MarylandReporter.com (http://marylandreporter.com/author/len-lazarick/)
The August issue of Baltimore magazine honors MarylandReporter.com Editor and Publisher Len Lazarick with one of its annual Best of Baltimore awards for his series on “Columbia at 50,” which has now been turned into a book.
The Ringling Brothers circus closed earlier this year, and it looked like lobbyist Bruce Bereano had bought one of their tents as the longtime Annapolis influencer hosted the biggest gathering at the annual J. Millard Tawes Clam Bake and Crab Feast in Crisfield Wednesday. Here’s a gallery of photos from the hot and steamy event.
Elbridge Gerry was born 273 years ago Monday, but Common Cause, the League of Women Voters and the Hogan administration don’t want Maryland to forget the long-dead governor of Massachusetts, who gave his name to partisan drawing of legislative lines. The good government groups, joined by Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, celebrated their second Gerrymander Meander Sunday with a tame version of a pub crawl that took them to four restaurants into four different congressional districts along a 13-mile stretch of Baltimore City and County.
Gov. Larry Hogan was surely joshing on Monday when he told reporters that “maybe in a year or so we’ll think about re-election.” Hogan hasn’t officially launched his re-election bid, but next year’s campaign has clearly been on his mind for a long, long time. He’s explicitly talked about his second term and been aggressively raising money to achieve it.
Sports betting is the latest frontier for the expansion of legalized gambling in Maryland, panelists at the Maryland Live! casino Thursday made clear. It is crucial to “get the federal government out of the way” of sports gambling, said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, which sponsored the event touting the industry’s contribution to local jobs and nonprofits.
This is the 12th and final part in a series of monthly essays leading up to Columbia’s 50th birthday celebration this month. Veteran journalist and longtime resident Len Lazarick wraps up by looking back over the past 50 years and looking forward to Columbia’s future. All 12 chapters have now been published as a 200-page book.
The depositions of Maryland’s three highest official make interesting reading, though the format is trying. The Washington Post has put the depositions on Document Cloud. Thanks to the AP’s Brian Witte for pointing out the section on MarylandReporter.com and its biweekly columnist Michael Collins (pages 60-62). Here is that whole section in its entirety made easier to read.
Keeping a sports facility open that runs consistently at a big loss may seem like a poor financial decision. Yet it is completely consistent with the original philosophy behind the Columbia Association. As Columbia got started, every one of the amenities and facilities ran at a loss, not to mention the debt it took to build them. As Columbia looks to the future, CA not only wants to keep the pools and athletic facilities open, but to keep Jim Rouse’s vision alive.
Democrats were quick to jump on Republican Gov. Larry Hogan for vetoing their version of alleged redistricting reform on Monday. But the charges were largely partisan spin, and both sides were posturing for the 2018 campaign.
Gov. Larry Hogan’s strategy on President Trump’s budget apparently worked: Shut up and let the Maryland’s members of Congress do their job. Democratic officials and party leaders had demanded the Republican governor stand up to Trump and resist plans to cut funding for Chesapeake Bay cleanup, medical research at the National Institutes of Health, and funding for the Affordable Care Act. Hogan said it was up to Congress to act on the president’s budget, and a spokesman said the governor would act if and when the cuts actually happened.