SENATE PASSES SWEEPING CLIMATE CHANGE BILL: The Maryland Senate passed an extensive climate change bill Monday night that would set the state on track to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2045, partly by requiring large buildings to reduce their energy usage. Elizabeth Shwe/Maryland Matters.
- But the chamber has abandoned environmentalists’ most aggressive proposal for reducing dependence on fossil fuels — one that would have outlawed fossil fuel-based heating systems in new buildings. That change came even though a state climate change commission, including three members of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s cabinet, overwhelmingly endorsed such a ban. Scott Dance and Christine Condon/The Baltimore Sun.
POLL: MARYLANDERS SEE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE: A majority of Marylanders believe climate change is having major impacts — inducing more extreme weather events, harming wildlife and raising sea levels — according to a new poll from Goucher College. Scott Dance/The Baltimore Sun.
LAWMAKERS MAY INSTEAD SET UP COMMISSION ON PAID FAMILY LEAVE: Lawmakers began the legislative session considering a measure that would offer paid family and medical leave to all Marylanders, but a key House committee is now considering whether to instead a establish a commission that would work out the finer details of a statewide paid family and medical leave insurance program. Elizabeth Shwe/Maryland Matters.
POLL: MARYLANDERS SPLIT IN CONCERN OVER COVID: Marylanders continue to diverge ideologically when it comes to responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new Goucher Poll results released Tuesday morning. Overall, state residents are divided in their level of concern about themselves or a close family member getting COVID-19. Fifty-three percent are “very” or “somewhat” concerned, and 47% are “not at all” or “a little” concerned. Danielle Gaines/Maryland Matters.
- Mileah Kromer, a politics science professor at the college and director of the poll, said the results signal a desire to return to a time that more closely resembles the time before the virus. Bryan Sears/The Daily Record.
- A plurality of respondents — 44% — said their local governments are moving at the right pace when it comes to rolling back COVID-related rules. Another quarter said the changes were moving too slowly. The poll was taken the first week of March, just as mask mandates were lifting. Rachel Baye/WYPR-FM.
Poll finds majority of Maryland support legalizing recreational marijuana. Photo by ‘Dad Grass’ for Pixabay.
MOST MARYLANDERS FAVOR LEGAL RECREATIONAL POT: Voters in Maryland support legalizing recreational marijuana by a 2-to-1 margin, a new poll from Goucher College found, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents alike. Bryn Stole/The Baltimore Sun.
LAST CONFEDERATE STATUTE ON STATE COURTHOUSE LAWN REMOVED: A statue thought to be the last Confederate monument on a courthouse lawn in Maryland was removed Monday. The “Talbot Boys Statue” was removed first and workers then loaded the stone base onto a flatbed truck by crane as a small crowd watched. Some passing motorists who asked what was happening, cheerfully replied, “finally!” when they heard the news. Brian Witte/The Associated Press.
- The more-than 100-year-old statue came down after six years of protests, lawsuits and debate. Harriette Lowery, who descended from enslaved people in Talbot County, was one of many members of Move the Monument on hand at the courthouse to watch it go. Lowell Melser/WBAL-TV.
HISTORIC ‘BLACK COAST’ TO BECOME STATE PARK: Activist and historian Vince Leggett has worked for more than 15 years to publicize the “Black Coast” – a historic stretch of the Chesapeake Bay in Anne Arundel County. It was a summer retreat for Black Marylanders and a venue for music legends such as Chuck Berry, James Brown and Billie Holiday. And now thanks to the state of Maryland, a small piece of that history will live on as a state park. Tim Swift/WBFF-TV.
DEM OFFICIAL QUITS AFTER QUESTIONING VIABILITY OF BLACK CANDIDATES: A Maryland Democratic Party official and longtime party donor has resigned after an email she sent questioning the electability of Black candidates in the state’s governor’s race, the state party chair announced Monday. Brian Witte/The Associated Press.
- Barbara Goldberg Goldman, a prolific donor who was the party’s deputy treasurer, resigned on Monday. She also publicly apologized for the comments. Ovetta Wiggins/The Washington Post.
SUIT SAYS PARK OFFICER SUBJECTED TO RACIST, ABUSIVE MESSAGES: A Black police officer with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police was subjected to racist and abusive messages sent in a group text with fellow officers, some of whom made references to a “race war” and far-right extremist groups, a new lawsuit claims. Madeleine O’Neill/The Daily Record.
ELRICH SIGNS BILL TO END TAX DUPLICATION OF TOWNS: Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich on Monday signed into law a solution to a nettlesome issue that government officials say has lingered for decades: tax duplication. The bill Elrich signed increases the amount of money the county reimburses local governments for various services —police coverage, road work, parks maintenance — from $10.1 million to $20.5 million for fiscal year 2022. Steve Bohnel/Bethesda Beat.
MANCHIN BLOCKS BLOOM RASKIN ON FED BOARD: U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin III will not support one of President Joe Biden’s picks to sit on the Federal Reserve Board, Sarah Bloom Raskin of Maryland, Manchin said Monday. The announcement casts serious doubt on the chances of Senate confirmation for Raskin, who was a Fed governor from 2010 to 2014 and deputy Treasury secretary from 2014 to 2017. She is married to U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat. Jacob Fischler/Maryland Matters.
