Debate

Rep. Andy Harris has introduced legislation to end the favored treatment union contractors receive on construction projects paid for by the federal government. The proposal, which in the past has been strongly supported by construction trade groups but opposed by labor, is a response to an executive order President Barack Obama signed early in his first term that required agencies to consider using project-labor agreements to set wages and site rules on federal construction projects.

Bernard Pollard is a complicated guy. He is one of the hardest hitters in the NFL, but speaks passionately about player safety. He clearly loves the game, but said Thursday that he understands why parents are steering their kids away from it -- and he will do the same with his young son. "I'm not grooming him to play," Pollard said," "If I cannot stop him ... if he's adamant to want to play, I will allow him to check it out, to try it out, but...

Sharpen your claws, cat owners: NPR caused a bit of a catfight this week with its story on killer kitties , which wasn't about about lions and tigers. No one is surprised that bird lovers and outside cat owners are often at odds -- the debate crops up on my neighborhood email list every few months, with bird people defending their feathered friends from the instincts of felines, and cat owners arguing that kitties have the need to go outside untethered, even in urban areas. According to the NPR story, a Smithsonian Institution scientist has his own theory: that 40 to 70 percent of the U.S.'s 85 million cats are allowed outside either by pet owners or because they're strays (that's 47 million free-range pets for those keeping track)

On Sunday, January 27, The Baltimore Sun printed an article about Planned Parenthood that was, of course, pro-abortion in slant ("Safe, legal abortion for 40 years"). In all fairness, there should have been space devoted to a pro-life article as well, especially in light of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. But you chose to ignore the more than 600,000 people who Marched for Life on Friday, January 25. And the countless others who couldn't be at the march but were there in spirit, like myself.

It seems you are talking from both sides of the issue in your editorial on the new speed camera contract that has been awarded ("Playing fast and loose," Jan. 24). First, you are all over Xerox, the former contract holder, for faulty equipment and issuing tickets to innocent people. Then you call for Brekford Corp.'s head for not having the software to run the same faulty equipment you complained was issuing bogus tickets. Brekford Corp. now has a chance to install their equipment and rectify the mess that Xerox's equipment left our city.

Maryland has some of the toughest gun laws in the country — and Baltimore's are even stricter — yet the city continues to struggle with rampant gun violence as thousands of criminals gain access to firearms. And for supporters and opponents of tighter gun laws alike, that dichotomy illustrates both the promise and the challenge of the state and national debates. Gun control advocates say persistent urban violence in a city with firm authority over legal gun transactions shows that the government needs to crack down harder on the illegal transmission of weapons.

In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama laid out clearly and forcefully the philosophy that animates his presidency and placed it in context of America's history and values. He believes in individual initiative and hard work, in the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But he believes that history has time and again forced us as a nation to recalibrate our notions of what actions are necessary to uphold those values - from the end of slavery with the Civil War to the enfranchisement of women during the Progressive Era to the dawn of the New Deal welfare state and the realization of equality through the civil rights movement.

Congressional Republicans are stepping up their rhetoric on federal employee pay, positioning the issue as a central bargaining chip in negotiations next month over raising the debt ceiling and keeping the government open. House GOP leaders will hold a vote this week on legislation to overturn an executive order President Barack Obama signed last month to provide a 0.5 percent pay increase to the federal workforce - the first raise since the administration imposed a government-wide pay freeze in 2010.

When first-year Superintendent Renee Foose presented her first operating budget for Howard County public schools, she lauded the proposal as being just a $7 million increase over last year's budget and said it meets the primary objective of protecting the classroom with no furloughs or decreases to staff. The $721.1 million plan also addresses such concerns as a new elementary school, accommodating 550 new students throughout the system and implementing several program enhancements.

The National Rifle Association and a trade organization representing the $13.6 billion gun industry began work in Annapolis this week as the General Assembly prepared to debate some of the nation's strictest gun laws. The NRA held a meeting for about 25 lawmakers Thursday to discuss strategy in a conversation expected to intensify as early as Friday morning, when Gov. Martin O'Malley releases details of his gun control plan. On Wednesday, the National Shooting Sports Foundation registered prominent Annapolis firm Alexander & Cleaver on its behalf.