State Roundup, Monday, June 17, 2013

MARYLAND APPROVES TEACHER EVALUATIONS: Maryland education officials approve evaluation plans for 21 school systems after a few years of piloting it. A recent survey from the 70,000-member Maryland State Education Association showed that 72% of teachers said they were not prepared for the new evaluation model. The survey found 85% of those surveyed said the evaluation system still presents many new challenges, reports WBAL TV.

GOP GOVERNOR’S RACE: More than a half-dozen Maryland Republicans are gearing up for next year’s race to succeed Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), banking that voters are fed up with Democrats who have passed a series of tax increases and liberal social policies in recent years, John Wagner reports in the Washington Post.

O’MALLEY TALK: Gov. Martin O’Malley touted a list of his achievements, including the legalization of same-sex marriage and the repeal of the death penalty, during an address Saturday to a national gathering of a liberal legal organization, the American Constitution Society, reports John Wagner in the Post.

ABORTION DOCTOR REINSTATED: The Maryland Board of Physicians has restored the license of a doctor who is the medical director for a group of Maryland abortion clinics, reports WBFF Fox Baltimore.. The clinics were shut down after a patient died at one clinic and regulators found lax procedures at all four.

U.S. JUDGE DIES: Thomas Penfield Jackson, who as a federal judge in Washington presided over a Microsoft antitrust case and declared the software company a monopoly, has died of cancer at home in Compton, Md., reports the Associated Press.

GAY WEDDINGS: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake officiated at the wedding of 20 gay couples on Sunday, Carrie Wells of the Sun reports.

SENATOR CARDIN ON SYRIA: Sen. Ben Cardin supports the President’s call for more direct U.S. military involvement in the Syrian civil war, but urges caution, reports Steve Fermier for WBAL.

MARYLAND ATTORNEY GENERAL RACE: WYPR’s Fraser Smith talks with political consultant and blogger at Maryland Juice about the under-the-radar race for Maryland Attorney General on Inside Maryland Politics.

DELANEY ON ROADS FUNDING: Congressman John Delaney wants to set up a $50 billion federal fund, similar to a bank, from which local governments could borrow for local transportation projects, reports Hank Silverberg for WTOP.

SURVEY: BALTIMORE TEACHERS DISSATISFIED WITH CONTRACT: Baltimore City educator and writer Iris Kirsch talks on the Mark Steiner Show about a recent survey conducted by the Educators for Democratic Schools that indicates many teachers are dissatisfied with their current contracts. The show aired on WEAA Radio (Morgan State University.

GOV. O’MALLEY IN FRANCE, IRELAND: Gov. Martin O’Malley is visiting France and Ireland during a week-long trip billed as trade mission, blogs Erin Cox for Maryland Politics in the Baltimore Sun. The governor’s third international journey of 2013 will include visits to the Paris Air Show, meetings with a Lockheed Martin CEO and other aerospace leaders, a reception with Charles Rivkin, the U.S. Ambassador to France and a discussion of O’Malley’s data program StateStat with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

RAIN TAX MAY TAKE AWAY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Storm water management fees in Harford County may throw local businesses in a financial loop and hurt the region’s economic development, Jim Richardson of Harford County government opines through The Dagger.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation banner ad top dogQUESTIONS RAISED ON MAYOR’S STAY WITH LOBBYIST: Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s beach weekend with City Hall lobbyist Lisa Harris Jones has been the talk of the town on local radio shows, reports Mark Reutter and Fern Shen in The Baltimore Brew. Harris Jones & Malone is the lobbyist for almost half of the companies and groups registered with the city ethics board.

REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR’S POLL: Red Maryland released a poll showing David Craig leads the pack for Republican governor’s candidates in Maryland, with 32% of the vote. Ron George and Charles Lollar follow. The nonscientific poll is identified as the June 2013 Red Maryland Network Poll, and surveyed 507 people across the state.

TROUBLED JUVENILE FACILITY SHOULD KEEP RUNNING: The Maryland Board of Public Works made the right decision to allow a Carroll County facility for troubled teens to exceed an artificial cap on population, writes Barry Rascovar for Political Maryland. The Silver Oak Academy is a better, though not ideal, solution than jail, he said.

TRASH DEAL: Baltimore and Harford counties have struck a deal on trash collection they say will benefit taxpayers in both places, Alison Knezevich reports in the Sun.

CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS: Alison Knezevich of the Sun did a long feature on women correctional officers, who make up two-thirds of the officers in some city facilities. The article includes interviews with several officers.

O’MALLEY CALLS EPA: Gov. Martin O’Malley has interceded with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of Carnival Cruise Lines after the company threatened to pull its business from Baltimore over a pending air-quality regulation that would require large, ocean-going ships to burn cleaner fuel, writes Tim Wheeler in the Sun.

STATE HOUSE FILMING: The House of Delegates chamber in the State House was being transformed into the U.S. Senate for filming of “House of Cards,” the Netflix TV series, Tim Prudente reports in the Capital.

MEDICARE WAIVER: Senate Minority Leader E.J. Pipkin recently asked that proposed changes to Medicare waivers be put up for legislative review when the Maryland General Assembly is back in session in January, Josh Bollinger writes in the Easton Star Democrat. Pipkin called it a “quantum leap into untested major policy changes in the state’s Medicare waiver, which would cap the state’s per person spending on the delivery of hospital medical care.”

MILITARY DEPT. AUDIT: An audit of the Military Department found that it wasn’t properly overseeing how state fire departments used funds for emergency equipment, Chris Goins writes in MarylandReporter.com.

RUPPERSBERGER CRITICIZES PRESIDENT: Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger said President Obama made “a big mistake” when he said all the members of Congress had been briefed on NSA’s phone surveillance, Business Monthly editor Mark Smith writes MarylandReporter.com.

About The Author

Len Lazarick

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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.

1 Comment

  1. Ed

    Might want to check your syntax. The headline “Troubled juvenile facility should keep running” makes it sound like the facility has problems. As Barry’s story points out, it’s the juveniles who are troubled, not the facility. Also, the issue is not whether it should keep running, the issue is, should it expand.

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