Listen to this articleSTATE COMPENSATION TO EXONEREES $9M: Five men who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for decades in Maryland would receive compensation from the state valued at about $9 million under a plan to be approved Wednesday by the Board of Public Works, Luke Broadwater of the Sun reports.
- Ovetta Wiggins of the Post reports that the settlements, confirmed by the men or their lawyers, amount to $78,916 for each year of wrongful incarceration. It would be the first time in 15 years the state has approved compensation to exonerees seeking redress. The vote would also mark the end of a protracted journey for the men, who served a collective 120 years in prison and have waited as long as 20 months for the state to respond to their petitions.
EXELON, MD REACH POLLUTION SETTLEMENT: Conowingo Dam owner Exelon Corp. and the state of Maryland have reached a settlement under which the Chicago-based energy company will invest $200 million to clean up the Susquehanna River, and, by extension, the Chesapeake Bay, Scott Dance of the Sun reports.
- The deal ends a months-long lawsuit over the company’s operation of the Conowingo Dam, the nearly century-old hydroelectric facility that is Maryland’s largest source of renewable energy, reports Erin Cox for the Post. Exelon and Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration had been fighting over how much the company should contribute to reversing the region’s declining water quality and mitigating pollution from upstream sources.
STATE UNION WORKERS COMPLAIN OF UNDERSTAFFING: Members of the largest union of state government employees, who are locked in a contract dispute with the governor, took their complaints of under-staffing to Annapolis Tuesday, reports Pamela Wood for the Sun.
- State union employees told lawmakers Tuesday they are concerned that staff shortages — of about 2,600, according to a 2018 study — are causing safety issues, including some injuries, for employees at certain agencies, Elliott Davis of the Capital News Service reports in MarylandReporter.
WAVE OF RETIREMENTS DIDN’T OCCUR: Despite workers’ concerns about the future of the state’s retiree health benefits program, government agencies are not seeing a wave of retirements, a legislative panel was told on Tuesday. Bruce DePuyt of Maryland Matters reports that changes to the state’s prescription drug benefits – passed by the General Assembly in 2011 to take effect in 2018 – have angered retirees and spooked active employees, particularly those who are closing in on retirement.
BAY BRIDGE & THANKSGIVING TRAVEL: Thanksgiving travelers headed to the Eastern Shore are expected to face major delays at Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge because repair work on the western span is now scheduled to continue through the holiday week — part of a state plan announced Tuesday to expedite a two-year project that has caused massive backups, Katherine Shaver of the Post writes.
- Chase Cook of the Annapolis Capital writes that crews on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge are now working 24/7 and will no longer stop for the Thanksgiving holiday, the latest changes designed to increase the speed of the redecking project that has caused miles of traffic delays. State transportation officials, however, don’t know how much sooner the work will be done or how much more the change will add to the $27 million cost.
- Leah Crowley of WBFF-TV reports that traffic relief could be on the way for drivers who use the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Gov. Larry Hogan’s Office has announced crews will be working around the clock through the week of Thanksgiving to get construction expedited on the bridge. All of this is being done to improve traffic flow in the area.
FIRST RESPONDERS TRAINING SITE: After decades of talk about such a facility, local, state and federal officials on Tuesday gathered at a 48-acre site along Sharpsburg Pike to break ground for a center to train emergency services, fire and law enforcement personnel, Dave McMillion of the Hagerstown Herald-Mail reports. Police and other emergency officials are trained at different facilities, but at the Washington County public safety training center, they will learn together to be better prepared for increasingly complex scenarios, officials said.
MD’s BAT POPULATION FALLS: Halloween is known as one of the spookiest times of the year, filled with witches, ghosts, and scattering bats. But Maryland’s flapping, black creatures may be less prevalent this year, like years in the recent past, Emily Top of Capital News Service reports. From cold-loving fungus to high-powered wind turbines, Maryland’s bats are getting annihilated.
BAKER’s BIRTHDAY BASH: He’s turning 61 next month, and he hopes to celebrate with a few hundred check-writing friends. But what is former Prince George’s County executive Rushern Baker (D) really up to? An invitation to Baker’s “birthday bash” promises “a night of great food, drinks, and wonderful company” but is skimpy on further particulars, Bruce DePuyt of Maryland Matters reports.
CAPITAL-GAZETTE CASE: Questions about mental health are expected to figure prominently when jury selection begins Wednesday as prosecutors and defense attorneys seek 12 jurors who will decide whether the Capital Gazette gunman was criminally responsible and will serve his time in a state prison or mental institution, legal experts predict, Alex Mann of the Annapolis Capital reports.
MAYOR CANDIDATE SEEKS ZERO MURDERS: Taiwan Jamal “T.J” Smith, former chief of media relations for the Baltimore Police, announced his candidacy for mayor Tuesday next to the building where his younger brother, Dionay, was shot and killed in 2017, Mark Reutter of Baltimore Brew reports. Surrounded by the families of crime victims, Smith introduced himself as a transformational leader who will not be satisfied until the city’s murder rate – the worst in the country by some measures – literally evaporates.
CITY BANS POLICE GAG ORDERS: The Baltimore City Council passed a bill on Monday that bans the use of gag orders in the settlements of all police brutality and discrimination cases and bolsters transparency throughout the city’s litigation system, Emily Sullivan of WYPR-FM reports.
OBITUARY: JEFF RAYMOND, 56: Here are more obituaries on our friend and former Patuxent Publishing colleague Jeff Raymond, who reported on county government. From Jacques Kelly at the Sun, “Jeff was highly respected by the business community and the staff of the paper,” said Tom Linthicum, former executive editor of The Daily Record and a former Baltimore Sun editor. “He was a serious and conscientious journalist. He also had a great sense of humor.”
- Former PPC reporter Rosalia Scalia is quoted by Alan Feiler in Jmoreliving: “Jeff’s … innate goodness shone brightly through, no matter what he was doing. I often relied on his humor and wisdom. Jeff always made me laugh and brought so much joy to those around him. He will be sorely missed.”
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