Last year, 5,522 state employees brought home paychecks that added up to $100,000 or more, according to salary figures from the Comptroller’s office. That’s about 6% of most full-time workers employed by the state and 383 more than in 2010. [...more]
While thousands of state employees earn six figures, about a third of the salaried full-time employees working for state government (28,391) are paid $40,000 or less, according to information on salaries from the Comptroller’s Office. [...more]
The Senate passed a pay hike of up to $14,500 annually for Maryland’s 284 judges Wednesday, citing an imperative to hire and keep talented legal minds on the bench. [...more]
The marble lobby of the State House reverberated with cheers and applause Thursday evening for a highly unusual signing ceremony that made Maryland the eighth state to legalize same-sex marriage in the nation. (Includes one-minute video.) [...more]
The petition drive to repeal Maryland's same-sex marriage law -- which will be signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley today -- is underway. Duane Keenan filed this podcast talking to organizers of the petition drive, headed up by the Maryland Marriage Alliance and backed by Del. Neil Parrott's group MDPetitions.com. [...more]
Same-sex marriage passed the Senate with a 25-22 vote on Thursday night, paving the way for a battle at the ballot box in November. The bill passed the Senate in exactly the same form as it passed the House of Delegates last week and now goes to Gov. Martin O’Malley, who proposed the bill and said he will sign it soon. [...more]
Duane Keenan's podcast from the final Senate debate on same-sex marriage includes Senate President Mike Miller's remarks and some of the speech by openly gay Sen. Rich Madaleno. [...more]
Sen. James Brochin has proposed a law to reduce partisanship in future redistricting decisions by creating a Temporary Redistricting Commission in the year following a U.S. Census. Brochin, a Towson Democrat, believes his 42nd District in Baltimore County was redrawn into “ultra-Republican” areas -- as punishment for regularly voting with the Republican minority on fiscal issues. [...more]
After rejecting six amendments, a bill allowing same-sex marriage will be going to the full Senate for a final vote at 4 p.m. Thursday. [...more]
Gov. Martin O’Malley’s state redistricting map will become law on Friday without a single hearing, and Marylanders have been denied a say, the state Republican Party and Fannie Lou Hamer, an African-American political action group, charged on Wednesday. [...more]
