MARYLAND ELECTED OFFICIALS VOW SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL: Against the backdrop of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, members of the Washington area Jewish community and elected officials on Friday joined to show support for Israel at a rally in the city’s Freedom Plaza. “I’m here to say very clearly, we are here to stand with the state of Israel, to recognize the right of Israel to exist, to recognize the right for Israel to defend itself, to recognize the right of Israelis to live without fear,” Gov. Wes Moore told the crowd. Fatema Hosseini and Ryan Mercado of Capital News Service/MarylandReporter.com.
SILVER SPRING MAN SEEKS HELP FOR RELATIVE BELIEVED HELD BY HAMAS : Moments after watching Gov. Wes Moore declare Maryland’s unwavering support for Israel, Norman Goldstein of Silver Spring saw his opening. Goldstein’s singular, somber message to the governor: Hersh Goldberg-Polin, his 23-year-old grandnephew and an American citizen, was believed to be captured by Hamas during the terrorist organization’s attack on a music festival near Gaza last weekend, and the world needed to know. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
SENATE PRES FERGUSON BACKS ALSOBROOKS: The Alsobrooks campaign is not bashful about boasting of her 100+ endorsements in her run for U.S. Senate from current and former officials across Maryland. That was underscored on Friday when she picked up the backing of yet another one of the state’s most important Democrats, Senate President Bill Ferguson, who promised “to do whatever it takes to make sure that this incredible leader is going to be on the national stage.” Len Lazarick/MarylandReporter.com.
- Ferguson endorsed Democratic Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin when he retires at the end of his term. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- “We need leaders who step up, who understand their communities, who can bring people together and can fight for the common good,” said Fergusonadding that he has known Alsobrooks for “the last 10 years and cannot imagine anyone better.” Wambui Kamau/WYPR-FM.
TRONE FAR OUTSPENDS ALSOBROOKS: In the three months from July 1 until Sept. 30, U.S. Rep. David Trone of Potomac – a multi-millionaire businessman who is largely self-financing his bid for the 2024 Democratic Senate nomination – spent more than three times the amount his chief rival, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, managed to raise during the same period. Campaign disclosure reports show Trone spending nearly $4.8 million in the third quarter of the year–more than three times the $1.52 million that Alsobrooks raised from outside contributors. Louis Peck/MoCo 360.
INTERIM SCHOOLS SUPER TO FOCUS ON READING, MATH SCORES: When Carey Wright officially adopts the role of interim Maryland state superintendent on Oct. 23, she’s getting right to work on improving the state’s reading and math scores. “I am grounded in the research about what are best practices, where literacy and mathematics particularly are concerned.” One of those strategies is the science of reading, which focuses on evidence-based practices that boost reading ability, like phonics awareness. Bri Hatch/WYPR-FM.
OPINION: WRIGHT BRINGS HER MIRACLE TO MARYLAND SCHOOLS: While Maryland boasts some of the highest-achieving, diverse public school districts in the country, on the whole, our levels of reading proficiency are woefully low. Maryland fourth graders scored below the national average on the most recent round of the NEAP tests, and longstanding gaps between students of color and their white classmates persist. Something has got to change. The good news is that what happened in Mississippi under Maryland’s interim Superintendent Carey Wright is not a miracle at all. Barbara Davidson/The Baltimore Banner.
BROTHERS IN 2nd AMENDMENT RALLY TAKE CASE TO SUPREME COURT: An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court by Second Amendment activists in Maryland could affect protections for police officers and the public’s right to document the activities of law enforcement. The case, which began as the arrest of two protesters outside the State House in February 2018, could have implications on both qualified immunity for police officers as well as the right to video record police in the performance of their duties while in public. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
JUVENILE ROCKFISH NUMBERS 2nd WORST SINCE SURVEY BEGAN IN 1950s: Maryland’s annual survey of juvenile striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay returned its second-worst result since the survey began in the 1950s. It also was the fifth year in a row that the annual survey, released last week, showed numbers well below the historical average. Christine Condon/The Baltimore Sun.
MARYLAND MALARIA CASE AIDS FEDERAL DETECTION EFFORT: In mid-August, the Maryland Department of Health issued an advisory that the agency had confirmed a rare positive case of locally acquired malaria and urged Marylanders take precautions to avoid future mosquito bites. But locally acquired malaria is rare in the United States, and the unique case led to a new article published by federal health officials highlighting efforts that led to the eventual diagnosis. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
OPINION: HEALTH EQUITY MEANS BABIES AND MOTHERS: Sunday marks Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, an urgent reminder that we need to do everything we can to protect pregnant people and children, including undocumented mothers and their unborn babies. A new policy solution gives this often-overlooked part of the population hope. Last year, Maryland enacted a new law — the Healthy Babies Equity Act — that provides comprehensive health care coverage to pregnant people regardless of immigration status. It was introduced by Del. Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk. Karla Madera Tejada and Thomas J. Rachko Jr./Maryland Matters.
CARDIN RECOVERING FROM COVID: U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin is recovering from COVID-19 after testing positive following his 80th birthday celebration, a spokesperson said Friday. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
U-MD TO STUDY GREENER, FAIRER TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS: The University of Maryland was awarded $10 million in federal dollars to launch a new research center, in partnership with teams at four other colleges, that will focus on some of the Biden administration’s top priorities. The Center for Multi-Modal Mobility in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Areas will examine how to build fairer, greener transportation networks, while promoting economic growth. Ian Duncan/The Washington Post.
JUDGE LIFTS INJUNCTION ON HEMP PRODUCT SALE: Three months after a state law effectively banned Maryland stores from selling some delta-8 and other hemp-derived products, a state judge gave the industry a lifeline Thursday, ordering an injunction that temporarily lifts restrictions on their sale. Giacomo Bologna/The Baltimore Sun.
- Judge Brett R. Wilson on Thursday suspended enforcement of a portion of the state’s cannabis law that, this summer, forced CBD shops to stop selling products that contain intoxicating levels of THC derived from hemp. The law reserved that business only for the medical marijuana companies that are newly licensed to start selling a wider array of cannabis products to recreational users. Erin Cox and Katie Shepherd/The Washington Post.
- In a roughly dozen page order and opinion, Wilson said the state may not enforce the section of the statute against individuals that were lawfully in the business of selling hemp-derived products prior to the new law’s effective date while the case proceeds. This allows hemp growers and distributors across the state from Western Maryland’s Washington County to Federalsburg on the Eastern Shore to continue their businesses unimpeded, for now. Dwight Weingarten/The Hagerstown Herald Mail.
CECIL POLICE SAY CANNABIS LAW MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO SEARCH VEHICLES: Now that recreational marijuana is legal in Maryland, law enforcement officers in Cecil County and elsewhere are facing a stumbling block. That barrier likely is resulting in some motorists driving away from traffic stops — unchecked — while possibly impaired by cannabis and while possibly concealing unregistered guns and hard drugs like heroin, methamphetamine and such, police officials reported. Carl Hamilton/The Cecil Whig.
CARROLL SCHOOL BOARD LOOKS AT BLUEPRINT REFORM: The Board of Carroll County Commissioners met jointly with the county’s school board Wednesday afternoon to discuss the nuances of implementing the state-mandated Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform legislation. Thomas Goodwin Smith/The Carroll County Times.
UB HOLDS FIRST GRADUATION FOR JESSUP INMATES: As University of Baltimore faculty sang the praises of the five men in caps and gown, large loops of barbed wire were just visible through windows bookending the podium. It was graduation day. Time to celebrate earning bachelor’s degrees in what their valedictorian called the “worst environment possible”: prison. The Oct. 6 commencement was the first held by the university at Jessup Correctional Institution. Darcy Costello/The Baltimore Sun.
OLD BAY FIGHTS CANNABIS FIRM ‘BUD STICKER:’ Spice aisle giant McCormick & Co. has taken issue with a tongue-in-cheek sticker used to sell legal cannabis. The corporation, which books more than $6 billion of annual sales, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Crabcakes & Cannabis, demanding that the small business discontinue sales of its “Bud Sticker.” Katie Shepherd/The Washington Post.
