PLAN TO MOVE HQ TO GREENBELT GETS MIXED REACTION AS DEBATE PERSISTS: The Biden administration’s announcement that the new FBI headquarters would be constructed in Greenbelt, Maryland, was met Thursday with criticism from the agency’s director and allegations of corruption in the selection process from Virginia lawmakers. On Capitol Hill, a spending measure that would be a vehicle for helping to pay for the new FBI headquarters was pulled from the House floor, part of a broader battle among lawmakers ahead of a looming Nov. 17 government shutdown. The latest developments suggest that the long debate over the location of the new FBI headquarters seems to be continuing. Fatema Hosseini & Josie Jack of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter
- FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said last month that he could not accept a federal official’s decision to relocate the agency’s headquarters from downtown Washington to the Maryland suburbs, criticizing the politically fraught and drawn-out site selection process as fatally flawed, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post. The Oct. 12 letter sent to the top official at the General Services Administration called on the agency to scrap its Greenbelt selection and restart the entire process. But after receiving the FBI director’s letter, the GSA decided to proceed anyway with Greenbelt. Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein and Erin Cox/The Washington Post
- Maryland officials praised the federal government’s decision Wednesday to relocate the FBI headquarters to Greenbelt, which is expected to be an economic windfall for Prince George’s County. Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) said she screamed with excitement Wednesday night when she first heard the news from Maryland U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D), who has battled for over a decade to bring the project to the state. “These decisions where these federal job centers are located have the power to transform the economic profile of a jurisdiction for generations.” Kiersten Hacker & Cecilia Shilling of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter
- Maryland officials expressed confidence Thursday that the FBI’s new headquarters will, indeed, be built in Prince George’s County — even as the head of the FBI blasted the selection process. “The FBI building is coming to the state of Maryland,” Gov. Wes Moore (D) said confidently — and repeatedly — when asked by reporters about the fate of the project. Pamela Wood/Baltimore Banner
MARYILN MOSBY IS CONVICTED OF PERJURY: Jurors on Thursday convicted Marilyn Mosby on two counts of perjury – the outcome of a surprisingly quick trial capping a lengthy Baltimore melodrama that featured a polarizing prosecutor with a national profile and a struggling city enduring yet another elected official charged criminally. The former Baltimore State’s Attorney faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each of the two felony counts of perjury. In a second federal criminal case, Mosby is charged with making false mortgage applications to buy two Florida vacation homes. Fern Shen & Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew
AUDIT FINDS AGENCY THAT OVERSEES MEDICAID IN MD ‘UNSATISFACTORY’.: Another audit within a branch of the Maryland Department of Health reveals years of “unsatisfactory” record-keeping that may have resulted result in millions of Medicaid dollars improperly paid out for people who did not qualify and a lack of program oversight to ensure that people received adequate health care services, according to a Tuesday report from the Office of Legislative Audits. The latest audit comes just days after the state Department of Health received a scathing report that said the department had a “pervasive lack of documentation.” Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters
NEW MENTAL HEALTH CENTER AIMS TO EASE LONG WAIT FOR CRISIS CARE: Lawmakers, clinicians, and educators gathered Thursday for a ribbon-cutting celebration of Compass Health Center, which aims to provide timely mental health crisis care to adolescent and adult patients throughout Maryland, where emergency room wait times are the longest in the nation. Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith, D-Montgomery, who attended the event, said the Silver Spring center, which opened in September, is a key step to connecting all patients in need with appropriate services. Steph Quinn of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter
BMORE CO. BOARD OF ELECTIONS OPENS NEW HQ IN OWINGS MILLS: The Baltimore County Board of Elections has opened its consolidated headquarters in Owings Mills, where voters will be able to cast ballots early and the county agency can store voting equipment and train election judges. Lia Russell/Baltimore Sun
POLL FINDS CRIME AND ECONOMY ARE ANNE ARUNDEL CO. RESIDENTS’ TOP CONCERNS: A recent poll of Anne Arundel County residents listed crime and the economy as the area’s most pressing challenges. About 36% of the 586 county residents who responded to the survey conducted in the last week of October cited crime as a top concern, while 23% pointed to the state of the economy, including employment, cost of living and the business environment, as a major issue. Dana Munroe/Capital Gazette
MO CO SCHOOL BOARD’s STUDENT MEMBER PROPOSES ‘SAFE SCHOOLS RESOLUTION”: After a number of serious safety incidents at Montgomery County Public Schools this past year, students are proposing the school district take a new approach to school safety through measures such as enhancing safety-related communications with students, a pilot ID program at high schools and addressing student drug use on campus. Elia Griffin/MoCo360
BALTO. CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS CRITICIZE MAYOR OVER REDISTRICTING PROCESS AFTER HIS VETO: A majority of Baltimore City Council members accused Mayor Brandon Scott of ignoring community input and failing to be transparent in his redistricting map process. Scott earlier vetoed a council-approved redistricting map, which automatically allowed his map to go into effect. Lia Russell/The Baltimore Sun
