It’s not often that I help a grandmother fly from Israel to the US to attend a family wedding.

On Friday of last week, I heard from Jeremy Staiman, who designs my campaign literature.

His 91-year old mother, accompanied by Biji Dixon, her full-time aide, had tickets to fly from Israel to the United States on Thursday for her granddaughter’s wedding.

But there were visa problems for Ms. Dixon.

Could I write a letter on her behalf?

When the letter didn’t work, I asked Jackie Greenfield, my Constituent Director, to call Senator Ben Cardin’s office.

On Thursday, I received this email from Jeremy:

I have no idea what factors influenced what here. But clearly everyone putting forth their best efforts in every way possible has resulted in my 91-year-old mother being able to walk down the aisle at her granddaughter’s wedding. My brother and I will have the privilege of escorting her on that special walk, and I will be thinking all the while of how fortunate we are that so many people put in so much effort to allow it to happen.

I responded to Jeremy:

The Lord and the State Department Consular Division work in mysterious ways.

When I come for dinner in December [when I’m in Israel], I want to meet both your mother and Biji Dixon.

Jeremy replied, “It would be a pleasure!”

Closing a school is not fun.

The neighborhood opposes it. Justifiably.

Kids will no longer be able to walk a few blocks to school. No one knows what will take the school’s place in the community.

In the short term, the disruption of a renovation is not good for the students, who move to a swing school while their school is a construction site.

But now it’s time to reopen three renovated schools in the 41st District – Forest Park, Pimlico and Wildwood, and to break ground for two other schools – Arlington and Calvin Rodwell.

My new 41st District colleagues and I met with City Schools CEO Dr. Sonja Santelises yesterday to be brought up to date. It was our first meeting as a group.

Today, I received an email that Windsor Hills Elementary/Middle School is applying to participate in the Ingenuity Project, which is focused on advanced math and science for middle and high school students.

I’m going to ask my colleagues, Senator Jill Carter and future Delegates Dalya Attar and Anthony Bridges, who wants to draft our letter of support.

This is how you get things done.

Twenty seven years ago, my colleagues and I anticipated that Roe v. Wade could be in jeopardy some day.

We passed a law that embodies the principles of that decision. Maryland voters approved it on referendum, 62-38%.

If the Supreme Court were to reverse Roe or limit its protections, women in Maryland would not be affected when choosing whether to bear a child.

However, other aspects of a woman’s reproductive health care may be impaired.

A Trump administration proposal would bar clinics that provide abortion services or referrals from receiving federal family-planning funds. This would deprive Planned Parenthood and other women’s health centers of millions of dollars a year.

There is a legislative precedent: After Congress eliminated funding for family planning services and other reproductive health care, if provided by Planned Parenthood, the 2017 General Assembly passed House Bill 1083, requiring the Governor to make up for that lost funding.

My letter to the editor of the Jewish Times on finding a middle ground on abortion is at

http://jewishtimes.com/81252/maryland-also-takes-middle-ground-on-abortion/opinion/

I also recommend an op-ed on Roe v. Wade that urges, “We need to mobilize in the states.”

Standing in front of the Pratt Library branch in Roland Park, I was again honored to read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence before the 4th of July parade began.: For the first time, in my memory, I made brief remarks beforehand.

On this July 4th, as we hear Jefferson’s words, we are reminded that these truths are self evident, and it is our sacred obligation to preserve them.

Later that day, Steve Sachs, former attorney general of Maryland, sent me the link to a reading of the entire Declaration of Independence by then Senator John F. Kennedy in 1957.

It’s well worth listening to.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/07/04/awe-inspiring-listen-to-john-f-kennedy-read-the-declaration-of-independence/?utm_term=.4abe7d2eae49

In October of 1963, at the ground breaking for the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College in Massachusetts, President Kennedy would declare, “When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”

His speech is also worth listening to.