Bob Culver
WICOMICO COUNTY EXEC CULVER DIES: Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver died Sunday after battling cancer for months, his family said in a Facebook post. He was 67, McKenna Oxenden of the Sun reports.
- Josh Kurtz of Maryland Matters offers quotes from a variety of public figures. Gov. Larry Hogan Jr. (R) said he was “deeply saddened” by the news of Culver’s death. Hogan, a cancer survivor, said Culver “fought a tremendous battle against liver cancer.” Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) said Culver’s death “has hit our home community hard.” Salisbury Mayor Jacob R. Day said Culver “was born with a servant’s heart.”
WICOMICO TAKES DOWN CONFEDERATE MARKER: One Friday afternoon last month, Wicomico County officials arrived in a van, took down a historical marker honoring a notorious confederate military leader and white supremacist, threw it in the back seat and drove away, writes Jonathan Pitts of the Sun. Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver, who died Sunday, was one of those officials.
DRUG CLINICS WRESTLE WITH SAFETY ISSUES: As the president’s Public Health Emergency declaration for the coronavirus was about to expire last week, a wave of anxiety came over drug treatment clinics in Maryland, Meredith Cohn of the Sun reports. Virus cases were again rising in the state, and clinics were depending on the federal order to continue taking unusual steps to keep workers and patients safe. Those include doing health exams and counseling online, and sending medications home with patients in bulk.
DECREASE IN DAILY COVID CASES: Maryland officials reported 694 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday and five more deaths, a significant decrease in newly reported cases after the state reported nearly 1,300 new cases Saturday, Phil Davis of the Sun reports. The decrease comes with a significant dip in daily tests, as the state reported 22,045 completed tests in the previous 24 hours, about 12,800 tests less than the record-setting 34,874 reported Saturday.
- Here is the Sun’s graphs as it tracks the virus in Maryland.
- One of the top measures that Gov. Larry Hogan said he would monitor when it came to lifting pandemic-related restrictions in Maryland was the number of hospitalizations for coronavirus — and it is going up, Meredith Cohn of the Sun reports.
- Known cases of COVID-19 in Montgomery County went up by 0.9% since Friday, the highest daily increase since July 7 when cases rose by 1.1%, Briana Adhikusuma reports for Bethesda Beat.
HOGAN JOINS GOP GOVS SEEKING LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR BIZ: Gov. Hogan and nearly two dozen other GOP governors asked congressional leaders last week to include COVID-related civil liability protections to businesses and others, reports Bruce DePuyt for Maryland Matters.
PG HEALTH DEPT. CRITICIZED FOR INTERNAL COVID RESPONSE: Rachel Chason of the Post reports that Prince George’s Health Department employees and union officials say that as the coronavirus rapidly spread in the county, the department charged with leading the response allowed its own staff to work in conditions that fostered an outbreak.
OPINION: COORDINATE RESPONSE: The editorial board of the Sun urges the county executives and the mayor of Baltimore city to coordinate efforts as they hope to renew restrictions on restaurants, bars and other venues that Gov. Hogan lifted in June. As coronavirus cases spiked in Maryland, health officers from those jurisdictions asked the state to renew restrictions. But the governor said he planned to “keep business open, and the economy, unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
STATE PUSHES TO MEET RENEWABLE ENERGY GOALS: It’s too early to tell if COVID-19 will delay the state’s renewable energy goals, despite sharp job reductions and slowdowns since March in some sectors, say industry observers. Stephen Berberich reports for the Daily Record that Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said, “We don’t envision anything more than a temporary slowdown because the jobs are really, really needed and the policies have been passed.”
PROTESTERS CRITICIZE BLM: Demonstrators gathered in front of Baltimore City Hall during a Rescue America rally organized by Walk Away campaign organizer Brandon Straka on Saturday. The protest, the first of its kind, criticized tactics of organizers in the Black Lives Matter movement, Phillip Jackson of the Sun reports.
CITY FOP VANDALIZED DURING BLM EVENT: Black Lives Matters demonstrators vandalized the Fraternal Order of Police Baltimore City Lodge 3 building Saturday night in North Baltimore, Phillip Jackson of the Sun also reports. The event was advertised on social media as a sit-in in solidarity with protesters in Portland, Oregon, where federal agents fired tear gas to break up recent protests.
HOGAN, BOOK IN SPOTLIGHT:
- THE ATLANTIC: When you press him on it, Larry Hogan will admit that he’s faintly amused by all the media adulation. As the Republican governor of Maryland, he has enjoyed glowing coverage for standing up to President Donald Trump. He is hailed as a Brave Truth-Teller, a Leader With Integrity, a Republican Who Gets It. In truth, the bar is just really low, writes McKay Coppins for the Atlantic.
- NPR: In this 7-minute listen, NPR’s Michel Martin of NPR talks with Hogan about his book, and how his actions would differ or would be similar to those of Trump. She also challenges his assertion in his book that Freddie Gray had Crips ties. (The information below the audio link is not a transcript of the interview.)
- THE HILL: Gov. Larry Hogan (R) says President Trump was not sufficiently critical of China’s response to the coronavirus now spreading wildly across the globe, and that the federal government’s strategy for combating the disease in the United States continues to be a problem, Reid Wilson of the Hill reports.
- WASHINGTONIAN: In an interview with Jane Recker of the Washingtonian, Hogan says he thought that if President Trump created a nasty nickname for him “I thought it was going to be ‘Fat Larry’ or ‘Cancer Boy.’” He also added that there were members of the Trump administration who wanted him to run for president in 2020.
HOGAN OPENS RENT RELIEF FUNDING: Gov. Larry Hogan opened applications Friday for $10 million in relief funding for Marylanders living in state-financed rental units, writes Bennett Leckrone for Maryland Matters.
PITTMAN BOOSTS EVICTION PROTECTION PROGRAM: Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman has bolstered the Eviction Prevention Program with another $1.5 million of the county’s federal relief funding, which provides renters below a certain income level with direct rent and utility assistance and legal counseling, Danielle Ohl and Olivia Sanchez of the Capital Gazette report. The expansion was announced Friday, one day before the federal moratorium on evictions is lifted.
MINORITY POLICE GROUPS IN PG OFFER REFORM PLAN: Two associations representing black and brown officers in Prince George’s County unveiled a 12-point reform plan Thursday that they say will help overhaul the police department and make it more inclusive and equitable for minority officers and residents, Katie Mettler of the Post reports.
OPINION: POLICE BILL OF RIGHTS ‘NONSENSE:’ In a column for Maryland Matters, the late professor Alonzo Smith wrote about the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, which he considered “nonsense” since the original Bill of Rights condemned and prohibited the abuses of power inflicted upon common folk by government and police are agents of the government.
99 QUESTIONS FOR REP. HARRIS: In a quixotic article for Maryland Matters, Bruce DePuyt lists 99 questions that he would ask U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, the only GOP member of Maryland’s congressional delegation, if only he would answer them. Harris has stood by the president every step of the way during his controversial tenure.
