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Letters to the editor

A close up photo of a bicycle symbol in a red-painted lane of a two lane roadway. Cars are parked along the road in the distance.
Letters: West Baltimore residents are right. Parts of proposed bike trail are dangerous.
The proposed bike trail from Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park to Druid Hill Park would be dangerous, a reader says, but an alternate route would make sense.
A Baltimore County Council sign hangs in a hallway of the old courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024 in Towson.
Letters: Lutherville Station development doesn’t consider immigrant residents’ needs
The needs of this growing population are largely invisible in discussions about the future of Lutherville-Timonium, says community organizer Jenny Torres.
Two Giant grocery stores in Baltimore are implementing a youth supervision policy to combat what the company calls a recent rise in theft.
Letters: Giant Food grocery curfew unfairly blames youths for crime
Grocery stores targeting youths with curfews sends the harmful and inaccurate message that young people are primarily responsible for crime and shoplifting, says Hannah Stommel, a Zubrow fellow at the Juvenile Law Center.
Danielle Konstandindis and Micheal Hicks pose for a photograph at a public information session held by the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project in Westminster on July 11, 2024.
Letters: 70-mile power line would hurt Maryland farms
A reader from Frederick says the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project will upend farm life in three Maryland counties: Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore.
Emissions spew from a large stack at the coal fired Brandon Shores Power Plant, on March 9, 2018, in Baltimore, Maryland. A PJM Interconnection spokesperson says the company has planned for the transition to new energy sources.
Letters: Power grid reforms are working, says PJM spokesperson
PJM Interconnection has planned for the region’s energy transition and renewable energy, says company spokesperson Susan Buehler.

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A chicken box from The Spot, located on St. Paul Street in Baltimore. Baltimore County Council Chair Izzy Patoka says Bangin’ Fish and Chicken on Liberty Road in Randallstown gets his highest recommendation.
Letters: Baltimore County Councilman Izzy Patoka’s top chicken box
Izzy Patoka, the chair of the Baltimore County Council, has a special fondness for Bangin’ Fish and Chicken on Liberty Road in Randallstown.
A sanitation truck offloads waste for Baltimore’s Department of Public Works. A solid waste laborer died while working a sanitation route in Northeast Baltimore’s Barclay neighborhood on Friday, according to an official statement from the city.
Letters: Mayor must fix ‘deplorable’ conditions at DPW
A reader says the mayor must fix the “deplorable, inhumane” working conditions at the Department of Public Works sanitation yards after a worker died while on his route.
Howard County officials and Gov. Wes Moore unveil plans for a new Columbia library overlooking Lake Kittamaqundi.
Letters: Let’s end the debate and approve a library for Columbia’s lakefront
A library would be a benefit to the entire Columbia community, one reader argues.
Mac and cheese lovers, this is for you.
Letters: Teaching my sons to love soul food
I cook mac and cheese, fried chicken and other soul food in hopes that my two sons will be proud of their Black heritage and Black culture.
The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Letter: Bloomberg’s $1 billion gift to JHU will pay dividends for generations
The entire health care ecosystem, and the communities it serves, have been uplifted by the transformational generosity of Michael Bloomberg, says Mohan Suntha, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System.

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Lisa Filer and Jon Filer stand outside of Starlight Liquors in Baltimore, MD on July 20, 2023 where their son, Aidan Filer, passed away from a fentanyl overdose three years prior.
Letter: Something needs to be done about Baltimore’s overdose crisis immediately
Craig Lippens, president of the Maryland Addiction Directors Council, said treatment is key to addressing Baltimore’s opioid crisis but too many obstacles persist to offer more options.
Meeting the the needs of migrant children in Maryland will make our communities stronger, a Pikesville physician says.
Letters: Immigrants have always made America better
Meeting the the needs of migrant children in Maryland and their families will make our communities stronger, a Pikesville physician says.
David Marks is a member of the Baltimore County Council representing the Fifth District.
Letters: Critic of Planning Board reform offered no help
Baltimore County Council member David Marks says a critic of his approach to reforming the county Planning Board should participate in the council’s reform effort.
Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer and developer James Rouse stand at the center of a celebration for the opening of Harborplace.
Letters: The case for renaming a new Key Bridge the William Donald Schaefer Memorial Bridge
Honoring William Donald Schaefer by renaming the Key Bridge replacement after him would make perfect sense, says a Baltimore resident who cites Schaefer's “do it now” approach as Maryland’s governor and Baltimore’s mayor.
Ft. Carroll as seen during a CBF Tour of the EPA Superfund Site on 3/25/24 in Baltimore, MD.
Letters: Oyster reef thrives below abandoned harbor fort
Millions of oysters have been planted in recent years on a reef below the surface at the abandoned Fort Carroll in Baltimore Harbor, the Maryland oyster restoration coordinator at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation says.

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Celeste M. Jordan is president of the Carroll County Education Association.
Letters: Underfunding has left Carroll County short of teachers
Years of underfunding has left Carroll County short of the number of teachers it needs, the president of the Carroll County Education Association says.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates would make matters worse for marginalized Baltimore families if he follows through on a plan to prosecute parents whose children are arrested, a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health says.
Letters: Ivan Bates using fear tactics against parents
A plan discussed by Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates to prosecute parents whose children are arrested would only make matters worse for marginalized families in the city, a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health says.
A Federal Hill resident says dirt bikers should have a place in Baltimore to ride but not in the places he and his grandchildren frequent.
Letters: City leaders shouldn’t condone dirt bike riders
A Federal Hill resident says dirt bikers, such as the ones who ride through Federal Hill Park, put others and themselves at risk and generally diminish the quality of life in Baltimore.
Larry Hogan’s candidacy for the U.S. Senate facilitates the threat to democracy the national Republican party now represents, a former Republican and former Hogan voter says.
Letters: Hogan candidacy facilitates threat to democracy
A former Republican and Larry Hogan voter says he now sees Hogan’s candidacy for the U.S. Senate as representing a threat to democracy.
Shown are Belinda Burrier and her husband David at Burrier’s Linganore Farm.
Letters: Maryland agriculture must be part of Key Bridge recovery plans
Economic response and recovery plans following the Key Bridge collapse must take into account the impact on Maryland agriculture, the state’s largest industry, says Belinda Burrier, a member of the Maryland Farm Bureau Board of Directors and co-owner of Burrier’s Linganore Farm.