DEL. WILSON FIGHTS OBSCURE LEGAL LANGUAGE THAT GAVE CATHOLIC CHURCH IMMUNITY: Authorities recently told the courts they finished a nearly four-year investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore and uncovered a history of child sexual abuse by priests. The revelation set off a groundswell of support for survivors. In Annapolis, there’s more political will than ever before to remove a legal barrier for adult survivors to sue the church. But there is one problem – a statute of repose, which grants a person or entity a substantive right not to be sued — in other words, immunity. Tim Prudente/The Baltimore Banner.
EMAILS SHOW PRESSURE TROOPERS FACE TO RAISE TRAFFIC STOP NUMBERS: Newly reviewed documents lay out in greater detail how the work productivity aspect of the Maryland State Police’s expectations system is an ever-present measuring stick by which troopers are judged, rewarded and sometimes disciplined, in all corners of Maryland. And troopers are explicitly told just that. Ben Conarck/The Baltimore Banner.
BILL WOULD GIVE ATTY GEN POWER TO PROSECUTE POLICE: The Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee is slated for a 1 p.m. hearing on a bill that would give the attorney general’s Independent Investigations Division prosecutorial powers in police killings, expanding its responsibility two years after the General Assembly created it. Lee O. Sanderlin/The Baltimore Sun.
‘BLUEPRINT’ ADVOCATES RALLY FOR FULL FUNDING: Dozens of students, parents, educators and advocates descended on Lawyers Mall Monday to push state lawmakers with this one message: Keep the promise to “fully fund the Blueprint.” William Ford/Maryland Matters.
TWO CABINET APPOINTMENTS DELAYED: A Senate committee postponed voting on Gov. Wes Moore’s juvenile services cabinet pick Monday to allow Republican lawmakers not on the committee time to interview the criminal justice reformer about his research, according to a Senate GOP leader. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
- The committee voted unanimously to hold the appointment of Acting Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi, mostly owing to reservations that members of the GOP Caucus has raised about past comments and policy actions. And they held the name of Anthony C. “Tony” Woods, whom Moore has appointed secretary of veterans affairs, but that appeared to be a mere formality, to afford members of the committee more time to meet with him in person this week. William Zorzi/Maryland Matters.
STATE PUSHES ‘EASY ENROLLMENT’ HEALTH INSURANCE PROCESS: As Marylanders are filling out their tax returns this year, state officials and advocates are hoping they’ll take an extra half-second to check a box to start the process of enrolling in health insurance. Maryland established a tax-based “Easy Enrollment” program in 2019 and since then more than 100,000 people have checked a box on their tax returns to get more information about health insurance plans available to them — often at low or no cost. Danielle Gaines/Maryland Matters.
JUDGE UPHOLDS TWO OF THREE FINDINGS AGAINST NICK MOSBY: A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge upheld two out of three findings in a city administrative ruling that City Council President Nick Mosby violated Baltimore’s ethics code for elected officials, throwing out the most notable finding that the Democrat himself took money from controlled donors. Emily Sullivan/The Baltimore Banner.
- Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill’s ruling was a major juncture in the nearly year-long case, but it left unclear what penalty, if any, Mosby faces for the two ethics violations. Fern Shen/Baltimore Brew.
- Fletcher-Hill’s ruling brings to a close a nine-month dispute over Mosby’s involvement with the legal-defense fund that opened for donations in mid-2021 and was established for the legal defense of the council president and his wife, then-State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, as they faced a federal criminal investigation into their financial dealings. Emily Opilo/The Baltimore Sun.
CO-FOUNDER OF FIRM THAT DESIGNED CAMDEN YARDS DIES: When Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992, with right field shadowed by a brick warehouse evoking urban stadiums of a bygone era, architectural critics and the baseball cognoscente were nearly moved to poetry in declaring the stadium a home run. Camden Yards was designed by HOK Sport, a Kansas City firm co-founded by Ron Labinski, the first architect to specialize in sports. Mr. Labinski died Jan. 1 at age 85. Michael Rosenwald/The Washington Post.
