Coal towns not only neglected communities

It’s not just coal communities that are forgotten in Annapolis, but businesses in general, and specifically small businesses (“Maryland’s coal communities are forgotten in Annapolis,” June 1).

This reminds me of four years ago when then-White House climate czar and former U.S. Sen. John Kerry told laid-off Keystone pipeline workers to go make solar panels. I guess he was providing transportation to China.

Politicians in the United States are clueless when it comes to creditable problem-solving. They only answer to far-left and far-right ideologies. Too bad for all us regular folks in the middle.

— Lyle Rescott, Marriottsville

Be wary of Trump, not Springsteen

According to Salvatore Fili, “We have a president who puts the people first and we’re showing criminal aliens and fraudsters the gate” (“Springsteen can take a hike,” June 1).

Actually, if the letter writer from Sparks was paying attention, he’d recognize that the person who “should be running away from angry mobs of patriots” isn’t Bruce Springsteen but the despicable liar, narcissist and ignorant con man President Donald Trump.

It’s Trump, not Springsteen, who is destroying our republic.

It’s Trump, not Springsteen, who lies constantly. And it’s Trump, not Springsteen, who ignores our Constitution and tries to rule as a king. The “criminal” and “fraudster” is our president, not those who are “being shown the gate,” most of whom contribute far more to the well-being of our country than Trump ever has.

— Harris Factor, Columbia

Don’t trust AI lacrosse reporting

During the recent Cornell University-University of Maryland NCAA men’s lacrosse championship, I entered these words into the Google search engine during the second quarter: “Cornell, NCAA, lacrosse, championships” (“Maryland men’s lacrosse fades in 13-10 loss to Cornell in NCAA final,” May 26).

I wanted a sense of Cornell’s experience in championship games. This was Google’s “AI Overview” response:

“Cornell has won the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse championship four times: 1973, 1975, 2017, and 2022. In the 2025 season, they reached the final but lost to the University of Maryland. Cornell has a strong history in the sport, having appeared in the NCAA tournament 47 times and reached the Final Four 30 times.”

I immediately noticed that the response prejudged the very 2025 game I was watching live — and got it wrong, as it turned out when the game ended. It was my wife who recalled that it was Maryland, not Cornell, who won the 2022 championship.

I do not know whether the other “facts” cited in this response are correct or not. But Google’s artificial intelligence also has no idea whether they are correct or not. Anyone relying on AI for a matter of any significance had better proceed with caution.

— W.H. Earle, Parkville

Where have federal funds been going?

Wait. We’ve been getting “billions” from the feds each year and $10 billion this year would have gone to state police and the Department of Corrections (“Maryland could lose billions in federal funding after Trump’s ‘Sanctuary Jurisdiction’ designation,” May 30)?

Have we seen those previous billions being spent on police salaries and upgrades, on hiring more corrections staff to mitigate our problems there? Who’s in charge of those dollars and showing us how they’re spent?

— Sue Bradshaw, Towson