MEA NATURAL GAS GRANTS ANGER ENVIRONMENTALISTS: The Maryland Energy Administration has announced $9.25 million in grants for expanding natural gas infrastructure in the state, angering environmentalists who have called the move a handout to the fossil fuel industry at ratepayers’ expense. And a spokeswoman for the environmental Rocky Mountain Institute said that it is incumbent upon Democratic Gov.-elect Wes Moore and his administration to make sure that their investments are in line with the state’s climate plans. Aman Azhar/The Baltimore Banner.
HOGAN URGED TO ADOPT CALIFORNIA E-VEHICLE STANDARDS: Maryland legislators and environmental groups are urging Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration to adopt California’s new electric vehicle standards by the end of the year, or risk falling behind the Golden State. Christine Condon/The Baltimore Sun.
FROSH RELEASES OFFICER-INVOLVED FATALITY REPORT: The Maryland Attorney General’s office released a report Tuesday on 23 police-involved fatalities that a new unit within the agency investigated over the past year. The office’s Independent Investigations Division, established through state law, examined police-involved cases that included fatal shootings, fatal vehicle crashes and an incident with a person “in distress” that took place between Oct. 1, 2021 and Sept. 30 of this year. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
STATE DIGITAL TAX IN LIMBO AS COURT MULLS LAWSUIT: A federal challenge to Maryland’s first-in-the-nation digital advertising tax is in limbo after a state court found the tax unconstitutional last month. U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby must decide if the federal lawsuit can continue despite the state court decision. Madeleine O’Neill/The Daily Record.
3 MORE MOBILE SPORTS LICENSES AWAIT APPROVAL: State gaming officials are poised to give preliminary approval to three new applications for mobile sports betting licenses as well as two operators connected to two of those licenses. The Thursday votes set the stage for three more entrants into a new market that saw brisk business over the opening Thanksgiving weekend. Bryan Sears/The Daily Record.
HOGAN TO HOST FUND-RAISERS TONIGHT: Gov. Larry Hogan, turning his sights more intensely on his political future with less than two months left in office, will host a pair of major fundraisers Wednesday night as he considers running for president in 2024. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
SHORE PROFESSOR TO HELP GUIDE MOORE’s EDUCATION POLICY: Maryland is in the early part of a decadelong plan to improve public schools, and an Eastern Shore educator is on Gov.-Elect Wes Moore’s team, tasked with helping him on education policy during the transition. Dwight Weingarten/The Salisbury Daily Times.
OPINION: SIMONAIRE LACKED LEADERSHIP CHOPS: As GOP Senate leader, Bryan Simonaire pushed no serious conservative legislation. He organized no serious opposition to far-left legislation pushed by the Democrats. Legislatively, Simonaire was the type of career politician that Democrats love in the General Assembly; a speed bump to be ignored. Brian Griffiths/The Duckpin.
OPINION: PRINCE GEORGE’S SHOULD GET FBI HQ: Despite J. Edgar Hoover’s racist legacy with the FBI, Prince George’s County, home to 20 percent of the federal workforce, should be the next home of the agency of 11,000. Courtland Milloy/The Washington Post.
BARTENFELDER AMONG GROUP ARRESTED IN WATERFOWL HUNTING: Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder wasn’t the only person charged with illegal waterfowl hunting on Thanksgiving Day. Also charged were his son and three other young people. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
BALTIMORE COUNTY RESIDENTS SUPPORT IG OFFICE: A handful of Baltimore County residents, including a former Baltimore City watchdog official, spoke out Tuesday evening in support of the county government’s top overseer at a meeting held by the commission tasked with evaluating Inspector General Kelly Madigan. Lia Russell/The Baltimore Sun.
- Members of Baltimore County’s commission to reform the inspector general’s office signaled opposition to creating a board to oversee the county’s corruption watchdog Tuesday evening — but one appointee bucked against the office’s unrestricted access to government materials, which most members said they support. Taylor DeVille/The Baltimore Banner.
STATE’s FIRST ‘GREEN CEMETERY’ TO OPEN: A few other cemeteries in the state allow for natural burials, which bypass elaborate caskets, concrete vaults and traditional embalming in favor of simpler, biodegradable methods that allow a body to decompose in the earth. But Serenity Ridge Natural Burial Cemetery and Arboretum in Windsor Mill will be Maryland’s first cemetery dedicated to the practice, according to the Maryland Office of Cemetery Oversight. Christine Condon/The Baltimore Sun.
CASSILLY MAKES FIRST PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS: Incoming Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly has made his first personnel appointments ahead of his Dec. 5 inauguration. Jason Fontelieu/The Aegis.
FRENCH PRESIDENT TO HONOR 2 WWII VETERANS FROM FREDERICK: French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday will present the highest honor France has to offer to two Frederick County veterans who helped liberate the country during World War II. The two veterans, 98-year-old Samuel Davis and 96-year-old Carl Felton, are among other honorees who will be declared knights in the Legion of Honor at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. Angela Roberts/The Frederick News Post.
AND THESE GUYS SHOWED UP IN FREDERICK: Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was spotted in Frederick on Monday. It was the same day he appeared on a podcast hosted by Western Maryland YouTuber Tim Pool, whose show is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “soapbox for the anti-democracy hard right.” Ye arrived with far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, as well as Nick Fuentes, described by the Anti-Defamation League as a Holocaust denier and a “white supremacist leader and organizer” behind the livestream show “America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes.” Cadence Quartana/The Baltimore Banner.
