Had the BPD gone too far? Not far enough? Are recent reductions in gun violence sustainable? And here’s the big question: How can the department adequately maintain its uniformed and civilian staffing levels to meet demand?

Part of the answer may turn out to be child care.

Last week, the Baltimore Police Department received approval from the Board of Estimates to move forward with a much-anticipated pilot program to provide child care benefits to 100 employees. The program is both modest and simple. Eligible workers will receive stipends of up to $250 per month (and $3,000 yearly) to help defray the cost of child care for kids from birth to age 12 or with special needs. The thinking here is that police officers and others who work nontraditional schedules will likely need such assistance. It’s not difficult to imagine, for example, an officer called in to unexpectedly work a second shift who suddenly needs help keeping tabs on a son or daughter with primary school homework to do.

We like this idea for several reasons. First, raising police pay and benefits is necessary, particularly to recruit quality employees. Second, investing specifically in child care would seem worthwhile because that is a glaring need of 20- and 30-somethings raising families, surely the target demographic for police recruitment. And third, we like the idea of police officers being encouraged (albeit modestly) to have children. There’s something to be said for officers acquiring firsthand knowledge of dealing with youngsters and working on such skills as communication and patience with preteens. They can use all the credibility they can get when walking the beat.

The BPD could, of course, raise pay for everyone and let those with children spend their wages on child care. But this specific outreach — available only in a limited number of police departments nationwide — comes with the benefit of attracting and retaining parents specifically. Might it not then encourage them to put down roots in the city? Having more mothers and fathers on the force is somehow comforting. And please spare us any suggestion that traditional families (presumably with the male head-of-household working and his spouse staying home) don’t need outside assistance and should instead rely on grandparents (as U.S. Sen. JD Vance, the GOP’s vice presidential nominee, recently suggested). That’s an assumption that is a few decades or so out of date.

The more reasonable question is, why don’t more employers target child care as an employee benefit? The U.S. continues to suffer from a child care crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that 58% of working parents left their jobs because they could not piece together a working child-care plan. The burden tends to fall most heavily on women — about one-third of U.S. women say they can’t return to work because of the burden of caring for a family member, child or adult. The result is, of course, that mothers are often left out of the paid workforce, which has an attendant impact on the economy.

Obviously, being a parent doesn’t necessarily make anyone a good cop (or civilian public safety employee for that matter), but it’s pretty clear that a working parent lacking much-needed child care is going to have to struggle to get his or her act together. The job is tough enough without having to worry about such things. And while $250 is hardly a cure-all, it’s a nice start. And maybe, just maybe, one year from now when the BPD can measure the impact of the program, we’ll find out that it actually made a difference — and perhaps even helped make Baltimore a bit safer, not just for married police officers, but for all of us.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.

Alas, school shootings are merely a subset of mass shootings, which are, in turn, just one component of gun violence. But what’s especially frustrating about such incidents — and there have been at least 133 shootings on school grounds so far this year across the U.S., according to Everytown for Gun Safety — is the nation’s continuing failure to take reasonable precautions against such an obvious menace to public safety.

Gun violence is not a problem for Democratic cities alone, although you wouldn’t know it from former President Donald Trump’s frequent references to “hellhole cities.” Statistically, the highest rates of gun violence (the states with the highest rates of gun deaths per 100,000 population) are rural states like Mississippi, with an average of 29.6 gun deaths per 100,000 or Alabama at 25.5 compared to the national average of 14.2. Even Maryland, with its well-publicized problems in Baltimore, fares better with an overall rate of 13.6, which is slightly below the average. Why? At least in part because of state laws restricting gun possession, licensing, storage and so forth. Even Baltimore has seen improvements in gun violence as it continues its pace to record the fewest gun-involved deaths in a decade. Yet gun laws alone are an inadequate response to this crisis.

Keeping guns out of the hands of damaged young men (and, yes, shooters are most likely to be male) is merely a starting point. Recognizing gun violence as a public health crisis with a broad array of risk factors is essential. Those risk factors range from socioeconomic, including poverty, race, inadequate housing, and education, to a history of violent behavior and exposures to traumatic events or drug and alcohol abuse. Just as in medicine, the answer often lies in early intervention. What if, for example, the Georgia shooter had been provided adequate counseling services or placed in a more supportive school environment to make a fresh start long before he thought to pick up a gun? We can’t know for certain, but studies suggest — as so often happens with public health risks — that such preventive steps can be extremely helpful.

Does that make it sound like a solution is simple? It shouldn’t. We probably can’t cure those socioeconomic factors, for example. And intervention can be costly. What works best? Counseling? Safe storage laws? Red flag laws? There is still much work to be done to understand not just why gun violence rates in certain communities are high but how best to reduce them. But that’s not a reason to shy away from proven, affordable approaches like mandatory background checks for individuals looking to buy a gun. States like Maryland can pass such restrictions (assuming they pass muster with the U.S. Supreme Court majority’s often myopic views on the Second Amendment), but it does little good if guns are easily available in neighboring states like West Virginia.

In Georgia, officials quickly labeled the deadly episode “pure evil.” That’s an appropriate label. Here’s another: “purely unsurprising.” It’s long past time to get serious about preventing school shootings and not simply decrying them after the fact.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.

He did a little of both, serving as a loyal surrogate to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Moore recalled the Key Bridge collapse, deftly showing how Harris could be trusted in a crisis while amplifying his effective leadership.

“While many said it could take 11 months to reopen the Port of Baltimore, we got it done in 11 weeks,” Moore told a cheering crowd in Chicago. “You never learn anything about anybody when times are easy. You learn everything you need to know about somebody when times are hard and when the temperature gets turned up.”

He was mainly referring to Harris. Less than two weeks later, the words can apply to Moore, as he faces blowback after his integrity is questioned. A New York Times report last week revealed Moore inaccurately stated he received a Bronze Star on a 2006 application for a White House fellowship.

Moore said it was “an honest mistake” made after senior officers said the honor was forthcoming. He expressed regret for not correcting the record.

We’re journalists. We believe in healthy skepticism, especially when it comes to politicians. Wes Moore is very much a politician, but we think he deserves the benefit of the doubt here. That’s not to say we don’t have concerns about the Maryland governor. We frequently worry he’ll focus more on his popularity than the voters, or that his rising star will take him too far from Annapolis and our state. But we’ve never worried about him stealing valor.

Moore has a lot going for him. He doesn’t need to make himself sound like a bigger hero to win favor. And if it surprises you that a politician would lean into what makes them seem more electable, you must be really new to politics.

Long before he was governor, Moore served 16 years in the Army. During that time, he joined the fight in Afghanistan and was so effective in drawing out the Taliban from enemy villages that his superior officers believed he deserved a Bronze Star for service. He already has a handful of other medals.

It’s worth noting that, despite the recent controversy, Moore could still receive the Bronze Star, possibly before the end of the year. It is common for military awards to be delayed, especially those processed during wartime when the focus is on fulfilling the mission and getting soldiers home safely. It’s also common for almost every government agency to grapple with long delays. For example, Americans have waited years for corrections, adjustments and proper disbursements from the IRS and Social Security Administration.

But at some point, Moore knew he did not have the Bronze Star he anticipated. He should have corrected the record and the interviewers who had it wrong. The interviewers and Moore likely had about 45 seconds to prepare before cameras started rolling, and biographies are rarely corrected in real time on live TV. Moore likely didn’t write the script for how he was introduced, and the interviewers probably didn’t write them either.

We encourage all accountability reporting, but it’s worth asking what these recent reports really change. Moore served his country with honor, and that hasn’t changed. He’s a popular governor and rising star in the Democratic Party, and that’s unlikely to change.

Moore is being tested, much like vice-presidential running mate Tim Walz, who faces scrutiny for implying he saw combat. If the opposition had anything better than military awards, we’d already know about it.

“Over the last few weeks, our country has grown used to seeing what it looks like when a veteran’s integrity is attacked for political gain,” Moore said in a statement Friday. “But those who seek to cast doubt on our records misunderstand something fundamental about true patriots, who have put on the flag of our country and put everything on the line to be called Americans: We don’t get shaken. We put our heads down, and we do the work. And that is what I will continue to do.”

Moore is a combat veteran. He went to war in Afghanistan while most of us were comfortable at home. If you want to criticize him as a governor, you should exercise your freedom of speech. But don’t diminish his service to the country based on what medals he has.

His 2021 report detailed the adverse effects young people have been grappling with since they first signed into an app: depression, distraction, bullying, exclusion and a deep erosion of self-worth. To believe his words was to understand we were raising a generation of Americans who constantly felt like they were too much or not enough, depending on whatever influenced them on social media that day.

“Too often, young people are bombarded with messages through the media and popular culture that erode their sense of self-worth—telling them they are not good looking enough, popular enough, smart enough, or rich enough. That comes as progress on legitimate, and distressing, issues like climate change, income inequality, racial injustice, the opioid epidemic, and gun violence feels too slow,” Murthy’s report said.

Add in recovery from a global pandemic, economic instability, an overabundance of social media influencers and a shortage of mental health providers, and it’s not surprising that our country has, once again, largely ignored a surgeon general’s warning.

Murthy was concerned at the time that we would beat COVID-19 only to face another tragedy with our children. “Mental health challenges in children, adolescents, and young adults are real, and they are widespread.”

But it was a problem he believed we could fix because mental health challenges are treatable and often preventable, Murthy said. It wouldn’t be easy, though. “To be sure, this isn’t an issue we can fix overnight or with a single prescription. Ensuring healthy children and families will take an all-of-society effort, including policy, institutional, and individual changes in how we view and prioritize mental health.”

Three years later, several news stories and books have been written on the dangers of kids having cellphones and social media too soon, especially if they use them in unsafe ways and without limitations. Policies have been debated at all levels of government, from school boards to Congress. Students recently returned to schools with new rules and restrictions about cellphone use in class.

We support the schools, teachers and administrators who say students shouldn’t be distracted by cellphones in class. We also suggest — while pointing fingers at ourselves, too — that our children may be picking up some of our bad habits. Are students more addicted to their phones than most adults? Research and observation say no.

Most Americans don’t go an hour without looking at their phones, especially those of us whose jobs involve keeping in close contact with sources, clients, consumers and so on. Our phones are with us at dinners, dates, business meetings, funerals and weddings. Even when they’re face down on a table, they silently and subconsciously signal to those around us what our priorities are. Do you think our kids haven’t picked up on this?

There are undoubtedly some positives to cellphones. We can manage our banking and medical appointments from the palms of our hands. We can quickly reach our kids, parents, partners and friends. We’re immediately alerted of breaking news. We can do whatever we want because we don’t need to wait at home or an office for critical information, yet we’re often doing nothing but scrolling wherever we are. We spend more time watching other people stagecraft their lives rather than living our own. And what have we really gained since Murthy’s first warning? Probably a few Amazon boxes full of stuff we could most certainly live without.

Our lack of progress was evident in Murthy’s new warning last week — this time to the nation’s 63 million parents, who he said have been more likely to experience high levels of stress during the last decade. Financial pressures, time demands, worrying about their children, parental isolation and loneliness, cultural pressures, technology and social media were among the stress inducers Murthy cited.

Without heeding his warnings this time, we could lose what he urged us to strive for three years ago: a healthier, more resilient and more fulfilled nation.

However, in Maryland, critics and supporters of Alsobrooks say her visibility on the national stage at the DNC is not translating across the state. In letters to The Baltimore Sun, they question and blame the Democratic National Committee for giving Republican Senate Larry Hogan an easy race. They say they don’t see many campaign stops, campaign offices, yard signs or television ads, compared to the former governor’s robust operation.

Concerns intensified this week as a new AARP poll, which surveyed voters before Alsobrooks’ speech at the DNC, showed Alsobrooks and Hogan in a dead heat. Each attracted 46% of the vote, with 8% undecided. The poll also revealed that Alsobrooks is struggling with name recognition.

But what may appear to voters as a nonchalant or disorganized campaign may be strategy. One of her senior advisors told The Baltimore Sun that she’s ramping up her paid communications in September and October, when voters start to pay closer attention to the election.

Alsobrooks and Hogan have spent their summers campaigning at big and small events to meet voters. And he has been paid communications for months, while she will be increasing hers.

As the campaign intensifies, Democrats have been picking an abortion fight with Hogan, but is it the best strategy? Democrats say Hogan, as governor, vetoed legislation that would have expanded abortion rights. Hogan supporters say he vetoed letting non-licensed operators perform surgical abortions, and he has maintained that he’s a pro-choice candidate that never has and never will support an abortion ban.

So, where’s the fight? Is abortion access threatened in Maryland, where Gov. Wes Moore last year signed expanded abortion protections into law? Not really. But voters here are concerned enough — especially after many red states are restricting or banning abortions — to put it on the ballot in November. If voters care enough to put it on the ballot, Hogan will continue to face questions about his record and his positions on reproductive rights. Where Alsobrooks faces a challenge is that Hogan is well known to Maryland voters, and so far they don’t seem to be buying a message that he’s pro-life or a shill for Donald Trump.

Based on what Sun readers tell us, Alsobrooks would benefit more from focusing on who Maryland voters want to control the Senate majority. There’s a lot at stake there, regardless of who wins the White House. If Trump wins the presidency, Democrats will certainly want the checks and balances of a Democratic-led Senate. If Harris wins, Democrats will want a Senate that can swiftly confirm her appointees and judicial picks. While Hogan has repeatedly said he would not be a rubber stamp for a Republican majority in the Senate, others have claimed an independent streak and ultimately fallen in line with the party. For example, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has taken a moderate approach, but she confirmed justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Hogan would benefit by focusing more on the economy. It’s a top concern in Maryland and across the country. It also helps him when he distances himself from Trump, and he did that recently. After Trump in an interview claimed there was a peaceful transfer of power when he lost in 2020, Hogan quickly put out a statement to remind readers that he deployed the Maryland National Guard to Washington, D.C., which was not peaceful on Jan. 6, 2021. While Alsobrooks is still introducing herself to voters, Hogan could focus more on the economic issues that impact Marylanders daily lives.

One thing is for sure, though, Maryland is home to a competitive Senate race. This is going to be a tough fight with high stakes, and that will only intensify as we head into September.

Former President Richard Nixon tried to wield executive authority and prevent their reports, acting like a mad king who wanted to silence his mounting critics in newspapers that held him accountable.

We saw it again with former President Donald Trump, who tried to ban reporters and news outlets whose coverage he didn’t like.

President Joe Biden has had the fewest interviews of a sitting president in decades, as his White House concealed what became painfully evident in a June 27 debate.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday is sitting for her first full interview with the press since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, despite receiving requests for more than a month.

It’s increasingly common for powerful politicians and candidates to avoid the press, set parameters to try to control interviews, or only do interviews with friendly media that will ask softball questions. But that’s not transparency, accountability or journalism.

A free press should hold powerful leaders to account, regardless of political affiliation. We should be fair and accurate, fearless and work without favor, regardless of if they have an R or D by their names. We’re not here for the politicians; we’re here for the voters.

In that 1971 Supreme Court case, Justice Hugo Black put it more eloquently: “The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” His words underscored the importance and purpose of a free press to hold government accountable and report public information.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott seems to need this reminder. His campaign to “Stop Sinclair” seems like a Freudian slip. It’s designed to fight a ballot proposal bankrolled by David Smith, executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group and principal owner of The Baltimore Sun, that would shrink the City Council from 14 seats to eight. In an effort to fight against that proposal and safeguard his own power, Scott is trying to “Stop Sinclair” and raise money in a PAC to counter the effort. Why isn’t the campaign called “Stop Smith”? He wouldn’t lose anything on alliteration. Could it be because Sinclair covers the mayor’s policies in a way he doesn’t like?

We don’t know for sure. Our questions have not been answered since we started asking last week.

The situation is a reminder that money doesn’t just talk in politics; it runs marathons. The efforts from Smith and Scott are not readily available to average voters who don’t have the means to launch and fund powerful, political committees.

And regardless of whether you like Sinclair’s news coverage, it’s concerning any time the most powerful political figure in a city targets and fights against a media outlet. Today it’s Sinclair. Who is it tomorrow? The Baltimore Sun for writing this editorial? One of the other TV stations or online news organizations that cover city government for the most important people in Baltimore politics — the voters?

If Scott has concerns about Smith’s ballot amendment, he should take it up with Smith — not Smith’s 200 TV stations and their thousands of hardworking employees.

As Smith told us last week, “Let me be absolutely clear: Sinclair has nothing to do with this ballot initiative. The only interest that Sinclair has is through its ownership of FOX45 and that station’s interest in news and investigating all things government on behalf of the community it serves.

“FOX45’s investigative journalism has always focused on holding politicians accountable, and uncovering corruption, abuse of power and waste of taxpayer money. The ballot initiative is not some scheme to consolidate power, but if the public supports it, it will be a means of reducing waste and abuse of taxpayer money, all while still ensuring that Baltimoreans have enough representation. After all, when you look at the facts, reducing the number of City Council members isn’t some outlandish idea. Take Baltimore County as just one of many examples. That county has seven council members who oversee approximately 850,000 residents and a much larger landmass, while Baltimore City has approximately 565,000 residents and a significantly smaller landmass.”

FOX45 in Baltimore should be free to practice journalism without punishment veiled as political campaigns against a company headquartered in Maryland.

As Justice Black reminded us in 1971, the Founding Fathers gave the country a gift in the First Amendment. It ensured the press was free to censure the government, while abolishing the government’s ability to censor the press. In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. It protected the press in its effort to reveal government secrets, neglect, deception, malfeasance and ineptitude.

Everything else is public relations.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.

It’s too late now to save the Key Bridge or the six lives lost in March when the Dali cargo ship collided with one of the bridge’s piers and brought it down, and there’s little use in dwelling on missed opportunities. But it’s worth reminding ourselves of what can happen when credible warnings are not met with appropriate action, particularly as we are now alerted to another potential future disaster in Baltimore that could jeopardize lives and the city’s economy.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, after conducting a three-year study of storm risk in Baltimore, released a report this month that highlights the flood risk to Baltimore’s two remaining harbor crossings, the I-95 Fort McHenry Tunnel and the I-895 Harbor Tunnel. In light of climate change and rising sea levels, which are projected to increase as much as 5.4 feet in Baltimore this century, the Army Corps recommends building more than 9,500 feet of floodwalls to protect the tunnels’ entrances and ventilation buildings.

It’s difficult to imagine the damage Baltimore would suffer from even the temporary loss of these tunnels, which are not just economic infrastructure but conduits that link the city’s fragmented communities. The Fort McHenry Tunnel is traveled by roughly 45 million vehicles per year and the Harbor Tunnel by 27 million, according to the project manager of the Army Corps study. Baltimore has only become more dependent on the tunnels after the collapse of the Key Bridge, whose diverted traffic “would add 18% to the combined volumes” of the tunnels, the U.S. Department of Transportation says.

No one wants to see Baltimore’s tunnels flooded. But the financial considerations at play mean there’s no guarantee we’ll see the necessary investments made to rectify the tunnels’ vulnerabilities. The Army Corps calls for an estimated $77 million to flood-proof the tunnels, with the Maryland Transporation Authority footing 35% of the bill and Congress the rest.

That’s not easy money to spare for the transportation authority as it contends with the Key Bridge’s collapse and the ensuing loss of toll revenue and is looking into a $145 million project to protect the Chesapeake Bay Bridge’s piers. Nor can we take for granted that Congress will easily agree to allocate the necessary funds.

But we would urge all parties to keep in mind that the costs they will pay should the tunnels flood will dwarf the bill for these preventative measures. One needs only to look to recent memory to find instances of cities that paid a great price when their tunnels flooded. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 flooded Manhattan’s tunnels, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. The city is still repairing some of them. Last year, a tunnel in Cheonju, South Korea, flooded amid heavy rains, and 14 people trapped in the tunnel died. “This kind of extreme weather event will become commonplace,” South Korea’s president said after the flood. “We must accept climate change is happening, and deal with it.”

Let’s take his advice. There’s no shortage of excuses we can make for not following through on these expensive flood protections. We can say it costs too much, we can say we have too many other priorities, but there will be one thing we can’t say should the worst happen: that we weren’t warned.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.

“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight, and I want you to know I promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris reassured her fellow Democrats in Chicago.

The historic nature of the Democratic ticket is surely not lost on anyone. She is the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to accept a major party’s nomination as president. But even as the Harris message of moving forward together draws cheers — not to mention a continuing barrage of racist and sexist reactions from Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance — it’s fair to wonder whether U.S. voters are ready to elect a female president. This is not simply because they failed to do so when Hillary Clinton was the Democratic Party nominee in 2016, when she won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote to Trump. Any number of indicators, from opinion surveys to down-ballot election results, suggest the glass ceiling remains firmly in place.

Let’s start with the results of past elections. The presidency is far from the only office where women have not been welcomed. Just 12 of the 50 current U.S. governors are women. Maryland has only chosen men for that post. In the U.S. Senate, only 60 women have ever served (25 of 100 currently). State legislatures offer a similar story. Even in Maryland, one of the top 10 states for electing women to state office, men still hold the majority of seats in the General Assembly. Nationally, women hold about a third of those 2,426 posts, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

One might argue that female candidates are simply catching up, and there is some truth to that. But it’s been a particularly slow slog given, for example, how Baltimore’s own Barbara Mikulski was hailed as a groundbreaker when she became the first Maryland woman elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. How many have accomplished that feat since then? If Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks defeats former Gov. Larry Hogan on the November ballot, she will be the second. Maryland has never elected a female governor. Some counties have never elected a female county executive. In Wicomico County, County Executive Julie Giordano has been so at odds with her county council that there is a referendum on the November ballot calling for the elimination of her elected post.

And it’s not as if the private sector is performing much better in this regard. For all the talk of equity and inclusion, female CEOs remain a rare breed with just 10.6% of Fortune 500 companies led by women last year.

Most Americans claim they are ready for a female president. A recent Gallup poll found 93% would vote for a woman compared with 23% who said they’d be willing to vote for a convicted felon which certainly bodes poorly for the Republican nominee. Yet it is one thing to say you would support a woman (the same survey found a majority of voters claim to be willing to support someone who is gay or Muslim or atheist as well), it’s another to pull the lever when the opportunity arises. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s treatment in the Republican primaries suggests sexism is alive and well within the GOP. For all the cheering in Chicago, for all the goodwill and record donations and even the blessings of President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, it remains to be seen whether Americans are as post-patriarchal as they claim.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.

The first is named H5N1, and the other is Lycorma delicatula. Marylanders are likely more familiar by their common names — the avian flu virus and the spotted lanternfly. The emergence of both in Maryland this year has farmers on alert. Avian flu has been a threat to the poultry industry, of course, but this year, for the first time, there’s the added danger that dairy cows will become infected with their milk. That doesn’t pose a danger to consumers — high-heat pasteurization takes care of that — but there is some concern that farm workers and others who have incidental contact with the cows could become ill. Maryland farmers have yet to report a single case this year, but precautions are in place: Cows headed to the Maryland State Fair from out-of-state must be tested for the virus.

As for those pesky lanternflies? Here, the order is much simpler. Atticks asks that everyone who makes the trip to Timonium first check their vehicles to prevent hitchhikers (a common way for the bugs to get around) and then stomp on the invaders when they see them. It’s the most straightforward and safest response. Again, lanternflies don’t pose any real risk to humans, but the sap-feeders pose a serious threat to farmers, particularly those who grow fruit. Grape growers, in particular, must find ways to counter them. One popular remedy is, for example, to spray grape vines with corn oil.

None of these are meant to take the bloom off the rose of the celebration in Timonium. Agriculture remains a too-often overlooked $8 billion cornerstone to Maryland’s economy, providing jobs for more than 350,000 people. Notably, when the Francis Scott Key Bridge fell, one of the industries most quickly affected was farming and the ability to get crops to market. The state is famous for its poultry production thanks to the presence of Salisbury-based Perdue Farms and others. Still, it’s also home to significant corn, soybean and dairy producers — and several other commodities, including hay and wheat.

Maryland farmers have seen better years, Atticus admits. Drought conditions have been the chief culprit, but there have been wide variations, particularly as rain has often been spotty, with some areas getting hefty storms and others not. Grain farmers have likely been hit hardest, particularly on the Eastern Shore. But drive in the opposite direction, and it’s not difficult to find cattle farmers in Western Maryland who have struggled to deal with parched grazing land. Yet, even in this misery, there is hope. Remember those grape growers at war with lanternflies? Dry conditions are especially good for certain varieties. Just ask any wine enthusiast. Less rainfall often results in sweeter, more desirable fruit.

Farming has never been easy. The mere presence of wild birds — perhaps on their annual fall migration — poses a risk if they pass avian flu to local chickens. And then there’s this year’s controversy over building additional power lines to feed a growing hunger for electricity for, among other things, data centers and electric vehicles. Farmers in Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore counties along the path of the 70-mile-long proposed Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project have spoken out strongly against it. And don’t forget the perennial threat of urbanization. The Maryland Farm Bureau reports the state lost about 12,000 acres of farmland between 2017 and 2022 with much of it going to residential development.

So whether you are a parent who sees the Maryland State Fair as a welcome sign that school will soon be back in session, or perhaps you are a younger, more adventurous soul who wants to ride the rides, attend a concert, or watch the races (Swifty Swine Racing Pigs are always a favorite), you might want to offer a kind word or just a tip of the hat to any farmer you happen to run across. They’ve definitely earned it in 2024.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.

There’s now a move afoot to beef up Chesapeake Bay ferry service. A study released last week envisions all sorts of cross-Bay routes, including from Baltimore to Annapolis to Kent Island to St. Michaels and on to Kent Narrows and then Rock Hall. Sounds like quite a boat trip, right? And that, alas, is exactly the conundrum. The various routes — seven altogether — cover an awful lot of water, and they would likely do so infrequently. That Baltimore-to-Rock Hall trip is envisioned as potentially one-way in each direction once-a-day. And it would take eight hours.

Let’s repeat that. Eight hours. One would have to get stuck in a truly epic traffic backup at the Bay Bridge to think you might save time. And then there’s the matter of finding oneself in Rock Hall, which is a bit off the beaten path even by Eastern Shore standards. That’s not a criticism. It’s a charming Kent County community. But the challenge here is calling such a boat ride a “ferry” trip. What we’re really talking about is an excursion boat. And there’s nothing wrong with that either. The trip sounds like it could be fun — just as others from Baltimore to Havre de Grace or Annapolis to Cambridge sound like a good time, too.

But here’s where we would offer a word of caution. As noted in the 114-page feasibility study, these ferries won’t be financially self-sustaining. The costs are simply too high. They require public and/or private investment to make them financially viable otherwise that Baltimore to Rock Hall trip might run passengers a whopping $200 each way. There’s certainly an argument to nurture tour boats. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, for example, would benefit from an influx of additional tourists looking to visit the National Aquarium or the Maryland Science Center or other Inner Harbor attractions. So would Eastern Shore towns with an active tourist trade like Oxford and St. Michaels.

What we would not like to see is for taxpayers to be taken for a ride. The same feasibility study looks at all kinds of sources of potential public funding. They include a Maryland “transit innovation” grant, a federal “marine highway” grant (a fund usually reserved for commercial shipping), and Federal Transit Authority money (including a program to promote more traditional rural ferries). There’s even an expectation of a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions if ferry service take vehicles off the roads. We’re all for promoting electric or hybrid vessels but let’s not overstate their potential impact. Even backers of these ferry routes expect only about 50,000 passengers the first year. Would all these adventurous souls otherwise have been driving to Rock Hall or Oxford or Solomons Island?

Again, that’s not a criticism of tour boats. They’re great. And surely the Chesapeake Bay — and the people who live around it — would stand to benefit if more of us had a chance to see it up close and appreciate how human activity from every clogged storm drain to every overly-fertilized field to every flush of the commode can have an adverse impact on its health and future. If we are to be good stewards of what is inarguably this state’s most precious natural resource, we ought to take a closer look at it every once in a while, if only to appreciate its extraordinary beauty.

But that also gives us an idea: As passenger ferries, we have doubts about the financial returns. But if tour operators offered instruction on Chesapeake Bay water quality and the steps each of us can take to save the Bay? What if public education, as much as public transportation, was the point? Well, now such moveable classrooms might be worth a substantial public investment.

Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.