CANDIDATE FOR GOV CALLS FOR LABOR SECTY’s RESIGNATION: Former U.S. Education Secretary and Democratic gubernatorial candidate John King Jr. said state Labor Secretary Tiffany Robinson should resign from office for having mismanaged Maryland’s unemployment insurance system, reports Bryan Renbaum of Maryland Reporter.
FREEDOM BUS RIDE HIGHLIGHTS EASTERN SHORE PROBLEMS: Chants of “No Justice! No peace!” broke through the usual sounds of squawking sea gulls and chattering tourists on the boardwalk Monday. Colin Campbell of the Sun reports that it was the final stop for about 100 Black Maryland political, clergy and regional NAACP representatives who crossed the Eastern Shore in a “Freedom Bus Ride” to protest systemic racism, from the Talbot Boys Confederate monument in Easton to recent police violence on the Ocean City boardwalk.
- Natalie Jones of the Easton Star Democrat reports that dozens of civil rights activists, African-American leaders and passionate individuals joined the Summer’s Freedom Bus Ride on Monday to highlight historical, contemporary and systemic racism and police misconduct on the Eastern Shore.
TRANSPORTATION BOARD READY TO REVIVE HOGAN ROADS PLAN: Under intense pressure from the Hogan administration, an influential regional transportation board is poised to revive a plan to widen portions of Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway in Montgomery County, Bruce DePuyt reports for Maryland Matters. Last month the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board deleted the project from a federal air quality analysis in a surprise vote.
OPINION: MONTGOMERY THRIVE 250 STUCK IN THE PAST: Mark Uncapher, in an analysis for the Duckpin, looks at the arguments that Montgomery Thrive 250 is putting forth concerning the county’s transportation needs relating to its growth and finds the arguments missing current conditions.
OPINION: SHORT-SIGHTED OPPOSITION TO MO CO ROADS PROJECTS: Emmet Tydings of the Suburban Maryland Transportation Alliance writes in Maryland Matters that improvements to the American Legion Bridge and Interstate 270 – two of the most congested interstate highway segments in the nation – is essential to the transportation and economic future of our region. Without it, prior versions of the region’s Constrained Long-Range Plan showed traffic delays would grow 72% worse by 2040 than they already were in 2015.
OPINION: TOLL PLAN MEANS CONGESTION FOR MOST: Josh Tulkin of the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club opines in Maryland Matters that private toll lanes deliver the big profits for the toll road companies and investors, not the transportation that is best for the public. In this case, that means guaranteed congestion for the vast majority of drivers in the untolled lanes, traffic jams so bad that people will pay the high tolls that investors demand.
MARYLAND AMONG SIX WITH LOW COVID SURGE RATES: Across much of the United States, coronavirus cases are climbing once again, with vaccinations stalling and the more contagious delta variant on the rise. In Maryland, the same is true, but on a much smaller scale. Both nationwide and in Maryland the average number of new daily cases has doubled over the past two weeks, Christine Condon of the Sun reports. But, the state still has one of the six lowest case rates in the country — just above 2 per 100,000 — and one of the highest vaccination rates, according to The New York Times coronavirus tracker.
CORDERMAN TO SEEK ELECTION TO SENATE SEAT: State Sen. Paul Corderman, R-Washington, filed Monday to run for his District 2 seat in the 2022 Republican primary election, Tamela Baker of the Hagerstown Herald-Mail reports. Corderman was appointed to the seat after former Sen. Andrew Serafini retired last summer. At that time, Corderman served in the House of Delegates from District 2B, which roughly includes the city limits of Hagerstown.
CARDIN, VAN HOLLEN PUSH TO REPLACE TANEY BUST: Maryland’s U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin (D) and Chris Van Hollen (D) are joining three former presidential candidates in pushing for the bust of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney in the U.S. Capitol to be replaced with one of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to serve on the high court, Angela Roberts of the Frederick News-Post reports.
HARRIS SEEKS NSA INFO ON FOX HOST’s SPY CLAIM: U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.-1st., has joined other conservative lawmakers in asking for information from the National Security Agency regarding Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s claims he was spied on by the U.S. intelligence arm, according to the Easton Star Democrat.
3% OF BA CO STUDENTS OPT FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING: Parents of nearly 3,500 Baltimore County students are choosing to opt out of the in-person daily instruction the school system will offer this fall and instead keep their children learning from home, John Lee reports for WYPR-FM. The county has joined school systems across the state making plans to allow some students to learn online this school year.
B’MORE INSTITUTES EVICTION SAFEGUARDS: A Baltimore bill that provides renters with more safeguards from eviction went into effect Monday, a piece of legislation intended to combat a potential housing crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, writes Hallie Miller of the Sun.
FORMER MO CO POLICE CHIEF TO RUN CAPITOL POLICE DEPT: A police official who has run large departments in Maryland and Virginia has been selected as chief of the U.S. Capitol Police in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which pro-Trump rioters stormed the building in a violent rage, disrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win. J. Thomas Manger, who most recently served for 15 years as chief in Montgomery County, was picked for the position following an extensive search, according to four people briefed on the matter, Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long report for the AP.
- Former Capitol Chief Steven Sund was removed from the position a day after the mob of President Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. Five people died, including a Capitol police officer and a woman who was shot by police. Manger will replace Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman, Caitlynn Peetz and Steve Bohnel of Bethesda Beat reports.
