FRANCHOT AS GOV WOULD MANDATE KIDS VAXX: Comptroller and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Peter Franchot said if he is elected to the state’s highest office young children in schools would be required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. “Yes,” Franchot told Bryan Renbaum for MarylandReporter.com. Franchot said he would permit relatively few exemptions.
GOV HOPEFULS DISCUSS CLIMATE CHANGE: Days after some of the worst coastal flooding in Maryland history, and as thousands of activists and government leaders gather in Scotland for an international summit on the climate crisis, six of the nine Democratic candidates for governor met for a virtual forum on climate change Monday night, Josh Kurtz of Maryland Matters reports.
MACo SEEKS TO PROTECT LOCAL HEALTH OFFICERS: A Maryland organization that advocates for county-level needs in the state legislature will push to include local health officers in a law that protects public officials from intimidation, Hallie Miller of the Sun reports.
SPORTS WAGERING PANEL TO CONSIDER APPLICATIONS: After canceling its October meeting without explanation, a state commission is poised to consider sportsbook applications from as many as five Maryland casinos. The Sports Wagering Application Review Commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday for the first time since September, Bruce DePuyt reports for Maryland Matters.
COMMISSION MULLS RAISING SOME STATE SALARIES: Members of the Governor’s Salary Commission on Tuesday weighed bringing the salaries of Maryland’s lieutenant governor, comptroller, attorney general and treasurer closer to the amount paid to members of Congress, Bennett Leckrone reports for Maryland Matters.
CELEBRATING 12 YEARS OF JOURNALISM: Twelve years ago this week, we launched MarylandReporter.com as the state’s first nonprofit news website covering state government and politics. Since the very first day, we have produced a daily State Roundup and a newsletter that has now gone out 3,000 times linking to coverage from around the state. We’ve also run another 4,500 original stories by our own staff and our news partners. We are asking you to help us celebrate our 12th birthday by donating during our major fundraising drive of the year – the NewsMatch program when every contribution up to $1,000 is matched by national foundations.
STATE OPENS VETERANS BUSINESS CENTER: Officials in Maryland are celebrating a grand opening that will provide support to many through several regions including D.C., Delaware and Pennsylvania. On Monday, U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin among many others, celebrated the grand opening of Maryland’s first Veterans Business Outreach Center, which was established through a 5-year SBA grant awarded to the University of Maryland, Harrington Gardiner of WMAR-TV reports.
- Hannah Ziegler of the Diamondback reports that as of 2017, the mid-Atlantic region had a combined market of more than 200,000 existing veteran-owned businesses and a total veteran population of more than 2 million.
LAST MINUTE POLITICKING IN LOCAL RACES: While none of Maryland’s statewide offices will be on the ballot in 2021, elections are being held for some local and municipal government positions. In the WTOP listening area, residents of Annapolis, Frederick, Laurel and Gaithersburg can vote Tuesday for their city leaders, Alejandro Alvarez reports for WTOP-FM.
- With Frederick’s Election Day finally here, the city’s candidates for alderman spent the day before making one last pitch to voters, Ryan Marshall reports for the Frederick News-Post.
- The Republican candidate for Annapolis mayor says a check returned to a city election worker that has resulted in fines, late fees and now a lawsuit, is a symptom of broader financial mismanagement at City Hall. But his opponent, Mayor Gavin Buckley says the allegations are politicking, and his administration confirmed the returned check was not for financial reasons but for a formatting error, Brooks DuBose of the Capital Gazette reports.
B’MORE COUNCIL OKs ARPA FUNDS OVERSIGHT BILL: The Baltimore City Council unanimously passed a bill from Council President Nick Mosby that mandates monthly reports from the Scott administration on federal relief spending during a Monday meeting, Emily Sullivan of WYPR-FM reports.
- The bill, which was recommended favorably last week by the City Council’s Ways and Means Committee over objections from Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration, was fast-tracked by the council Monday — meaning two votes were taken on the same night, Emily Opilo reports for the Sun.
MO CO CONSIDERS RENEWED INDOOR MASK MANDATE: Montgomery County is now considering re-imposing an indoor mask mandate next week instead of this week. Dan Schere of Bethesda Beat reports that the new target date will be Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 12:01 a.m., rather than Wednesday of this week, which was the plan as of this past weekend.
MO CO SCHOOLS ADMIN DROPS VAXX LAWSUIT: A Montgomery County Public Schools administrator has dropped his lawsuit over the system’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees after receiving a religious exemption, according to the latest filing in the case, Madeleine O’Neill of the Daily Record reports.
MO CO SCHOOLS ALTER QUARANTINE POLICY AGAIN: For the third time since the start of the academic year two months ago, Montgomery County Public Schools leaders on Monday announced changes to its policy for when students must quarantine after a COVID-19 exposure — another effort to prevent students from missing classroom instruction, Caitlynn Peetz reports for Bethesda Beat.
OLSZEWSKI TO LET STATE OF EMERGENCY TO EXPIRE: Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski is going to allow a state of emergency that politically divided the county council to expire Wednesday, John Lee of WYPR-FM reports. “Over the last three weeks we’ve seen both our case rates and our hospitalizations drop almost 40%,” Olszewski said.
