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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 11 February 2020
Maryland to unveil statues of Tubman, Douglass in Capitol

By BRIAN WITTE male speaker of the House person to adorn the Mary-
Associated Press and the first new Senate land's Senate walls.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — president in more than During the unveiling cer-
At a time when states are three decades. emony, Ferguson, who be-
debating the removal of Tubman escaped from came Senate president last
Confederate monuments, slavery to become a lead- month, recalled a letter he
Maryland is adding bronze ing abolitionist who helped received from an 8th grad-
statues of two of the state's slaves escape through the er in Baltimore several years
famous black historical fig- Underground Railroad. ago. The student wrote she
ures to the Maryland State Douglass also escaped was saddened she did not
House. slavery on Maryland's East- see anyone who looked
The statues of abolitionists ern Shore. He went on to like her in the paintings that
Harriet Tubman and Fred- become an author, speak- decorate the State House.
erick Douglass will be un- er, abolitionist and support- "We've heard a lot about
veiled Monday night in the er of women's rights. His au- change in these chambers
Old House Chamber, the tobiography, published in over the last few days, and
room where slavery was 1845, was a best-seller that portraits are, I admit, less A portrait of former Maryland state Sen. Verda Welcome is
abolished in Maryland in helped fuel the abolitionist impactful than our elected shown an a photograph taken on Feb. 7, 2020 in the Maryland
Senate in Annapolis, Md.
1864. movement. leaders, but the public dis- Associated Press
"It's a really incredible, in- The statues aren't the only play of portraits is mean-
credible, moment," Senate recent examples of the ingful," State Archivist Tim islative body has become Maryland also has removed
President Bill Ferguson said, state taking steps to reflect Baker said during the cere- since her mother served in painful reminders of its past
as he told senators about its rich black history. mony. "Images have an im- office. "When I was a little in recent years.
the upcoming event last Last month, a portrait of portance that transcends girl I used to come to these In 2017, the state removed
month. a black female lawmaker the painted canvas." chambers — and to the a statue of Roger B. Taney,
While the commissioning replaced one of a white Mary Sue Welcome, the one across the hall — and the U.S. Supreme Court jus-
of the statues was put in governor who had been late senator's daughter, I would look around and tice who wrote the 1857
motion several years ago, on the wall for 115 years. said during the unveiling the color was a lot different Dred Scott decision that
their arrival coincides with The painting of Verda Wel- of her mother's portrait than it is now," Welcome upheld slavery and denied
new leadership in the state come, who was elected to that she was struck by how said. "The coloration is so citizenship to African Amer-
legislature, including Mary- the state Senate in 1962, is much more diverse the leg- absolutely beautiful now." icans. q
land's first black and first fe- the first portrait of a black

Pennsylvania sues

Juul over marketing

e-cigarettes to teens

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — to the tobacco compa-
The Pennsylvania attorney nies' playbook. There is no
general's office sued elec- proof these e-cigarettes
tronic cigarette manufac- are safe and until there is,
turer Juul Labs Inc. on Mon- we need to get Juul prod-
day over how its products ucts off shelves and out of
are marketed and sold to the hands of young peo-
teenagers. ple."
The agency is seeking an Similar lawsuits have been
injunction from Philadel- filed in other states, includ-
phia courts to halt Juul's ing New York, Minnesota
e-cigarette sales in Penn- and California.
sylvania or force it to dra- The lawsuits come as health
matically change business officials are investigating
practices. deaths and illnesses tied
Nearly a quarter of high to some vaping products.
school students in Pennsyl- Federal officials have iden-
vania report using e-cig- tified a thickening agent
arettes, according to the added to illicit THC vaping
suit. liquids as the culprit behind
Juul Labs Inc. spokesman the "vast majority" of the
Austin Finan said the com- lung injuries.
pany has not reviewed the There have been 61 con-
complaint but wants to fo- firmed and 59 probable
cus on combating under- cases of vaping products
age use and converting associated lung injury in
adult smokers from tradi- Pennsylvania, with patients
tional cigarettes. typically in their mid-20s,
Shapiro, a Democrat, said according to the state
in a statement that Juul Health Department. There
"knowingly targeted young also has been one death in
people with tactics similar the state.q