TRUMP: B’MORE TO GET MORE FEDERAL POLICING: President Donald Trump said Monday that Baltimore and several other cities will receive “more federal law enforcement” but provided no information about why and what resources would be provided, Jessica Anderson and Justin Fenton of the Sun report. Trump said law enforcement in several major cities “are restricted from doing anything. They can’t do anything.” The announcement seemed to come as a surprise to the Baltimore police department and Gov. Larry Hogan.
- Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation spent the day working to thwart the controversial use of unidentifiable federal police, which began in Portland, Ore., last week, drawing a swift rebuke from Oregon leaders and others. Gov. Hogan. the outgoing head of the National Governors Association, has yet to address Trump’s announcement, writes Bruce DePuyt for Maryland Matters.
8 COUNTIES GET EVICTION PROTECTION FUNDS: Eight counties were awarded the nearly $2.3 million in Gov. Larry Hogan’s first round of Eviction Prevention Partnership grants. Wicomico County received $1 million, Kelly Powers of the Salisbury Daily Times reports.
VAN HOLLEN: EXTEND JOBLESS BENEFITS: U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) Monday called on Congress to extend enhanced unemployment insurance benefits in the coronavirus aid package that lawmakers are working on, Bryan Renbaum of MarylandReporter writes.
COUNTIES SEEK RECONSIDERATION ON REOPENING: The top health officers in Maryland’s most populous jurisdictions asked the state on Monday to reconsider what activities to permit amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing a recent jump in new cases across the state, Ovetta Wiggins, Rachel Chason and Rebecca Tan of the Post report.
- “We are writing to share our concerns regarding the recent increase in daily cases across the state and impact of the virus over the past week,” said the letter signed by the health officers from Baltimore City and the counties of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s, Meredith Cohn of the Sun reports.
- Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman warned that the rate of transmission of COVID-19 is increasing in his county and could lead to a return to restrictions, writes Bryan Sears for the Daily Record.
STATE UP 554 COVID CASES MONDAY: Maryland reported 554 new COVID-19 infections Monday, Greg Swatek of the Frederick News-Post reports. While still a significant increase, it’s considerably smaller than the one reported Sunday (925), which was the largest rise in new cases since May 30 (1,027). There were 17 new cases reported in Frederick County by the Maryland Department of Health. That’s a slightly smaller increase than the one reported Sunday (22).
HOGAN DEFENDS ELECTIONS DECISION: Gov. Larry Hogan on Monday defended his decision to hold a traditional election in November, instead of a “vote by mail only,” because of the chaos that occurred during the June 2 primary, when the state mailed ballots to every voter and opened only a few polling sites in each jurisdiction. Far more voters than expected opted to cast their ballots in person, leading to huge lines and hours-long waits in many places, reports Ovetta Wiggins in the Post.
- His plan to open every polling center in the state is an increasingly daunting task for local election officials, Bennett Leckrone writes in Maryland Matters.
INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES NEED FEWER SIGNATURES: A court agreement has made it significantly easier for independent candidates in Maryland — including Baltimore contenders for mayor and Congress — to qualify for the November general election ballot with half the number of registered voter signatures than usually required, Jeff Barker of the Sun reports.
COLLEGE REOPENING PLANS: As the fall semester approaches, Maryland’s colleges and universities are announcing plans and guidelines for how they plan to hold classes while containing the spread of coronavirus. Phil Davis and Nathan Ruiz of the Sun write about what some of the schools plan on doing.
B’MORE, ARUNDEL SCHOOLS DELAY IN-PERSON CLASSES: Public school leaders in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County announced plans Monday to delay the start of in-person teaching until later this fall, saying they were balancing health concerns during the pandemic with the need to get the most vulnerable students back to learning, Daniel Oyefusi and Liz Bowie report in the Sun.
DEL. COX TO APPEAL REOPEN RULING: Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick and Carroll) and other plaintiffs are challenging a decision from the U.S. District District Court in Baltimore which ruled Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) executive orders during the coronavirus pandemic are constitutional, Steve Bohnel of the Frederick News-Post reports.
OPINION: HOGAN NO HERO: Former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake, in an op-ed for the Sun, opines that Maryland is an affluent state with a proud history of producing Black leaders from Harriett Tubman to Thurgood Marshall, from Frederick Douglass to Verda Welcome. Our state has four historically Black colleges and universities and the wealthiest predominantly Black county in America. Despite our resources and history, we are led by a governor seeking advancement to the national stage not by uplifting Black communities and leaders but at their expense.
OPINION: A TALE OF TWO REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS: Maryland Matters’ columnist Frank DeFilippo compares and contrasts Bob Ehrlich and Larry Hogan, how they handled themselves, before and during their time in office and how each succeeded politically as right wing conservative politics took over the GOP.
JUDICIARY HOPES TO MAKE A DENT IN BACKLOG: Maryland courts remain at least 11 weeks from resuming jury trials, which will only deepen the backlog of cases wrought by the Judiciary’s effort to ensure that justice is not unduly delayed as it seeks to protect public health amid a pandemic, reports Steve Lash for the Daily Record. On Monday, the Maryland Judiciary sought to make a dent in the backlog of pending cases by resuming non-jury trials in circuit and district court.
OBSTACLES TO BEAT THE DOWNTURN: As the Washington region tries to pull out of the most severe economic slump in most of our lifetimes, the biggest challenge is defeating the novel coronavirus so our work lives can return to something like normal, writes Roberty McCartney for the Post. The good news is the region is home to federal government agencies, which still have been chugging along. But what obstacles must be mounted to overcome the downturn? He begins at the top, with child care.
OPINION: OPPRESSIVE, UNFAIR TAX IN BALTIMORE: In an op-ed for the Sun, Stephen J.K. Walters of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, criticizes Baltimore City’s unfair and oppressive property tax system, writing that the “Sagamore Pendry hotel on Thames Street is fabulous — as you’d expect, since it is appraised for tax purposes at almost $42 million. But last year its owners, who are certainly among Baltimore’s one-percenters, paid less than $142,000 in taxes on that property thanks to a generous “special credit” of over $848,000. Meanwhile, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Sandtown-Winchester, an owner-occupied rowhome that is appraised at $65,100 paid property taxes (state and local) of $1,536.”
WA CO COULD HAVE TEXTING 911 READY SOON: Washington County could have text-to-911 services operational as soon as September, Dave McMillion writes for the Hagerstown Herald-Mail. A statewide publicity campaign promoting new text-to-911 features in Maryland is slated to roll out in October, said Brian Albert, Washington County’s assistant director of the 911 center.
STATE MUST PAY JUDICIAL WATCH $27,000: The State of Maryland is on the hook for $27,000 in legal fees to a national conservative organization that sued the state three years ago over voter registration rolls, writes Josh Kurtz for Maryland Matters. It’s part of a settlement the state reached with the group Judicial Watch after a federal court earlier this year ordered the state to make all voter registration data available to the conservative organization.
LOCAL PURCHASE OF THE SUN? Rick Edmonds, the media business analyst for the Poynter Institute, a journalism think-tank and training organization, gives an update about potential purchase of papers like the Baltimore Sun. “As hedge funds tighten their ownership grip on newspaper chains, the alternative of local ownership, perhaps including a pivot to nonprofit status, is often talked up as a hot option. Proceed with caution. Revisiting a dozen such sales over the last decade reinforced my sense that chains are reluctant to part with any paper they own.” The story reports no progress on the proposed purchase of the Sun by two foundations.
