids, U.S. Rep. David Trone says.

A scholarship program for kindergarten to 12th-grade students is the target of selective outrage, Tony Campbell, a Towson University faculty member, says. Loss of Medicare Advantage plans is putting the health of Maryland seniors at risk, Rev. Alvin Hathaway Sr., president and founder of Beloved Community Services, says. Promising and rewarding careers are available at facilities serving seniors, Allison Roenigk Ciborowski, president and CEO of LeadingAge Maryland, says.

Reading aloud to children lays the foundation for learning, says Claudia Nachtigal, head of school at The Highlands School in Bel Air.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates says residents of the most vulnerable city neighborhoods favor tougher sentences for illegal gun possession, despite opposition from some in academia.

Legislation to make the the earned income tax credit and child tax credit permanent in Maryland will help the most vulnerable, the head of Maryland Community Action Partnership says; support for Black-owned businesses is a good investment in Baltimore, Bank of America’s Maryland president says.

When police officers demonstrate a lack of empathetic humanity, incidents such as the killing of Tyre Nichols occur, a reader says. A physician says Marylanders will benefit from full implementation of the state’s family and medical leave law. Any plan for Lutherville-Timonium redevelopment must rely on the area’s history and facts about issues such as zoning, the Lutherville Community Association’s president says.

A Lutherville-Timonium redevelopment and transit spur plan offers benefits for the entire Baltimore region, two readers said. A reader raises financial, safety and environmental concerns about parklets provided for outdoor dining in Baltimore.

The awarding of the BWI concessions management contract to a minority-owned company represents a victory for inclusion and local business, a reader said; readers differ over behavior at a meeting on a proposed conservation center at Quiet Waters Park in Anne Arundel County.

Gov. Wes Moore has the opportunity to provide balance on spending and taxation, a Towson University political science faculty member says; a visitor to the Baltimore Museum of Art on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday says she was disappointed to find the museum closed.

A spike in COVID-19 and other diseases means Marylanders need more workplace protections, an attorney says; Baltimore County's Office of Inspector General needs more authority, not less, says a former reporter who covered county government.

Gov.-elect Wes Moore’s Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan draws a grade of “incomplete” from the head of a fisheries association; additional funding and construction called crucial to bridging the digital divide in Maryland.

A Baltimore City schoolteacher calls on the school system to revamp a compensation system under which teacher and staff pay lags nearly all other Maryland jurisdictions; an advocacy group seeks to bridge the divide between some Baltimore residents and the police who serve them.

A reader in Baltimore urges Congress to pass legislation that would assist in the resettlement of Afghan immigrants; a Baltimore neighborhood association wants the Grove Park Elementary School building saved.

Maryland Democratic Party Chairwoman Yvette Lewis says the state party had much to celebrate despite being unsuccessful in landing a spot among the early primary states in 2024. A Banner reader calls on Baltimore to create public works jobs targeting city teenagers and young adults. Another reader makes recommendations for controlling the feral cat population.

A Banner reader says Maryland lawmakers can and must act to ensure accountability in child sexual abuse cases; another reader says conservative activists elected to Maryland school boards are interested in spreading their political agenda, and not in what’s best for schoolchildren.

Recent examples of mistreatment of people with disabilities point to a need to provide them with greater protections, an advocate for people with autism says. An election judge calls for the return of centralized polling places.