State Roundup, December 15, 2009

Today’s roundup includes a doubtful prospect for new taxes from Speaker Busch, analyses of next year’s election and the impending school budget battles, and yet more on bids for racetracks and slots.

No new taxes are likely in the coming session, House Speaker Michael Busch tells C4 on WBAL radio.

Bloggers from left and right argue make a case for and against the significance of party registration numbers in next year’s election. Read Adam Pagnucco in Maryland Politics Watch and Brian Griffiths in Red Maryland.

In a video, Gov. Martin O’Malley and Sid the Science Kid team up to pitch vaccinations for the H1N1 flu, John Wagner reports in the Post blog.

The impending battle over the school system budget in Montgomery County may foreshadow other local budget tussles that will likely spill over into the next legislative session. Adam Pagnucco analyzes it in Maryland Politics Watch.

The state will tackle one of the biggest problems in Annapolis, Liam Farrell reports in the Capital – the traffic tie-ups on Route 50 at the Severn River bridge.

Slots, racetracks and Maryland politics: the saga continues, as groups submit bids for the Magna-owned tracks and the Preakness. Reports in the Baltimore Business Journal, The Daily Record and The Baltimore Sun.

York Capital Management is the mystery investor being courted by the Baltimore slots group, according to John Wagner in The Washington Post Blog.

Federal district court Judge Frederick Motz is skeptical of Baltimore City’s case against Wells Fargo bank, a frequent target of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s ire. Brendan Kearney reports in The Daily Record and Tricia Bishop in the Sun.

A Maryland Transit Administration worker was charged with stealing $400,000 in fares, the Post reports.

Childs Walker of the Sun profiles the newly named president of Morgan State University.

WJZ has video of the opening of the new interchange on I-70 serving as the gateway entrance to Frederick.

About The Author

Len Lazarick

len@marylandreporter.com

Len Lazarick was the founding editor and publisher of MarylandReporter.com and is currently the president of its nonprofit corporation and chairman of its board He was formerly the State House bureau chief of the daily Baltimore Examiner from its start in April 2006 to its demise in February 2009. He was a copy editor on the national desk of the Washington Post for eight years before that, and has spent decades covering Maryland politics and government.

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