MARYLAND REPUBLICANS PUSH CRIME BILLS: Sparked by concerns over an increase in violent crime, Maryland Republican lawmakers on Thursday rallied behind a package of gun crime bills days after Democratic Gov. Wes Moore announced massive public safety spending, including nearly $200 million on local law enforcement initiatives. Several dozen GOP legislators implored Democrats to help them strip juvenile justice reforms the General Assembly passed last year and to impose stronger penalties on those who commit crimes with guns or those who steal them. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner
- SB 744, the Violent Firearms Offender Act, would remove the “drug dealer loophole” whereby drug dealers — or those posing as them — receive a lighter sentence than others convicted of the same offense. The bill reclassifies drug dealing as a violent crime, and therefore makes using a firearm in conjunction with drug dealing subject to a felony, rather than a misdemeanor. Christine Zhu/ Capital News Service/ Maryland Reporter
CHILD PORN CHARGES FOR COLLEGE PARK MAYOR: Prince George’s County Police arrested the longtime mayor of College Park on Thursday, a day after searching his house and finding several cellphones and computers that they say contained child pornography. Patrick Wojahn, 47, who was charged with 56 counts of possession and distribution of child pornography, resigned Wednesday night. Lilly Price/The Baltimore Sun
MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE FOCUSES ON ANNUAL INCREASES: For the third time in a decade, Maryland lawmakers are debating and likely to pass an increase to the state’s minimum wage from $13.25 an hour to $15. What’s still undecided, though, is whether they’ll set themselves up to have the same conversation again in a few years or whether annual increases would kick in starting in 2025. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun
SERVERS ARE DIVIDED OVER BILL TO BAN SUB-MINIMUM WAGES: Several tipped workers gathered outside the State House in Annapolis to rally support for a bill that was introduced Thursday in the Maryland Senate that would pay them at minimum wage plus whatever tips they receive. Tipped workers in Maryland currently can be paid as low as $3.63 an hour. But some restaurant workers want to keep the status quo, saying the bill would discourage people from tipping and limit the employees’ earnings to the hourly wage. Jeff Morgan/WMAR (ABC)
STUDENTS PROTEST PROPOSED CUTS TO SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM: More than 300 Maryland non-public school students gathered in Annapolis on Thursday to protest proposed cuts to a scholarship program that helps families pay for non-public schools. More than 3,000 students across Maryland are enrolled in 200 non-public schools and have their tuition partially paid for with public dollars from the BOOST (Broadening Options & Opportunities for Students Today) scholarship program. BOOST would be scaled back by $2 million in Gov. Wes Moore’s budget proposal. Tim Tooten/WBAL-TV (NBC)
ANNE ARUNDEL SEEKS MORE FLEXIBLE SCHOOL SCHEDULES: Anne Arundel County wants the state to drop its requirement that students attend classes for 180 days each academic year, calling the calendar mandate a relic of chalkboard days gone by that stands in the way of making schools better. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner
HELP IS ON THE WAY FOR VICTIMS OF BENEFITS FRAUD, STATE SAYS: A disabled former iron worker in Baltimore has finally received the last of the disability benefits the State of Maryland owed him, which he apparently lost to hackers, after efforts by a social worker, multiple stories by Baltimore Brew and an appeal filed with the Maryland Department of Human Services. Damon Minor, 52, said Maryland’s new DHS chief, Rafael J. López, even took him to lunch and is trying to get him a Social Services job. State officials say help is on the way to the thousands of fraud victims, with a plan to reimburse over $2.5 million in benefits stolen by EBT card skimming. Fern Shen/Baltimore Brew
STATE SEIZES TAX RETURNS IN ERROR FOR BACK CHILD SUPPORT: Maryland government officials are fessing up to mistakenly withholding tax refunds for back child support — for parents whose accounts are up to date. Calls started coming in to the state Department of Human Services in recent weeks as residents began filing their tax returns. Instead of receiving their refunds promptly, the callers told the department their refunds were blocked for child support, even though they made their payments. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner
CURRENT SERVICE YEAR PROGRAMS PROVIDE MODEL FOR MOORE’S PROPOSAL: While details of Gov. Wes Moore’s service year option for high school graduates are still being worked out, many other existing service year programs in the state, nationally and worldwide allow people to gain the experience and give back to the community in the way Moore wants. The governor has signed an executive order creating the Maryland Department of Civic and Service Innovation on his first full day in office. Moore’s proposed plan for Maryland so far is a unique combination of the service year programs that have come before it. Kara Thompson/ Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter
CHILD VICTIMS ACT WOULD LET ABUSE SURVIVORS SUE: State lawmakers are settling on the terms of a proposal to give more survivors of child sexual abuse the opportunity to sue the Catholic Church and other institutions complicit in the crimes. The House Judiciary Committee heard Thursday from survivors and their advocates for two hours about the need to give adults the authority to sue. Del. C.T. Wilson, D-Southern Md., who sponsored a House bill, told the committee that the trauma of his own boyhood abuse cost him his marriage. Tim Prudente/The Baltimore Banner
