Listen to this articleTREATMENT FUNDING SOUGHT IN BILL: Democrats crafting a final version of a bill to address opioid addiction, including Rep. John Sarbanes of Baltimore County, said Tuesday they will not back a measure absent “significant funding” to deal with the problem, writes John Fritze in the Sun. House and Senate lawmakers approved competing legislation this year and Sarbanes was named in May to the conference committee working to resolve the differences in those bills. But the lack of funding has been a major sticking point in negotiations for months.
- Not enough is being done to fight the heroin addiction epidemic, and more resources are needed to help communities turn the tide, U.S. Rep. John Delaney said Tuesday during a tour of a substance-abuse recovery center in Hagerstown. Dave McMillion writes the story for the Hagerstown Herald Mail.
BREAK WITH GOP A FAMILY TRADITION: Much has been made of the refusal of Maryland’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, to endorse or vote for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. The popular first-term governor of the heavily Democratic state will also skip the GOP convention in Cleveland next month. The governor is following something of a family tradition. In July 1974, his father, Rep. Larry Hogan Sr., became the first and only Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to vote for all three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate break-in and subsequent criminal cover-up, reports Annie Groer for Roll Call.
GOING, NOT GOING: While neither Gov. Hogan nor journalist Len Lazarick of MarylandReporter.com will be going to the Republican convention in Cleveland, Lazarick writes that there are those delegates from Maryland who fully intend to attend and back Donald Trump.
- Josh Kurtz of Center Maryland writes that whether Hogan goes to Cleveland or not, the outcome will be the same for him. In the long run, it could benefit him or it could hurt him.
ADULTS CAN BE HELD CIVILLY LIABLE: A parent or other adult who “knowingly and willfully” hosts an underage drinking party can be held civilly liable for the death or injuries sustained or caused by an intoxicated attendee — such as in a drunken-driving crash, Maryland’s top court unanimously ruled Tuesday. Steve Lash of the Daily Record reports that the court ruled that adults facing potential liability in these cases cannot defend themselves by arguing that the underage person was contributorily negligent by having consumed the alcohol.
- Andrew Metcalf of Bethesda Beat quotes Judge Sally Adkins, who wrote for the court: “Underage persons are not solely responsible for drinking alcohol on an adult’s property because they are not competent to handle the effects of this potentially dangerous substance.”
SAVED BY FRANKLIN’S DESIGN: A centuries-old lightning rod, a modern sprinkler system and a local fire department prevented a fire when the State House was struck by lightning on Friday, writes Cindy Huang for the Annapolis Capital. Lightning rods divert the electric charge to the ground. But this was no ordinary lightning rod. The 18th-century rod was born from the mind of Benjamin Franklin, a rebellious invention that signaled American independence from King George III, who used blunt rods at his palace.
CARROLL POLLING PLACE APPROVED: The state Board of Elections has given final approval to the Carroll County Board of Elections’ polling place change for voters in the Silver Run area. In November, voters assigned to Election District 3, Precinct 1, will report to Pleasant Valley Community Fire Company, at 2030 S. Pleasant Valley Road in Westminster. The move was necessitated by the closure of the precinct’s previous polling place, and a proposal to send voters to a polling place a 20-minute drive away, reports Heather Norris for the Carroll County Times.
RADIO HOST MARR SUFFERS STROKE: Veteran talk show host Tom Marr is off the air at WCBM indefinitely after suffering a stroke over the weekend, writes David Zurawik in the Sun. “In the early hours of July 3rd, Tom Marr suffered a stroke due to complications from a recent surgical procedure on his spine,” a statement from the station quotes Marr’s family as saying. The 73-year-old Marr, who has been on Baltimore radio since the 1960s, has been with WCBM since 1988, according to the station.
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