GOVERNOR NOMINATES 3 TO STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: Gov. Wes Moore (D) announced appointments Wednesday to the state’s Board of Education, including a high-profile local schools leader. The three people Moore selected to serve on the 14-member board are Samir Paul, Columbia high school student Abisola Ayoola, and Monica Goldson, the outgoing CEO of Prince George’s County Public Schools. William J. Ford/Maryland Matters
EX-NSA WORKER IS SENTENCED FOR STORMING U.S. CAPITOL: A former National Security Agency employee has been sentenced to two weeks of imprisonment for storming the U.S. Capitol along with associates described by authorities as fellow followers of a white nationalist movement. Federal prosecutors had recommended 30 days of imprisonment for Paul Lovley, who lived in Halethorpe. Michael Kunzelman of The Associated Press/The Baltimore Sun
P.G. CO. EXEC VETOES MONEY FOR RECIDIVISM PROGRAM: Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) has issued her first budget veto in nearly five years, clawing back $250,000 from a $5.4 billion spending plan that a County Council member had shifted to a program aimed at reducing recidivism among young people.
B’MORE MAYOR CANCELS TRIP TO FILM FESTIVAL IN ENGLAND: A spokesperson for Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced late Wednesday night that he will not be going to England after all to attend the premiere of a documentary about his efforts to stem gun violence in his city. Baltimore Brew published a story on Monday about Scott’s impending trip, which the film company was financing. Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew
MO CO DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE PICKS DISTRICT 17 DELEGATE: Gaithersburg city councilmember Ryan Spiegel was selected by Montgomery County’s Democratic Central Committee at a meeting Tuesday night to fill a vacant seat in District 17 of the Maryland General Assembly House of Delegates. Spiegel will be the fifth legislator in the Montgomery County delegation to be appointed by the party committee this year alone in a process that some legislators and observers have criticized as undemocratic. Ginny Bixby/MoCo360
MOORE NOMINATES POTOMAC ATTORNEY FOR PSC SEAT: Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Wednesday nominated Bonnie Suchman, a Potomac attorney with more than 35 years of experience in the energy and utility field, to a seat on the Maryland Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. John Kurtz/Maryland Matters
MFUME PUSHES FOR CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL HONORING HENRIETTA LACKS: U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-7th District, says he has introduced legislation that would award a Congressional Gold Medal to Henrietta Lacks, the late Baltimore County resident whose cell line has been used in multiple medical breakthroughs. The Democratic congressman announced the bill at a news conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill alongside members of Lacks’ family. Dan Belson/The Baltimore Sun
MO CO COUNCILMEMBER MINK APOLOGIZES FOR 2019 ‘ZIONIST JEWS’ TWEETS: Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5) sent her second apology of the week Tuesday night, this time attempting to make amends for two tweets in 2019 in which she called Jared Kushner and his former assistant “Zionist Jews.” The tweets have since been deleted. Elia Griffin/MoCo360
ABOUT 40 STATE DELEGATES MAKE PLEDGE AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: About 40 Maryland state delegates have signed their names to a Prince George’s County poster with a pledge “to never engage in any type of abuse — physical, emotional, sexual, financial or digital.” The county’s Department of Family Services led the fourth annual Father’s Day Pledge initiative, collecting 1,500 signatures on about 40 placards. William Ford/Maryland Matters
B’MORE CITY COUNCIL SLASHES FUNDS OF AGENCY THAT PLANS ARTSCAPE: The Baltimore City Council sliced its annual allocation to the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts by 75% on Wednesday, deepening the confusion around the fate of the quasi-governmental organization and the planned relaunch of Artscape, the city’s annual outdoor arts festival. Mary Carole McCauley & Emily Opile/The Baltimore Sun
TRAILBLAZING FORMER OFFICIAL STATE PHOTOGRAPHER DIES: Jay L. Baker, a Baltimore City Hall photographer who later went to Annapolis and became the first African American to hold the position of official Maryland photographer, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease Sunday at Gilchrist Center Howard County in Columbia. Former Baltimore mayors Kurt Schmoke and Martin O’Malley, who also served as Maryland’s governor, both praised Baker for his skills as a recorder of history as well as his character. Baker was 64. Frederick N. Rasmussen/The Baltimore Sun
WHITE HOUSES CONCERT CELEBRATES UPCOMING JUNETEENTH HOLIDAY: President Joe Biden hosted a massive concert on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday to commemorate the country’s newest federal holiday, Juneteenth, which the president said will “breathe a new life in the very essence of America.” He said the holiday “was most fundamentally about the country and freedom.” Vice President Kamala Harris said Juneteenth, which is next Tuesday, is an occasion to “honor Black excellence, culture and community.” The Associated Press/The Afro
FREDERICK CO. RESIDENT WINS FLAG REDESIGN CONTEST: The winning design for a new Frederick County flag was announced on Wednesday, which was Flag Day. A county resident designed the flag, “Frederick, the Crossroads of Maryland,” designed by a county resident, for a contest to redesign the county flag. Mara Barakat/Frederick News-Post
