State Roundup, May 25, 2017

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SICK LEAVE ABSENT FROM BILL SIGNING: Gov. Larry Hogan will sign 209 bills today  in what is believed to be his eighth and final bill signing of the 2017 legislative session, reports Ovetta Wiggins for the Post. The list includes a package of measures to address the state’s growing heroin epidemic. But missing from the hundreds of bills are several high-profile measures that are awaiting action from Hogan, including a top priority of Democratic legislative leaders that requires employers to provide paid sick leave benefits to their workers.

FUTURE OF PURPLE LINE: The Trump administration is continuing to consider Maryland’s Purple Line for federal construction aid even as the project remains stalled in a court battle, according to a budget document released Wednesday. Katherine Shaver of the Post reports the story.

TRUMP CUTS IN MARYLAND: The Trump administration makes a straightforward case for slashing $427 million in federal spending to heal ailing regional water bodies such as the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound: State and local governments should do the work and foot the bill. John Flesher of the AP reports the story.

GUESTS AT STATE’s PREAKNESS TENT: Executives in defense contracting, law, technology and economic development were among the guests the Maryland Department of Commerce hosted Saturday inside its Preakness hospitality tent, reports Ryan Sharrow for the Baltimore Business Journal. The state agency released the list names to the BBJ at its request. Some attendees hosted by the Department of Commerce were withheld from the list because they represent active economic development projects, a spokeswoman for the agency said.

MD GOVERNOR’s RACE IS ONE TO WATCH: Goucher College’s Mileah Kromer, in an op-ed for the Sun, writes that Maryland rarely is the main dish in national politics. Yet our gubernatorial race is set to answer some of the most persistent and important political questions generated by the 2016 presidential election. This midterm election cycle, the country would be wise to pull up a chair and dig in.

ATTY JAILED AFTER DEPORTATION THREAT: A Baltimore defense attorney was arraigned Wednesday on charges of obstruction of justice and witness intimidation for allegedly trying to dissuade a rape victim from testifying against his client by telling her she risked deportation by the Trump administration. The attorney also offered $3,000 cash if she did not show up to court and suggested that the victim’s husband just beat up his client, reports Justin Fenton for the Sun.

$8 MILLION TRASHED: The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration maintains  2,500 bridges and 17,000 miles of non-toll state roads, the interstate, and U.S. and state numbered routes, MDOT SHA administrator Greg Slater writes in an op-ed for the Sun. On top of all that, he opines, the agency spends nearly $8 million every year to remove litter along Maryland highways. That’s $8 million of taxpayer money. Your money. My money. Every single year. Litter removal also pulls skilled MDOT SHA workers away from other functions like highway repairs.

MO CO MUSICAL CHAIRS: June 26, 2018, could bring a sea change in Montgomery County politics, Andrew Metcalf of Bethesda Beat writes. That’s the day of the Maryland primary election. With more than two dozen candidates so far eyeing political office at the county and state level, there will be several winners and probably even more losers.

WEIGHING IN ON TRUMP PRESIDENCY: In Dan Rodricks’ Roughly Speaking podcast for the Sun, he interviews Richard Cross, a Maryland-based Republican political analyst and speechwriter, talks about the issues raised just before the president’s trip abroad, then has a longer conversation with Rep. John Sarbanes, D-3rd, who says the Trump presidency presents “a maximum stress test for the democracy,” with numerous conflicts of interest and now a “draconian” federal budget that could be “cataclysmic to the core functions of government.”

INTERIM SUPER HOPES JOB IS PERMANENT: Hours after she was named Baltimore County’s interim schools superintendent, Verletta White wanted to make one thing clear: She wants the job on a permanent basis, Liz Bowie reports for the Sun. The county school board voted to give her the interim job Tuesday, a month after Superintendent Dallas Dance announced his resignation at the end of the school year. Without time to complete a national search before Dance leaves June 30, the board appointed White, the chief academic officer, as interim superintendent for one year.

MO CO JOINS CITIZENSHIP EFFORT: Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett joined nonprofit leaders on Tuesday in Silver Spring to announce the county was joining a national effort to encourage residents who are immigrants to go through the citizenship naturalization process, reports Andrew Metcalf for Bethesda Beat.

VANISHED CEMETERY: Tensions over a long-vanished African American cemetery in Bethesda turned into a confrontation Tuesday evening at a meeting of Montgomery County’s NAACP branch, Bill Turque of the Post reports.The site, which was paved over decades ago for use as a parking lot, is in the middle of an area targeted for redevelopment.

PEROUTKA CHALLENGED: Progressive and civil rights groups are asking Anne Arundel County Councilman Michael Peroutka to make a public statement against racism after a white man from his district was charged in the stabbing death of a black Bowie State University student on the University of Maryland campus. Peroutka was a member of an organization labeled as a hate group. His district includes Severna Park, which is also the home of the man accused in the killing, Amanda Yeager reports in the Annapolis Capital.

NEW ELECTION BOARD SITE: Julie Greene of the Hagerstown Herald-Mail reports that Washington County officials are reconsidering using part of the former Macy’s building at Valley Mall for the county election board and early voting.

SUN HQ SOLD: Adam Bednar of the Daily Record reports that Atapco Properties has purchased the Baltimore Sun’s headquarters on Calvert Street for an undisclosed price. “The Baltimore Sun has been leasing the building (from its corporate owner) since 2014 and our lease will be transferred to the new owners. This lease takes us through June 2018 with an option to renew. We currently are exploring leasing options for the future,” Renee Mutchnik, a spokeswoman for The Baltimore Sun, said in a statement.

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

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