COACH TO STAY, LOH TO RETIRE, FIRESTORM ENSUES: The University System of Maryland Board of Regents sided with the football coach over the president of its College Park campus Tuesday, bringing a contentious resolution to a controversy that has roiled the school for months. Rick Maese of the Post reports that by the end of Tuesday, Maryland Coach DJ Durkin was back in his College Park office, and Wallace D. Loh, who has led the campus for the past eight years, was pointed toward retirement.
- Political outrage erupted Tuesday after the University of Maryland’s governing board announced that school president Wallace Loh would retire while the football coach and athletic director were keeping their jobs in the fallout from an investigation into the death of player Jordan McNair, Doug Donovan of the Sun reports. The article is topped by video interviews with students.
- Josh Kurtz of Maryland Matters writes that on Tuesday, Democratic nominee Ben Jealous suggested that Gov. Larry Hogan (R) had not done enough to demand accountability from university officials for the death of football player Jordan McNair, who died after suffering from heat stroke following a grueling team practice in hot weather.
- An investigation into the football team’s culture found disarray within the athletic department’s leadership and a tough environment for players, where problems were allowed to fester, but not a “toxic” culture. Loh said it would be an abdication of his responsibility as the “captain” of the ship to abandon the campus in the middle of a crisis, but he said he would be retiring in June, Tim Curtis of the Daily Record reports.
- The Washington Post reports that Wallace D. Loh’s decision to retire has struck some elected officials as the wrong person taking the fall for the death of a football player. Loh’s announcement struck many state lawmakers as exactly the wrong response to the athletic department’s woes.
- Loh said he plans to spend his last few months steering the university toward “calmer waters” as its athletic department puts into place new reforms to address problems in the football program, Amanda Yeager of the Baltimore Business Journal reports.
- In a column for the Sun, Peter Schmuck asks, “So, that’s it? … the only members of (the UM Athletic Department) to face actual consequences were an out-of-control strength and conditioning coach and a former athletic director who was gone long before the tragic heatstroke death of Jordan McNair?”
- The Baltimore Sun looks into what happens next for the University of Maryland and its football program, asking can recruitment bounce back and how will alumni respond?
STATE REVIEWS HATE CRIME LAWS: Federal and Maryland state officials are launching reviews of hate crime laws and reporting practices after a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a rise in anti-Jewish incidents in Maryland — searching for what more can be done to stop a surge of anti-Semitism in the United States, report the Sun’s Catherine Rentz and Luke Broadwater.
APPOINTMENT OFFICE HEARING: A joint legislative committee ended a 25-minute hearing Tuesday with few answers to questions concerning the role of the governor’s appointment office in the hiring and promotion of some state employees, Bryan Sears of the Daily Record reports.
HOGAN DEFENDS RED LINE CANCELLATION: One of the most impactful decisions Governor Larry Hogan has made in four years in Annapolis has been the cancellation of the proposed “Red Line.” The governor stands by the decision; his opponent in the governor’s race this year says it was a mistake – and he believes there might be a way to bring the Red Line back, Christian Schaffer of WMAR-TV reports.
BALLOT QUESTION ON SAME-DAY REGISTRATION: Rachel Chason of the Post writes about the ballot question that addresses voting rights and who has access to the ballot, Maryland voters are deciding whether to amend the state constitution to allow people to register on Election Day.
TRUMP SPURS VOTERS IN PG: Interviews with almost two dozen voters Tuesday in the largest majority-black jurisdiction in Maryland suggests that President Trump’s rhetoric and policies are motivating many people to cast ballots at their first opportunity, Bruce DePuyt of Maryland Matters writes. On the sixth day of early voting, the parking lot outside the Curry Center, named for Prince George’s first African-American county executive, was jammed. Midday voters had to wait for someone to leave to find an empty space.
SANDERS RALLIES FOR JEALOUS: The crowd at a political-star studded rally for Ben Jealous in Bethesda on Tuesday night held out hope that late ignition of the state’s Democratic base could turn out enough votes for the party’s gubernatorial nominee to defy expectations set by polls that show him trailing popular Gov. Larry Hogan (R) by double digits, Danielle Gaines and Josh Kurtz of Maryland Matters report.
- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont brought a jolt of energy Tuesday night to Democrat Ben Jealous’ struggling campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, telling a raucous full house in a historic Bethesda theater that Jealous will be one of the greatest governors in U.S. history.
JEALOUS GOES BACK TO CIVIL RIGHTS ROOTS: In a profile of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous for the Post, Ovetta Wiggins writes about his uphill climb to unseat a popular Republican governor and how he had returned to his civil rights roots.
HOUGH BIG SPENDER IN FREDERICK RACE: No candidate fighting for a position in the Frederick County State House delegation has spent more than Sen. Michael Hough (R-District 4), who spent nearly $100,000 between Aug. 22 and Oct. 21, Allen Etzler of the Frederick News-Post reports.
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