Funding

If all goes as planned, sometime this morning a spacecraft will blast off from its launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and ride a fiery plume of contrails upward through the pre-dawn darkness to begin a two-week journey to the International Space Station and back. But the flight won't be just another NASA resupply mission. Instead, the Falcon 9 rocket and its unmanned Dragon cargo capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation - SpaceX for short - will be the first commercially owned and operated vehicle ever to rendezvous with the station's orbiting astronauts.

Baltimore's historic park system ranks 15th among the nation's 40 largest cities in a new rating released Wednesday, which credits the city's foresight in carving out public spaces over the past two centuries but faults its more recent leadership for not maintaining that investment. The nonprofit Trust for Public Land gave Baltimore's 4,900 acres of parks three out of a possible five "park benches," or stars, in its ParkScore rating system. The city got high marks for the accessibility of its parks, with 85 percent of residents able to reach one within a 10-minute walk.

Maryland, like the rest of the country, is aging. The state's 65-and-over population increased by more than 18 percent in the past 10 years to 707,642, according to the U.S. census. This group will only grow as baby boomers — those born between 1946 and 1965 — turn grayer. One of the most vocal advocates for older Americans is the AARP, which represents members who are 50 and older. While Social Security and Medicare have remained priorities for the organization, in Maryland it also focuses on more local issues such as lower electricity rates and reliability standards for utilities.

State officials approved more than $161 million in school construction funding Wednesday that will allow school systems in the Baltimore area to undertake renovation projects, tackling problems that include sweltering and overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings and amenities. The Maryland Board of Public Works approved the last round of construction dollars being doled out to schools for fiscal year 2013. The state approved $187.5 million in funding in January, bringing the total amount for school construction projects to nearly $350 million, a more than $85 million increase from fiscal year 2012.

It's time we as taxpayers take a long hard conscientious look at how our tax dollars are spent. The funding of Planned Parenthood must stop. It is a crime to think that Planned Parenthood holds itself out to be an organization that helps women. It is an abortion business receiving $1.1 billion tax dollars with $63 million left over after expenses. Planned Parenthood gets one-third of its annual budget from taxpayer funding, and it performed a total of more than 650,000 abortions in just 2008 and 2009 (the last years for which figures are available)

Maryland should be proud of its educational system. We are home to some of the nation's highest performing schools, and our system ranks at the very top in several national studies and reports. That success is due to everyone - teachers, administrators, parents, and hard-working students. But let's not kid ourselves: Maryland also is home to some chronically underperforming schools. To turn around struggling classrooms, and provide a better future for children, we need options such as extending the school day that would target student learning head on. We should not be forced to fund programs that aren't working.

I am delighted to read that the Komen Foundation has withdrawn its funding from Planned Parenthood ("Komen's attack on abortion rights," Feb. 2). Now when I see those ubiquitous pink ribbons on so many products in the stores, including many of my family's favorite foods, I'll know I'm not clandestinely supporting the murder of unborn children. It's about time! Mary Healy, Kingsville

Gov. Martin O'Malley will ask for $350 million in school construction funds in next year's budget, an increase of $40 million, according to a spokeswoman. The governor will announce the funds Tuesday at morning event in Annapolis. He will be joined by House Speaker Michael E. Busch, who has been pushing for an aggressive capital budget to jolt construction jobs in the state. The backdrop for the event will be familiar: Germantown Elementary School in Annapolis. During the 2006 campaign, O'Malley held a news conference at the school to pledge $1 billion in funding if he was elected.

Regardless of the Maryland Stadium Authority's decision ("Scarce funding imperils tennis center," July 21), the county should not spend precious taxpayer dollars on yet another unnecessary sports stadium. Time and time again proponents of these structures promise revenue and jobs. Inevitably, the project comes in over budget and predicted financial benefits and job growth never happen. Both academic and mainstream literature abounds with studies and stories proving these projects only drain money from public treasuries while they line the pockets of the wealthy.

A decision by Anne Arundel County officials to eliminate $5,000 in funding for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast has resulted in a pointed back-and-forth between the administration of County Executive John R. Leopold and a prominent local civil rights leader. Carl O. Snowden, the former longtime chairman of the breakfast, alleges racial insensitivity on the part of the county. He sharply criticized Leopold after it became public that the county had rescinded its annual funding because the committee that puts on the breakfast is not a registered nonprofit group, which officials say is a requirement.

The Baltimore City school board voted Tuesday to pass the district's proposed $1.31 billion budget, which includes a decrease in the per-pupil funding for charter schools. As the amount spent on students in traditional schools increases, the system's 33 charter schools will see their per-pupil expenditures drop by $257 from 2012, for a total of $9,007. The overall amount for charters, however, has steadily increased as their populations grow. The charters are funded differently than traditional schools.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has long promised that Baltimore and the Washington suburbs would each get a new light-rail line and that the Red Line and its Purple counterpart outside D.C. could be built at the same time. But state financial documents recently submitted to the Federal Transit Administration show that O'Malley's promise, to the state's most populous regions, will be difficult — if not impossible — to keep. The General Assembly's recent rejection of the governor's proposed gas tax hike makes it increasingly likely that the state will have to choose to build one line before the other, state and local transportation officials say. With no new tax revenue dedicated to transportation, finding the money for even one of the light-rail lines will be difficult, the officials say. The state hoped to begin construction on both lines in 2015, with the 14-mile Red Line — which would ultimately run from Woodlawn to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center — opening in early 2021 and the 16-mile Purple Line opening between Bethesda and New Carrollton by late 2020.

Kick the can down the road. Kick the can down the road. The game is getting old in Maryland, and The Sun is absolutely right to point out that, for the second time in a matter of weeks, the Maryland General Assembly is wrapping up its business without yet tackling the absolutely critical issue of fixing our state transportation funding crisis ("Unfinished business," May 16). Maryland's transportation trust fund has been severely depleted in recent years, with multiple raids on the fund to help offset operating budget deficits.

Just when you thought the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program for poor, predominantly minority kids was fully protected from politics, here comes the Obama administration with another broadside. The popular program (which falls under congressional jurisdiction) allows impoverished children in the notoriously underperforming D.C. public school system to attend area private schools with vouchers of up to $12,000. Its contentious history includes full-scale support from congressional Republicans and theGeorge W. Bush administration.

Three members of a key City Council committee say they oppose Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's proposal to more than double the city's bottle tax — enough to kill the bill. That has angered supporters of the bill, who accuse Councilman Carl Stokes, the chairman of the council's Taxation, Finance and Economic Development Committee, of holding back public education. The tax increase is part of the mayor's plan to fix dilapidated schools. Stokes is one of the three council members on the five-member committee who oppose it. "Councilman Stokes is standing as a roadblock toward improving the quality of our schools for our children," said Bishop Douglas Miles, chairman of the interfaith group Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development.

Members of the Harford County Council agreed Tuesday to hold funding for a large portion of the planned Emergency Operations Center replacement in next year's capital budget. The plan to replace the building near Routes 1 and 543 in the Hickory area is expected to cost more than $40 million, according to current county budget estimates. "My biggest concern is the necessity of moving forward at this time when I share a little bit more concern with our debt service issues than the county executive does," County Council President Billy Boniface said.

I am an advocate for adequate funding for public education. I understand how important it is that our schools have the resources they need. However, I am also the leader of an organization that provides high-quality services — including mental health services — to thousands of people in this region, and I am deeply disturbed that mental health funds are being used to restore cuts to education, an area that has historically remained untouched...

Thanks for calling attention to the fact that now is the time for our elected leaders to rise above political self-interest and make the difficult choices that are in our nation's best interest ("Supercommittee: Split the difference," Nov. 14). I agree that committee members must learn to compromise. But no matter which side of the aisle our elected officials are on, there is one thing that absolutely must not be compromised: Fighting cancer. Today, there are nearly 12 million cancer survivors.

Not long after the Maryland General Assembly last adjourned back in mid-April, gasoline prices were approaching $4 a gallon. Currently, a price-conscious shopper can purchase a gallon of regular unleaded in the Baltimore area for as little as $3.50. That's a 50-cent swing in prices, essentially a 12.5 percent discount from just one month ago. So, Mr. and Mrs. Average Maryland Consumer, has this drop in prices had a huge impact on your life? Has it revived the economy? Put the unemployed back to work?

Baltimore city CEO Andres Alonso told city council leaders Tuesday that the school system is not in the financial position to inherit recreation centers that are slated for closure in the city budget, after being peppered by council members about the system's ability to bail out endangered youth programs. Following a presentation on the school system's $1.31 billion budget-- presented last week and due to be approved by the school board on May 22-- Alonso was asked by City Council President Bernard"Jack" Young to clarify the system's stance on taking over rec centers, saying that he was dubious about the option given that the system doesn't even have enough money to maintain its own school facilities.