State Roundup, April 21, 2017

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Father and son circa 1968.

LARRY HOGAN SR. DIES: Lawrence J. Hogan Sr., the father of Maryland’s governor who earned a reputation as a tough and independent-minded politician during three terms in the House of Representatives and one term as Prince George’s County executive, died Thursday at Anne Arundel Medical Center of complications from a stroke, reports Jacques Kelly for the Sun. He was 88.

  • The AP is reporting that Hogan suffered a major stroke Saturday and his condition later took a turn for the worse, Doug Mayer, a spokesman for the governor, said Thursday as the younger Hogan canceled his appointments to be with his father.

    On the inauguration day of his son, Jan. 21, 2015, Larry Hogan Sr. was stopped by a reporter in the hallway outside the press rooms at the State House. Len Lazarick photo

    He leaves behind a loving family, countless friends and admirers, and a lasting legacy that won’t be forgotten,” the governor said in a statement posted on Facebook.

  • The younger Hogan grew up in politics working campaigns for his father. The elder Hogan served in Congress representing the 5th District, which included Prince George’s and Charles counties, from 1969-1975, writes Bryan Sears for the Daily Record. “While many of my friends were flipping through comic books, I was reading the Congressional Record,” Larry Hogan Jr. told the Post in 2014.

HOGAN CRITICISM OF JUDGE FALLS SHORT: Gov. Larry Hogan has publicly criticized a federal judge weighing whether to allow the state to begin building the Purple Line, saying the judge is biased because of where he lives and his wife’s connection to a group that has opposed the light-rail project. The problem is, report Katherine Shaver and Spencer Hsu for the Post, the governor’s statements about the judge living along the Purple Line route are incorrect, and the “opponent group” for which Hogan said the judge’s wife works appears to be an umbrella civic group whose leaders say they can’t recall her ever attending a meeting.

SAVING METRO: General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld’s ambitious rescue plan for Metro drew a generally positive response Thursday, but a bitter dissent from the agency’s largest union was a sign of the formidable obstacles he faces, report Robert McCartney, Faiz Siddiqui and Martine Powers in the Post. Wiedefeld’s recommendations are “bad for riders, bad for workers and bad for the region,” Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 said in a statement.

FIX FOR CROWDED I-270: At a news conference in Potomac this week, Gov. Larry Hogan announced a $100 million project to reduce traffic congestion on I-270. According to the governor, I-270 is the most congested traffic corridor in the state of Maryland, Sonya Burke of MyMCMedia writes.

ADDICTION HELP AT ARUNDEL FIREHOUSES: Inside the Brooklyn Park Volunteer Fire Co.’s firehouse, a who’s-who of Anne Arundel County dignitaries gathered to offer sanctuary to those addicted to drugs. About two hours later, someone took them up on their offer when a man walked into the fire station and asked for help with his addiction, Phil Davis of the Annapolis Capital reports. The region’s fire departments and police stations will serve as resource centers for people addicted to drugs who want help and also will give free medical evaluations to those seeking treatment, county and Annapolis officials announced Thursday.  The article is topped by a short video.

PUBLIC FINANCING IN MO CO RACES: More than a year from the 2018 primary election, candidates for Montgomery County offices are heading into a new territory of publicly financed campaigns, writes Neal Earley in the Montgomery Sentinel. In 2014, the County Council passed a law to publicly finance county elections in hopes to counter the impact of campaign donations from large businesses and political action committees. So far 12 people have filed their intent to qualify for public campaign contributions including Council members Nancy Navarro, Hans Riemer, George Leventhal and Marc Elrich. The last two are term limited, and may file for executive.

HATE-CRIME CHARGES DROPPED IN SIGN-BURNING: Hate-crime charges were dropped Thursday against two women accused of burning a Trump campaign sign in Princess Anne, Jessica Anderson of the Sun reports. “The decision to dismiss the charges was based upon a joint decision between the Princess Anne Police Department and the Somerset County State’s Attorney’s Office upon reviewing the case,” according to a statement from Timothy R. Bozman, chief of the Princess Anne Police Department.

GOP COLLEGE DISPLAY ATTRACTS CONCERN: A display at Hood College intended to spark discussion of hot-button topics has instead been met with criticism and possible penalties for the creators if the college determines they violated school policy, Nancy Lavin of the Frederick News Post reports. The Hood College Republicans club on Tuesday decorated a glass case displayed in the Whitaker Student Center with material highlighting conservative viewpoints on topics including abortion and transgender people. Club members said they intended the display, which is available for student groups to use on a rotating basis, to highlight conservative culture and to invite an open discussion of different beliefs.

SINCLAIR SEEKS TO BUY TRIB MEDIA, AGAIN: Talk of a deal between Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Tribune Media Co. are reportedly heating up again, drawing criticism from Congressional House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Holden Wilen reports for the Baltimore Business Journal.

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

2 Comments

  1. David Marker

    Nice article on the Montgomery County campaign finance. I was hoping you’d have included mention of the public hearing on Howard County’s law Wednesday evening.

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