State Roundup: Hogan to be called to testify in McGrath trial; Wes Moore pays $21,200 overdue city water bill; states not on track to meet Bay pollution reduction goals

State Roundup: Hogan to be called to testify in McGrath trial; Wes Moore pays $21,200 overdue city water bill; states not on track to meet Bay pollution reduction goals

Gov. Hogan is expected to testify in the trial of his former chief of staff Roy McGrath. Screen shot from 2022 press conference.

HOGAN ON LIST OF WITNESSES FOR McGRATH TRIAL: Gov. Larry Hogan will be called as a witness in the federal fraud trial of Roy McGrath, his former chief of staff. Bryan Sears/The Daily Record.

  • McGrath spent 11 weeks as the Republican governor’s chief of staff in the summer of 2020, but resigned under pressure after it was reported that he had negotiated a lucrative “severance” payout from his prior state job. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
  • Federal court documents show that jurors in the fraud and embezzlement case against Roy McGrath have been asked whether Hogan’s appearance as a witness for the prosecution would impact their ability to be fair and impartial. Kate Ryan/WTOP-FM.
  • Hogan, who has said he did not approve the severance payment, will be called to testify during the trial scheduled to begin Oct. 24, according to a joint filing late Tuesday from prosecutors and the defense. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.

MOORE, OWING $21,200 IN CITY WATER, SEWER BILLS, PAYS UP: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore owes Baltimore City $21,200, having failed to pay any water and sewage charges over the last 18 months, online records show. Reached Wednesday night, Moore’s campaign spokesman, Brian Adam Jones, did not dispute the accuracy of the bills. “We’re looking into this and will make sure it’s resolved as soon as possible,” he said. Mark Reutter/The Baltimore Brew.

  • Moore’s campaign said Moore has paid about $21,000 in outstanding Baltimore City water and sewage bills Wednesday after the Brew published his delinquent water account. Cassidy Jensen/The Baltimore Sun.

PARENTS SAY STATE BUNGLED COVID RELIEF PROGRAM: As state senators questioned her agency’s performance, Secretary Lourdes Padilla emphasized how the Department of Human Services worked diligently to issue benefits during the early days of the pandemic. “And we were very successful in that,” Padilla said, highlighting pandemic relief programs as one of DHS’ key achievements. But a Facebook group filled with Maryland parents trying to get benefits for their children might disagree. Brenna Smith/The Baltimore Banner.

STATES NOT ON TRACK FOR BAY POLLUTION REDUCTION GOALS: A new report shows Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia are not on track to meet the 2025 deadline for reducing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, prompting officials to reevaluate the plan and timeline for restoration efforts. The 2022 State of the Blueprint Report released by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation assesses progress made between 2009 and 2021 in those three states, which account for roughly 90% of the Bay’s pollution. Meghan McIntyre/Maryland Matters.

  • During the Oct. 11 meeting, members are expected to discuss accelerating efforts to clean up the bay by 2025. Their decisions will directly affect over 18 million people and 3,600 species of plants and animals that live in the watershed’s 64,000 square mile expanse. Emmett Gartner of CNS/MarylandReporter.com.

PARROTT SAYS TRONE MISLEADING VOTERS ON HIV STAND: Republican congressional candidate Neil Parrott has accused incumbent Democrat David Trone of misleading voters on Parrott’s previous position that people who are HIV-positive could get tattoos to mark their status and get access to treatment for the disease. Parrott, a state delegate, accused Trone of “stigmatizing this disease” in campaign ads and materials. Parrott and Trone are competing for Trone’s 6th District seat. Ryan Marshall/The Frederick News Post.

STATEWIDE CANDIDATE FORUMS: Please join us for online virtual forums for the candidates for comptroller (Oct. 6), attorney general (posted later) and governor (Oct. 13) Here’s the flyer. Register there to see the comptroller and governor forums live.  All the candidates on the ballot except Democrat Wes Moore chose to participate. The League of Women Voters is the lead sponsor along with MarylandReporter.com, MarylandMatters.org, Maryland Nonprofits, Maryland Latinos Unidos and the University of Baltimore’s Schaefer Center for Public Policy, the online host.

OPINION: VOTE NO ON RENAMING COURTS: With all of the problems that Maryland faced during the General Assembly session, from crime to the economy to education, the fact that Democratic General Assembly leadership decided to make the renaming of our courts a priority says a lot about their judgment. This issue in Question 1 on this year’s ballot. So the real question here is; why would we be interested in changing the name of the courts?  The short answer is that the people of Maryland do not understand how our government works. Brian Griffiths/The Duckpin.

PRESIDENT BIDEN TO VISIT HAGERSTOWN ON FRIDAY: President Joe Biden will visit Hagerstown on Friday to deliver remarks on “building the economy from the bottom up and middle out,” according to the White House. Details on where and when Biden will be speaking are not yet being made public. Staff/The Hagerstown Herald-Mail.

POLL: HAIRE HAS SLIGHT LEAD OVER PITTMAN IN ARUNDEL EXEC RACE: A new Democratic poll on the Anne Arundel County executive race shows the Republican challenger, County Councilmember Jessica Haire, with a narrow lead over the Democratic incumbent, Steuart Pittman. But the poll also shows Pittman prevailing after voters are told more about the two candidates — and an outside organization seeking to boost Pittman’s re-election bid has set about to do just that. Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters.

UM GLOBAL CAMPUS LAYS OFF 43: University of Maryland Global Campus, one of the largest online higher education institutions in the country, is getting criticized for sudden layoffs and how it treats its workforce. The school recently eliminated 43 positions. Six of those workers are affiliated with state’s largest public employee union — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. William Ford/Maryland Matters.

SCHOOLS’ COVID RESPONSE GETS BAKED INTO THEIR MESSAGING: Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Mark Bedell is among many school officials around the region emphasizing the importance of vaccinations and continued vigilance against the COVID-19 virus this fall. As Baltimore-area school systems have walked back most restrictions and mandates, the COVID-19 response is increasingly woven into familiar public health messaging about the approaching flu season or the common cold. Lillian Reed and Meredith Cohn/The Baltimore Sun.

About The Author

Cynthia Prairie

cynthiaprairie@gmail.com
https://www.chestertelegraph.org/

Contributing Editor Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor since 1979, when she began working at The Raleigh Times. Since then, she has worked for The Baltimore News American, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Prince George’s Journal and Baltimore County newspapers in the Patuxent Publishing chain, including overseeing The Jeffersonian when it was a two-day a week business publication. Cynthia has won numerous state awards, including the Maryland State Bar Association’s Gavel Award. Besides compiling and editing the daily State Roundup, she runs her own online newspaper, The Chester Telegraph. If you have additional questions or comments contact Cynthia at: cynthiaprairie@gmail.com

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