Control

A cabal of corrupt corrections officers and members of the Black Guerrilla Family gang enjoyed nearly free rein inside the Baltimore City Detention Center, federal authorities allege, smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and having sexual relationships that left four guards pregnant. An indictment unsealed Tuesday names 25 people - including 13 women working as corrections officers - who face racketeering and drug charges. Twenty of the accused also face money-laundering charges.

I read yet another article in The Sun about a teen gang fight at the Inner Harbor on Monday ("Large group of teenagers fighting in downtown Baltimore," May 20). This kind of occurrence has gotten to be way too frequent. My wife and I were witness to one of these events two summers ago, and it was pretty scary. At one point our car, stopped at a red light, was entirely circled by rowdy teens, fighting and pushing against our car. When the light turned green, I had to dodge the teens in the road to get away.

Up to half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease by the time they are 25, yet many don't seek testing because it may be difficult, costly or embarrassing. Public health officials nationally and in particularly affected cities like Baltimore, however, say they've found a method that seems to address the major hurdles — a website that supplies free in-home testing kits for three of the most commonly reported STDs. "The highest prevalence is in young adults, and we knew we had to reach these kids," said Charlotte A. Gaydos, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

In 1988, I became extremely ill. I had many tests, saw many doctors and was given various medicines. Some caused allergic reactions. Through it all, I remained sick — and actually became worse. Eventually, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, a very rare disorder. Much of the information I read said I had about 10 years to live. Making matters worse, I was soon diagnosed with another autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA). My treatment options for RA were severely limited because of my autoimmune hepatitis, as most of the RA drugs would filter through the liver and could initiate another attack.

Advertisements praising Maryland's new gun control law will appear on Baltimore-area televisions soon after the measure is signed Thursday - the first volley in a two-pronged effort to defend the legislation and the politicians who voted for it. The gun control advocates behind the ads want to bolster support among Maryland voters in case there's a referendum next year. But they also want to counter a campaign to oust lawmakers who backed the bill in the General Assembly. "We know that the other side will be attacking the legislators who voted for it, and we want people to know those legislators were doing the right thing to save lives in Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.

The only people who should have assault weapons should be the military. I feel that if legitimate people want to buy ammunition at a gun store or a department store, they should have to be finger printed and a undergo a back round check. After they pass, the government should give them an ID card. This way we could keep the ammunition out of the wrong hands. I am sure some people wont care for this law, but it just may save some lives. Gerald Yamin, Pikesville Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Why didn't Jules Witcover use President Barack Obama's quote to the effect that "control measures as I have presented would most likely have not affected Newtown" ("Obama settles for half measures on gun control," March 19)? And another question: How much will the homicide rate go down in Baltimore with the Nanny-Governor Martin O'Malley's new gun control laws? Let me help you - zero. But good citizens will pay more and be fingerprinted. That's a big whoop! The disingenuousness is palpable.

Men and women have served and died for this country, for us and our rights and to protect those rights, and they should not be taken away from us with a stroke of pen. The problem is the gun violence and the criminals that can and will use the guns to commit these crimes. These are the issues that need to be addressed. The ones that will be affected by Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed gun control law are the law abiding citizens of this state. We must stand up and fight for our rights!

Everyone should contact his/her congressman and demand that they work to control Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke. This fool is determined to make everyone a pauper by devaluing the buck, making every dollar you earn or save worth less, and making everything you buy cost more. We need this like a hole in the head. Chuck Burton, Owings Mills

As a born and raised Catholic who spent most of my education in Catholic schools, I feel obligated to speak out against the Church on the birth control issue ("O'Brien's quixotic fight," Feb. 9). Some are saying that the president "overreached" his authority by infringing on the rights of the Catholic Church. It needs to be said: The Catholic Church does not have any rights . Only people have rights. And the Church does not have the authority to impose its faith on people.

As it must come to all American presidents, it seems, Barack Obama's policy agenda is being crowded out of the headlines by the imperative of damage control against administration scandal. The allegations of incompetence or worse in the IRS' targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, the Justice Department snooping on Associated Press reporters, and the State-CIA dispute over the origins of the Benghazi terrorist attacks comprise a three-pronged firestorm demanding swift smothering.

It has been a rough week or so for the Obama administration. From Benghazi to the tapping of reporters' phones to the IRS admitting that it targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny, the press is in a frenzy, and many are questioning President Barack Obama's future. If the president does not soon regain control of the narrative, he is likely to suffer the same fate as his predecessor - a collapse in public confidence and a vastly diminished second term. To understand President Obama's situation, we need to explore a little presidential theory and some recent presidential history.

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday signed a gun-control bill that is among the country's most sweeping legislative responses to the December mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. The law bans the sale of assault-style rifles, including the AR-15 used in the Newtown killing of six educators and 20 first- and second-graders. The law limits gun ownership for people with mental illness, outlaws the sale of high-capacity magazines and establishes the nation's first new handgun licensing scheme in two decades.

Advertisements praising Maryland's new gun control law will appear on Baltimore-area televisions soon after the measure is signed Thursday - the first volley in a two-pronged effort to defend the legislation and the politicians who voted for it. The gun control advocates behind the ads want to bolster support among Maryland voters in case there's a referendum next year. But they also want to counter a campaign to oust lawmakers who backed the bill in the General Assembly. "We know that the other side will be attacking the legislators who voted for it, and we want people to know those legislators were doing the right thing to save lives in Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.

Your paper has given us, side-by-side, three glaring examples of the sheer gall and/or utter shamelessness of the proponents of CA's scrapping of Symphony Woods Park in favor of turning over control of Symphony Woods (and at least 1.6 million of our lien payer dollars) to a new corporation, one which will be unbound by sunshine, transparency and accountability protections to which CA must hold. On page 16 (May 2) you give us CA Director Tom Coale telling us first that the recent election results show public support for CA's current direction.

There has been much in the news following the end of the 2013 General Assembly session about Gov. Martin O'Malley's "Rain Tax. " This law was actually passed in 2012, and at the time I called it the worst bill passed that year. It forces Maryland's "metro" counties to enact a tax on the amount of impervious surface people have on their property. The statewide amount of the tax could reach into the billions. The reason it catapulted into the news in recent weeks was a failed attempt to pass legislation delaying the implementation of this tax for two years.

I am writing in response to the article "School's zero-tolerance policies criticized" (May 19). As a high school student, I feel that students are being punished too harshly for small infractions. I think it is ridiculous that a student gets suspended for carrying something to protect herself while walking back and forth to school. I agree that schools have an obligation to create a safe and orderly environment, but this student did not even use the spray in school. I don't think it is fair that this girl may be charged criminally for not even hurting anyone.

Can somebody explain how is it that a couple of guys in a pick-up with assault rifles on the gun rack constitute a well-regulated militia? And how is it that law-abiding citizens who follow all the rules, keep the gun locked up, and the ammo locked up separately, can get to the gun in time to "protect" their families? And how about using assault rifles to hunt? Wouldn't the game be too destroyed to eat? Barbara McCord, Annapolis Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Anne Arundel County Animal Control will offer discounted adoptions of older animals during an adopt-a-thon planned for May 11. The event will be held from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the county shelter at 411 Maxwell Frye Road in Millersville. All animals age seven or older can be adopted for no adoption fee. New owners will only have to pay for the county's licensing fee. The event will also feature adoptable pets from other shelters and rescue groups, educational information and a demonstration from the police K-9 unit.

The average air traffic controller works 230 days a year and does a flawless job ("Sequester disrupts airline passengers," April 23). There have been no major airlines crashes in nearly a decade. The average member of Congress, on the other hand, works barely 120 days a year and doesn't do his or her job at all. There have been no proper federal budgets passed in recent years, and as a result we now have the "sequester. " Which raises an interesting question: Why have the sequester-mandated cuts ended up laying off the air traffic controllers, who do their jobs, instead of members of Congress, who don't?