TREASURER QUESTIONS SLOW NEGOTIATIONS ON STADIUM LEASE: State Treasurer Dereck Davis, speaking at the close of the Board of Public Works on Wednesday, chided both the Orioles and the Maryland Stadium Authority for dragging out negotiations on a stadium lease agreement and for a lack of transparency. “I want to know what’s going on,” Davis said. “A significant investment has been made on behalf of the state. And I’m not saying it’s anybody’s fault, because I honestly don’t know. But it’s time. It’s time and folks need to be called out on it.” Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters
- The Orioles (58-37) are in the midst of a breakout season and have the best winning percentage in the American League, but remain without an agreement formally tethering them to Oriole Park at Camden Yards beyond Dec. 31. The club has operated under the same lease since the park opened in 1992 and it and the stadium authority, which built and owns Baltimore’s major professional sports venues, have been negotiating a new lease for years. Sam Janesch and Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Sun.
STATE TO ALTER BAY CLEANUP STRATEGY: Maryland plans to modify its Chesapeake Bay cleanup strategy in accordance with new research showing that the estuary has been slow to improve despite current pollution reduction efforts. The changes could result in a greater focus on the bay’s shallow waters, where environmental regulators may see transformation more rapidly than in Chesapeake’s deep channel, and on rebuilding habitat for key species such as blue crabs and oysters. Christine Condon/The Baltimore Sun.
GOP FIELD IN 6th CONGRESSIONAL RACE GROWS; O’MALLEY PORTRAITS: The Republican field in Maryland’s 6th congressional district is growing. On Wednesday, Tom Royals, a former Navy officer and combat aviator, announced his candidacy with a splashy two-minute biographical video. Heath Barnes, the mayor of Woodsboro who ran unsuccessfully for the House of Delegates last year, is also gearing up to run. Former Gov. Martin O’Malley and his wife, retired Baltimore City District Court Judge Katie Curran O’Malley, were treated to a private unveiling of their official portraits hosted by Gov. Wes Moore (D) and his wife, Dawn, at the governor’s mansion. Josh Kurtz and Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
MOORE, FAMILY GET VOGUE-LEIBOVITZ TREATMENT: Gov. Wes Moore is not shy when it comes to interviews; he’s a regular on TV and was profiled in the New Yorker and local news outlets as he marked six months in office. But of all his publicity efforts, the one that’s gotten politicos in Annapolis and elsewhere talking the most is a lengthy glowing — in a very artfully lit sense — profile in Vogue magazine that was posted online Tuesday. Vogue turned to top photographer Annie Leibovitz to shoot Moore and his family. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
***Learn about China Today: Maryland Reporter’s Len Lazarick will again be offering a six-session seminar on China Today and how it got that way at Howard Community College. Lazarick began his involvement with China and its journalists 30 years ago and teaches East Asian history at the college. Click here to learn more and register for the course.***
CLASS-ACTION SUIT OVER HOPKINS CYBER ATTACK: People affected by the May cyber attack on Johns Hopkins Health System and Johns Hopkins University are filing a class action lawsuit against the organization. The lawsuit states that tens or even hundreds of thousands of people had their personal identifiable information exposed through a vulnerability in the MoveIt file transfer software that was exploited by a Russian-linked ransomware organization called Clop. Scott Maucione/WYPR-FM.
PUGH REMAINED ON AVIATION BOARD WHILE IN PRISON: State records show that Baltimore’s former convicted mayor, Catherine Pugh, was still serving on an aviation advisory council while locked up in federal prison in Alabama, serving a three-year sentence on fraud and tax evasion charges. Pugh was first appointed to the Aviation Administration’s Small and Minority Business Council back in 2005. Jeff Abell/WBFF-Fox 45.
FORMER MO CO COUNCILMEMBER KILLED IN ARKANSAS: A longtime Silver Spring resident and pastor—and onetime member of the Montgomery County Council—was slain last week in Little Rock, Ark. Donell Peterman, 56, was strangled and robbed July 10, according to the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. A suspect who police say admitted to getting in an altercation with Peterman and killing him has been arrested. Jenna Bloom/MoCo 360.
FORMER SEN. BROADWATER DIES: Tommie Broadwater Jr., a longtime power broker in Maryland politics who was the first African American to represent Prince George’s County in the state Senate, where he lost his seat after he was convicted on charges stemming from food stamp fraud, died at 81. Emily Langer/The Washington Post.
