NEWS
May 16, 2013
David Wilson has it spot on ("Why education should be considered a civil right" May 13). K-12 education is not only the civil rights issue of our time, it is the moral issue of our time. The public education system is failing far too many kids and the poorer one is, the worse it is. Why should anyone's educational opportunities be rationed by their family income? We need to change the way we fund public education and fund parents and children rather than the education establishment.
NEWS
May 16, 2013
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 overcome much in recent years, particularly as their chief means of livelihood, harvesting the seafood bounty of the Chesapeake Bay, has declined. But it's one thing to admire the hard work, independence and faith of Smith Island's residents - who number a mere 276, according to the 2010 Census - and it's another to deny the reality of their circumstances.
EXPLORE
Editorial from The Aegis | May 16, 2013
The selection of Barbara Canavan to be the interim superintendent of Harford County Public Schools was a very good choice. In some ways, it's perhaps a brilliant choice. Time, as it always does, will say for sure, but it certainly seems that Canavan is exactly the right person to lead Harford County Public Schools for the coming year, if not beyond. Canavan, who has worked in the county's public schools for 40 years, potentially could not only take good care of the public school system, but be more than just a caretaker.
ENTERTAINMENT
By David Zurawik and The Baltimore Sun | May 13, 2013
Last week was a great one for cable news watching. Not because any one channel did such outstanding work, but rather because several stories clamored simultaneously for the camera's attention. The choices that a channel makes in such situations are usually one of the best barometers of where it really lives. After two days and nights of watching CNN ping-pong back and forth on location from the Cleveland captivity story to the Jodi Arias trial in Arizona, I can say for the first time since Jeff Zucker took over as president in January that I have a pretty good idea of where his CNN is headed day-to-day.
BUSINESS
By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun | May 10, 2013
Baltimore-area home sales rose 15 percent in April compared with a year earlier, and newly pending deals soared as buyers kicked the spring housing market into higher gear, according to data released Friday. Prices remained largely unchanged at $238,000 for the typical home in the region — Baltimore and its five suburban counties. That remains well under the region's April peak of $275,000 six years ago, after the housing bubble pushed up prices but before the bust and financial crisis deflated them.
NEWS
May 2, 2013
In the United States of 2013, any youngster can walk into a store and buy a bottle of aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen or some other pain reliever without showing any identification, parental consent or a doctor's order. They don't have to be 15 or 17 or even old enough to know how to make exact change if the cashier will help them out. So what's the big deal about a bottle of a common analgesic, you may ask? Well, it may be the most dangerous over-the-counter drug available. Each year, poison control centers across the nation get thousands of calls from people who have overdosed on painkillers, particularly acetaminophen, which some people deliberately take to commit suicide, as it can cause acute liver failure if consumed in sufficient quantity.