Safer

Four years ago, Osama bin Laden was at large, the U.S. and world economies were in free-fall, America was bogged down in two wars, and the Bush Administration had lost friends - governments as well as ordinary people - for America around the world. Under President Barack Obama's and Vice President Joe Biden's leadership, all these dangers have been eliminated or reduced. We still have more than enough foreign policy challenges, but in terms of our country's security and economic prospects, we are much better off than we were four years ago. First, with hard power, President Obama has taken out bin Laden and other terrorist enemies of America.

The unblinking eye of the camera is increasingly all around us. On the street corner, inside the convenience store, in office building lobbies - not to mention in the hands of everyone with a cellphone. So it's not surprising that the Maryland Transit Administration's plan to activate microphones on buses is raising concerns about privacy. But while there is a good conversation to be had about the slippery slope of lost privacy in Baltimore and elsewhere, this doesn't appear to be the place to draw the line.

Johns Hopkins will use an $8.9 million gift to make intensive care units safer for patients, expanding on the institution's past work to reduce medical mistakes that have long troubled hospitals. The grant is part of a 10-year, $500 million program — called the Patient Care Program — announced Tuesday by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to eliminate all preventable harm to patients in hospitals. The program seeks to improve health outcomes by eliminating medical error, better engaging patients in their care, and using technology to better coordinate patient care.

Thanks to a federal appellate judge, Maryland avoids a deluge of requests next week for permits to carry concealed handguns in public. The state has long required that those who want a permit to carry a weapon not only meet some basic criteria - no felons, no mental illness, no alcoholism or drug addiction - but also show a "good and substantial reason" for carrying a gun. Federal District Court Judge Benson Legg, charting new territory in 2nd Amendment...

I spent last Tuesday at the Maryland Senate listening to a variety of people talk about "pit bulls" and the Maryland Court of Appeals' ruling in Tracey vs. Solesky ("Parents of Towson pit bull attack victim testify in Annapolis," June 19). During the proceedings. Mr. Solesky made it a point to say several times that he felt that the animal advocates were minimizing his feelings by attending the hearing. After leaving the committee meeting, his comment stayed with me. As a dog owner and a parent, my heart goes out to the Solesky family.

It's amazing how quickly months of caked-on tunnel grime can be whisked away with a jug of Soot-B-Gone and a $250,000 Mercedes-Benz. The potent one-two punch is how the Maryland Transportation Authority keeps tiled walls in the Fort McHenry and Baltimore Harbor tunnels glistening from the beginning of April through Thanksgiving. For the overnight scrubbing operation, workers mix the anti-soot soap with hundreds of gallons of water and place the solution on the backs of two bug-eyed, German-engineered trucks called Unimogs.

I had to read Bill Krehbrink's letter twice to figure out that he was in favor of George Zimmerman's actions in Florida ("'Stand your ground' makes Florida residents safer," March 26). He seems very concerned that Mr. Zimmerman not even be tried because he is "innocent until proven guilty. " Does he not understand that Trayvon Martin was considered "guilty until proven innocent"? Florida's laws certainly don't make it safer for young blacks wearing hoodies and carrying Skittles.

So much for "innocent before proven guilty"! Not only does the liberal newspaper editorial board hang people even before an arrest they also condemn an entire state for the laws enacted to protect it's citizens ("License to kill," March 23). Former Baltimore City Councilman Kenneth Harris surely would have loved to have Florida's laws protecting him just before he was murdered. Councilman Harris did everything that stupid Maryland requires; he abandoned his friend in an emergency; he offered no resistance; and he tucked his tail and ran away.

Lacrosse is the fastest-growing team sport in America. Its combination of speed, sticks, a ball and physical contact make for a unique set of injury types, mechanisms and priorities. Growing nearly as fast as the game itself are the efforts of a group of health care professionals and lacrosse experts working in the area of lacrosse-specific sports medicine. This includes not only developing best treatments for lacrosse-related injuries but also the broader areas of preventing injuries, promoting safety and enhancing participation at all levels of play.

I feel so much safer now that the NFL investigators are on the job on the streets of Baltimore together with our Immigration Department, working tirelessly to keep those illegal Ravens t-shirts from our borders ("Ravens and NFL call blitz on online sellers of fakes," Jan. 12). I suggest more cameras and increased guards at the stadium to catch these illegals; I spotted a grandmother with a little girl in possible illegal shirts, who do I call to turn them in? George Pfeiffer, Bel Air