Baltimore MD social justice news and opinion- The Baltimore Banner
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Social justice

    Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, 1825-1911
    Commentary: Baltimore must rightfully honor Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
    Baltimore must find ways to rightfully honor writer, orator and abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the power of her legacy, author and Johns Hopkins History Professor Martha S. Jones says.
    Breath of God Lutheran Church in Highlandtown renovated a vacant house that is to become a home for a new refugee family. Volunteers are painted the house Friday and Saturday in hops of having the home ready for occupancy by February 2023.  Volunteers work on painting a room.
    Commentary: Rehabbing city’s vacant housing would more than pay for itself
    Housing redevelopment in Baltimore’s distressed neighborhoods would pay for itself with economic benefits such as tax revenues and construction jobs, says Paul C. Brophy, a principal with Brophy & Reilly LLC who specializes in neighborhood revitalization.
    Michael Silver, a Pigtown resident, poses for a portrait in his neighborhood, Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
    Antisemitic incidents nearly double in Maryland in 2022 over previous year, audit finds
    Harassment and vandalism accounted for most of the spike, which gave the state the 10th highest number of antisemitic incidents in the country in 2022.
    Hattie Carroll as pictured in the Baltimore AFRO-American, February 12,
1963
    Commentary: Recalling ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’
    The Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission probably won’t consider the case of Hattie Carroll, but it should, DeWayne Wickham, public editor for The Baltimore Banner, says.
    386690 02: A view of Pepco's Chalk Point power plant located on the Patuxant River March14, 2001 in Prince George's County, MD. President George W. Bush abandoned a campaign pledge to impose mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide at electrical power plants. Bush points out that, despite his original stance, carbon dioxide is not a "pollutant" under the Clean Air Act and that, according to a recently released Energy Department report, setting the limit on carbon dioxide emissions "would lead to an even more dramatic shift from coal to natural gas for electric power generation and significantly higher electricity prices.''''
    Commentary: EPA proposal to curb particle air pollution falls short
    The Environmental Protection Agency needs a stronger rule to reduce particle air pollution and to protect people with chronic lung disease and the broader community in places like Baltimore, says Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a physician with the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and community engagement co-director of the Baltimore Breathe Center.
    Jamie McDonald is chief executive officer of UpSurge, an ecosystem builder focused on making Baltimore the country’s first equitech city.
    Commentary: Baltimore poised for breakthrough with tech startups
    Baltimore entrepreneurs are well-positioned for a breakthrough on tech startups, despite challenges nationwide from events such as the SVB crisis, says Jamie McDonald, chief executive officer of UpSurge, which is focused on making Baltimore the country’s first "equitech city."
    Lieutenant governor-elect, Aruna Miller poses for a few candid photo during an interview at the Baltimore Banner.  Miller, a Democrat from Montgomery County, is a transportation engineer by training, served in the Maryland House of Delegates, immigrated to the U.S. from India as a child, will be the first woman of color as Maryland lieutenant governor.
    Aruna Miller: State policy guidance reflects diverse views, interests
    The Moore-Miller transition team gathered input from more than 5,000 Marylanders to identify the state’s biggest challenges, develop solutions and help set priorities, says Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, who chaired the transition team.
    Students sit together on a rug inside their Hampstead Hill Academy classroom on 8/29/22. Monday was the first day back to school for Baltimore City students.
    Letters: Objections to scholarship program reflect selective outrage
    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.
    Adnan Syed emerges from the courthouse and after Baltimore Judge Melissa Phinn threw out Syed's murder conviction in light of new evidence that someone else could have strangled Hae Min Lee, ordered the release of  Syed.
    Adnan Syed: Maryland prosecutions of children in adult court must end
    Prosecution of children in adult court, which expanded as some Black and brown youths were being singled out as “super predators,” must end in Maryland and elsewhere, Adnan Syed and defense attorney Melissa Miller say.
    Persistent stigma and misunderstanding of ADHD may be contributing to the medication shortage.
    ‘Not my problem’: Regulators and drug makers deflect blame in ADHD medication shortage
    Persistent stigma and misunderstanding of ADHD may be contributing to an apparent lack of political will to resolve the shortage of medications to treat it.
    A photo of the light stone U.S. Capitol building. The photo is taken from the bottom of stairs leading into the building looking up at the Capitol dome. Two uniformed police officers stand on the steps.
    Federal food aid reduction means Maryland families are facing ‘benefits cliff’
    Emergency allotments for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is ending Wednesday, resulting in cuts that experts say could affect over 360,000 Maryland households.
    A photo of the light stone U.S. Capitol building. The photo is taken from the bottom of stairs leading into the building looking up at the Capitol dome. Two uniformed police officers stand on the steps.
    Federal government approves Maryland’s plan to reimburse SNAP fraud victims
    Maryland was the first state to submit and receive approval for its reimbursement plan, which will result in over $2.5 million in stolen SNAP benefits being disbursed among more than 3,800 victims.
    Dr William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868 - 1963), 82-year old anthropologist and publicist, co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) who has been nominated as the American Labor Party candidate for Senator from New York.
    Commentary: Black journalists faced wartime censorship when they challenged injustice
    A U.S. government official moved to censor W.E.B. DuBois in the months after World War I for challenging racial injustice in an editorial published in the magazine of the NAACP, Banner Public Editor DeWayne Wickham says. During that era, some inside the government sought to prevent distribution of Black newspapers and magazines that published anti-lynching editorials and other work by Black journalists, Wickham says.
    Edwin Grayson Draper, First Black College-Educated Lawyer for Liberia,
    Opinion: The case for Edward Draper’s admission to the Maryland bar
    Draper was eminently qualified to practice law in Maryland when he applied for admission to the Maryland Bar in 1857 but was denied admission because he was Black. Attorney John G. Browning says admitting Draper to the Maryland Bar posthumously is a step toward reckoning with the history of discrimination in the legal profession.
    Governor Wes Moore and wife Dawn dance during the Governors Inauguration Ball Wednesday, Jan.18, 2023 in Baltimore.
    Scenes from Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's Inaugural Ball
    Scenes from Wes Moore's Inaugural Ball, held at the Baltimore Convention Center, after he was sworn in as Maryland's 63rd Governor on Wednesday, January 18, 2023.
    USA. Baltimore, MD. October 31, 1964. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. being greeted on his return to the US after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
    Photo captured King’s Baltimore visit amid great triumphs, unrelenting challenges
    A memorable photograph captures Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1964 visit to Baltimore a short time after he was announced as winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. It was a time of national turmoil and transformation, and King was confronting profound challenges from outside and inside the civil rights movement.
    382212 01: The controversial abortion pill known as RU-486, seen here as Mifeprex, is being shipped to U.S. physicians for the first time beginning November 20, 2000 following approval of the drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September.
    Women can now obtain the abortion pill at retail pharmacies, FDA says. But will pharmacies comply?
    The FDA changed its rules to allow the abortion pill to be obtained at the pharmacy counter instead of in-person from a provider. It’s up to pharmacies whether they will comply.
    Danielle Leclair is mom to Patience, a 14-year-old girl she adopted from Delaware. Patience has PTSD and other mood disorders likely as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome and childhood abuse and neglect. Leclair has sought help for Patience since adopting her in 2017 but has been failed by the state's child services system.
    How Maryland failed families and children with complex needs
    Caring for children with highly complex emotional and behavioral needs is a challenge that exists across the country. But in Maryland, the problem has worsened over the last decade — and many blame outgoing Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
    U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, touts the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act while visiting the headquarters of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative in Baltimore's Canton neighborhood on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.
    Maryland’s Van Hollen wants Congress to address medical debt practices
    If passed, the measure would require health care institutions to communicate about debt with consumers and cap the annual interest rate growth for medical debt at 5%.
    Lee Carpenter, a Baltimore-based lawyer, said he has noticed a significant uptick in inquires following opinions of Justice Clarence Thomas that there could be a reverse of same-sex marriage.
    Maryland’s LGBTQ communities cautiously optimistic as Congress passes same-sex marriage act
    President Joe Biden is expected to sign the Respect for Marriage Act into law.
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