Listen to this article220 HOMES NEAR BWI TO GET NOISE MITIGATION FUNDING: Residents living in 220 homes in Glen Burnie that are near BWI Marshall Airport will receive $4 million in federal funding to mitigate the effects of jet noise, U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes announced Tuesday. Cassidy Jensen/The Baltimore Sun.
FROSH: LEGISLATURE NEEDS TO STRENGTHEN GUN LAWS NOW: Maryland’s outgoing attorney general said the state legislature needs to act quickly to strengthen gun laws. Attorney General Brian Frosh said lawmakers will need to beef up state law to adapt to a United States Supreme Court decision he and others believe will substantially increase the number of people licensed to carry guns in Maryland. Bryan Sears/The Daily Record.
MONKEYPOX VACCINES LIMITED AS CASES RISE: Baltimore health officials said Tuesday they’re trying to get more monkeypox vaccines for city residents as cases rise across the state, but that demand is greater than the doses the city has available. Penelope Blackwell/The Baltimore Banner.
- Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said at a Tuesday news conference that the city received 200 shots, a supply she described as “extremely limited.” Many of the vaccines already have been used or are scheduled to be administered. Giacomo Bologna/The Baltimore Sun.
PRECINCT-LEVEL VOTE DATA UNAVAILABLE: Maryland was unable to release real-time precinct voting data during the primary because the system to distribute election results was put into place “at the very last minute,” according to state election officials, delaying a key data set that can help researchers verify vote totals. Precinct-level results are the most granular form of election data commonly available and a necessity for post-election forensic analysis of voter turnout and numbers of votes cast. Nick Thieme/The Baltimore Banner.
AND THE COUNT GOES ON: Election workers will begin counting roughly 2,500 provisional ballots at 10 a.m. Wednesday, potentially moving the needle in Anne Arundel County primary races that remain too close to call. Dana Munro/The Capital Gazette.
- For at least two noteworthy races in Baltimore County and Baltimore City, multiple days of ballot counting has not been enough to separate winners from losers. The race for Baltimore County state’s attorney remains undecided as does the race for Baltimore City sheriff. Emily Opilo and Alison Knezevich/The Baltimore Sun.
- Sam Cogen, a former high-ranking deputy in the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office, widened his lead Tuesday in the race to unseat three-decade incumbent John W. Anderson. Julie Scharper/The Baltimore Banner.
- Officials said Prince George’s County had around 6,000 mail-in ballots and 6,000 provisional ballots left to count as of Monday evening. As of Tuesday afternoon, Montgomery County had received around 70,000 mail-in ballots, of which at least 41,000 had been counted, according to the county board of elections. Karina Elwood and Daniel Wu.
POLITICAL NOTES: B’MORE VOTING ISSUES; SEGAL FOR PRESIDENT: The Baltimore City Council wants to meet with city and state elections officials to probe issues voters faced in casting ballots during the July 19 primary election. Fresh off his 0.65% showing in the Democratic primary for governor last week, author and former college lecturer Jerome Segal announced Monday that he plans to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2024. Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters.
- City Councilwoman Odette Ramos described the problems in her district and across Baltimore: Mail-in ballots never sent, incorrect ballots, lack of election judges and, in several cases, chief judges who never showed up. Fern Shen/Baltimore Brew.
OPINION: TWEETS AND THE LT. GOV. CANDIDATE: In the matter of Schifanelli v. Jourdak, a lawsuit filed by the conservative firebrand running to be Maryland’s next lieutenant governor, you can find elements of several storm fronts in America’s overheated political climate. It starts with George Floyd and racism, and goes from there — into the skirmishes over public education and across the divide between progressives who speak truth to power and conservatives who ridicule them as the “woke.” Dan Rodricks/The Baltimore Sun.
PITTMAN URGES ARUNDEL SCHOOLS NOT TO CHANGE START TIME: Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman is urging the school board to delay a change in school start times scheduled to begin Aug. 29 because of staffing concerns. In the most recent school year, a shortage of bus drivers resulted in thousands of students receiving late bus service, or none at all. The school system said contractors who own the buses and hire drivers are facing a shortage due to COVID and more competitive job offers from other employers. Rachael Pacella/The Capital Gazette.
OPINION: HOPE FOR BALTIMORE IN MOSBY’s LOSS: Marilyn Mosby’s loss in the state’s attorney’s primary election gives hope to a number of ingenuous audiences: the hardworking and besieged citizens of Baltimore who would like to live, work and raise families without fear of being threatened, injured or killed in the mean streets of the city; those who do not want the illegal drug culture and trespassing violations, ignored by the current state’s attorney, to be normalized in the city; and those who want an end to the general demonization of police, motivated irrationally by the unacceptable behavior of a few rogue cops. Richard Vatz/MarylandReporter.
OPINION: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING COUNTY: Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest jurisdiction, keeps growing; some might say the place is busting at the seams. But at the same time, its political influence is diminishing in the state, and it was never that high to begin with. How is this possible? And do we blame the county’s politicians, or the voters themselves? Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters.
