We’ll be taking July 4th off. Have a safe and joyful Independence Day
and we’ll see you on Wednesday, July 5th.
MOORE SAYS STATE WILL RESPOND TO SUPREME COURT RULINGS: Gov. Wes Moore believes there will be legal and legislative responses from the state to last week’s Supreme Court rulings that struck down race-based admissions in higher education and President Biden’s student debt relief program. Matt Bush/WYPR-FM.
CHOUDHURY ASKS BOARD FOR ANOTHER TERM: State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury submitted a letter of intent to seek another term, the state Board of Education confirmed. Saturday marked the deadline for Choudhury to inform the board whether he wanted to remain as the public schools leader. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
MOVEMENT IN THE 6th CONGRESSIONAL RACE: Freshman Del. Joe Vogel (D-Dist. 17) was been endorsed by Equality PAC last week in the race for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. Del. Neil Parrott (R-2A) has filed campaign information with the FEC and has formed an exploratory committee for a third run for that seat but is not officially announcing a campaign yet. And Mia Mason (D) of Frederick County has joined the growing list of contenders for the same seat. Ginny Bixby/MoCo360.
OPENING DAY: CUSTOMERS FLOCK TO CANNABIS SHOPS: Recreational marijuana is now legal in Maryland and dispensaries are so far, seeing significant demand. Peake ReLeaf President Warren Lemley said Saturday afternoon, he’d already seen four times the regular number of customers at his dispensary in Rockville, Maryland. Most of those customers were purchasing recreational cannabis. Megan Clarke/WBFF-Fox 45 News.
- Maryland blazed into a new era Saturday, as dispensaries opened their doors to the public for the first time. People rolled into dispensaries across the state, their curiosity sparked by the new law, which allows people 21 and over to purchase cannabis with a state-issued ID. Julie Scharper, Brenda Wintrode, Penelope Blackwell and Michael Hughes/The Baltimore Banner.
- The lines were long at Culta off Key Highway in downtown Baltimore and at Curio Far and Dotter’s grand opening in Timonium. “It’s exciting. Cannabis has changed my life professionally, personally and for my health,” Far and Dotter customer Ariana Foote said. “It’s the end of prohibition,” Far and Dotter customer Jerry Conaway said. Tommie Clark/WBAL-TV News.
- In some ways, legal weed will have a limited overt effect. Medicinal users will continue to use cannabis for health reasons, as they have since 2017. Many recreational users will continue to smoke, albeit now legally. But legalization opens the door for easier — and safer — access, allows the industry to be taxed and regulated, and could continue to remove a stigma attached to the drug since it was popularized in the U.S. by 1960s counterculture. Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Sun.
- Tyreek Plunkett came into gLeaf after the initial morning rush began to die down to buy pre-rolled joints. He said had no issue getting into the dispensary quickly and ordering. ”It’s been very transparent, they’ve been very clear. It’s pretty easy,” Plunkett said. Gabrielle Lewis/The Frederick News. Post.
- “Maryland has been so medical for so long, [people] crave the other side of the cannabis space,” said Jeremy Unruh, senior vice president of public and regulatory affairs for PharmaCann, which runs two Verilife dispensaries in Maryland. Katie Shepherd, Jasmine Hilton, Heidi Pérez-Moreno and Corinne Dorsey/The Washington Post.
THE STIGMATISM OF ‘MARIJUANA:’ The stigmatization of the word marijuana, scholars said, has had such a long-lasting, often harmful effect on how people perceive the plant — particularly in Mexican families and among broader Latino communities — that some people consider the word racist. Clara Longo de Freitas/The Baltimore Banner.
OPINION: COLLABORATION IS KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT: From projects specific to Baltimore to ones that will benefit Maryland more broadly, there are many examples of what we can achieve by collaborating. Look no farther than the B&O Railroad Museum and the Howard Street Tunnel. Ed McDonald/The Baltimore Banner.
HEALTH DEPT PARTNERS WITH TREVOR PROJECT TO SAVE LGBTQ LIVES: The Maryland Department of Health last week announced a year-long partnership with The Trevor Project to expand support for LGBTQ Marylanders and provide training to healthcare professionals. The partnership will involve training MDH’s behavioral administration staff, the governor’s commission for suicide prevention and healthcare professionals across the state. Gabrielle Lewis/The Frederick News-Post.
OPINION: LGBT RIGHTS, BLACK AMERICANS AND THE CULTURE WARS: This year’s Pride Month has reinvigorated the culture wars of yesteryear with a special focus on children and the school curriculum. No doubt, both Black Americans and LGBT persons have faced historical discrimination and marginalization. Tensions arise when it comes to differing religious beliefs and cultural values, but there is often one key fact left out of these debates, namely the stark differences between the lives of Black Baltimoreans and their white counterparts. Chris Anderson/MarylandReporter.com.
MARYLAND JOINS SUIT OVER WOOD-BURNING STOVE STANDARDS: Attorneys general from 10 states, including Maryland, plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying its failure to review and ensure emissions standards for residential wood-burning stoves has allowed the continued sale of appliances that could worsen pollution. Staff/The Associated Press.
ARCHDIOCESE ADDS 40+ NAMES TO LIST OF ‘CREDIBLY ACCUSED’: The Archdiocese of Baltimore added more than 40 names to its public list of Catholic Church staff credibly accused of sexually abusing children, including for the first time deacons, nuns and lay teachers. With Friday’s update, the church’s list now runs to more than 180 names. Lee O. Sanderlin and Jean Marbella/The Baltimore Sun.
CATHOLIC COACH FOUND NOT GUILTY OF SEX ABUSE: Baltimore County Judge Dennis M. Robinson Jr. found a former Mount Saint Joseph wrestling coach not guilty Friday on all counts in a case alleging sexual abuse of a minor. Cassidy Jensen/The Baltimore Sun.
JUDGE REPRIMANDED FOR UNDER-REPORTING INCOME: A St. Mary’s judge who is caught in legal warfare with his family’s e-commerce business received a formal reprimand Friday for underreporting his income by hundreds of thousands of dollars and failing to cooperate during a probe by judiciary investigators. Dan Belson/The Capital Gazette.
