Complaints about Baltimore’s squeegee guys drop significantly; angry letters to this columnist have tapered off, too.

I hear and receive by email a lot of complaints about the Baltimore city government under the administration of Mayor Brandon Scott — that it has experienced too much executive turnover, that it seems too slow to react to problems, that it hasn’t done enough to stem gun violence and support downtown businesses. I agree … Continue reading Complaints about Baltimore’s squeegee guys drop significantly; angry letters to this columnist have tapered off, too.

Discovered: An unpublished short story by James M. Cain

Among the accomplished writers who came from Maryland was James. M. Cain, famously the author of "The Postman Always Rings Twice," "Double Indemnity" and other novels. (That's him in the photo above with actress Lana Turner in 1946 in a Hollywood restaurant.) Now comes news from the Associated Press that a never-published Cain short story, … Continue reading Discovered: An unpublished short story by James M. Cain

The nation could use a Public Service Day, too.

So that Memorial Day does not become “just another day off,” I decided to ponder its origin and meaning.  I heard a TV host say Americans will “celebrate” Memorial Day. I found that jarring. The person who wrote that into the MSNBC script picked the wrong verb. “Observe” would suffice because there’s nothing to “celebrate” … Continue reading The nation could use a Public Service Day, too.

Incentivizing food stamp recipients to make healthy choices

In the process of reporting for my Wednesday column in The Baltimore Sun, I learned about (and made a donation to) the Maryland Market Money program, designed to reward food stamp recipients for choosing to buy healthy, locally grown food at farmers markets.My column is about Andy Harris, the state’s generally awful Republican in Congress, … Continue reading Incentivizing food stamp recipients to make healthy choices