State Roundup, August 22, 2012

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MILLER RULES: During the latest special session, Senate President Mike Miller deftly displays his open mic and math skills, writes Len Lazarick of MarylandReporter.com.

TURNER’S ROLE: Lindsey McPherson of the Howard County Times takes a close look at Del. Frank Turner’s role in getting gambling expansion through the House of Delegates.

IRRESPONSIBLE: Columnist Marta Mossburg, writing in the Frederick News-Post, looks back at the recently ended special session and says scheduling a special session in August during one of the hottest summers on record is as responsible as giving a 16-year-old boy a motorcycle

SESSION RECAP: Danny Jacobs of the Daily Record recaps the special session in a podcast with guest C. Fraser Smith, Daily Record columnist and WYPR-FM senior news analyst and Alexander Pyles.

GUN LAWS: A state task force composed of police, mental health advocates and gun rights representatives began its look yesterday at whether Maryland laws governing gun access by the mentally ill should be changed, reports Andrea Siegel for the Baltimore Sun.

John Rydell of WBFF-TV reports that George Durst, with the pro-gun group Maryland Shall Issue Inc., said, “We are not in favor of excluding mental illness all together as a disqualifier for being able to own or carry weapons …”

PULLBACK ON PIT BULLS: A divided Maryland Court of Appeals yesterday tried to pull back slightly on its controversial ruling that all types of pit bulls are inherently dangerous, blogs Aaron Davis of the Post. But animal rights groups warned the decision could create more problems for dog owners than had it left its previous ruling on hold.

Pamela Wood of the Capital-Gazette writes that the court removed pit bull mixes and cross breeds from its earlier ruling in a case that involved a boy who was mauled by a pit bull.

CARS-FOR-THE-POOR CONTRACT: Maryland officials are considering renewing a $332,000 contract with a nonprofit that donates cars to needy residents, even though the nonprofit delivered on just 16 out of the 91 cars that the original contract was expected to provide, Hayley Peterson writes for the Washington Examiner.

POWER OUTAGES: Scott Dance of the Sun reports that Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration launched an effort yesterday to limit the extended power outages that have troubled Marylanders in recent months, but industry experts warned that any solution could require significant costs and trade-offs.

TRACTOR PROTEST: Twenty-three tractors circled around the Cecil County Administration Building parking lot in Elkton yesterday in clear view of the board of county commissioners who were inside about to begin a public meeting, reports Cheryl Mattix for the Cecil Whig. They were protesting a state law that requires each county to create a map that will dictate where future growth can go. But some say it will limit the county’s ability to follow its comprehensive plan adopted in 2011.

POLLUTION REDUCTION: A federal appeals court has swept aside a key pillar of Maryland’s plan to reduce soot and smog when it struck down a federal rule aimed at limiting air pollution crossing from one state to another, writes Meredith Cohn of the Sun.

RURAL COALITION: Along with helping represent Frederick County and holding two fundraisers for his nascent campaign for governor, Frederick County Board of Commissioners’ President Blaine Young spent time at the recent Maryland Association of Counties conference trying to drum up new members for a coalition of rural counties, Ryan Marshall reports in the Gazette.

BARTLETT BLASTS AKIN: U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett repudiated fellow Republican Rep. Todd Akin’s comments on rape while his campaign manager called an attempt by Maryland Democrats to tie Bartlett to the controversy “disgusting,” writes Matthew Hay Brown for the Sun.

Maryland Juice has the full exchange of press releases.

GOP UNHAPPY WITH APPOINTMENT: The Wicomico County Republican Central Committee is still upset that none of the nominees it sent to Gov. O’Malley for a vacancy on the Wicomico Board of Education was selected, reports Jennifer Shutt for the Salisbury Daily Times.

About The Author

Cynthia Prairie

cynthiaprairie@gmail.com
https://www.chestertelegraph.org/

Contributing Editor Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor since 1979, when she began working at The Raleigh Times. Since then, she has worked for The Baltimore News American, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Prince George’s Journal and Baltimore County newspapers in the Patuxent Publishing chain, including overseeing The Jeffersonian when it was a two-day a week business publication. Cynthia has won numerous state awards, including the Maryland State Bar Association’s Gavel Award. Besides compiling and editing the daily State Roundup, she runs her own online newspaper, The Chester Telegraph. If you have additional questions or comments contact Cynthia at: cynthiaprairie@gmail.com

1 Comment

  1. HaroldAMaio

    “The” mentally ill
    Your language is inaccurate, Thelma, often repeated, but
    inaccurate.

    To be denied the right to own firearms one has to be
    adjudicated so. Due process must be followed, a judge decides. To see the error
    in the above, substitute “the” Jews. It then becomes harshly visible.

    The phrase represents a “transfer of
    metaphors,” language unexamined, here by journalism, and passed
    on.

    Harold
    A. Maio, retired mental health editor

    “The” mentally
    ill has transferred to he highest court in the US
    unnoticed. You are not alone. HM

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