MOORE OUTLINES CRIMINAL JUSTICE, PUBLIC SAFETY PROPOSALS: Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday he expects “robust debates” about juvenile justice in coming weeks – and that his administration will be an “active participant” trying to balance rehabilitation with cracking down on crime. “The hallmark of what I hope to see in any juvenile justice legislation that’s going to make it to my desk can be summarized in one word: accountability,” the governor said. “I believe in rehabilitation, but I will not tolerate lawlessness.” Kiersten Hacker of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.
- Moore unveiled a package of public safety bills that would separately establish a gun violence prevention center, recruit and retain police officers and expedite funds to crime victims’ families. The Democrat urged cabinet members, prosecutors, law enforcement and lawmakers — some of whom have been at the center of debate over the state’s troubled youth legal system — to “lead together” to keep Marylanders safe. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
- Moore’s announcement — as he was flanked by several Cabinet members, law enforcement officials and advocates against gun violence — was met with applause from community gun violence reduction organizations, which said it will lead to real solutions for the people most affected. Katie Shepherd and Jasmine Hilton/The Washington Post.
- The first bill of three criminal justice bills seeks to restructure Maryland’s current victims compensation policy in an effort to get funding into the hands of those who need it faster. A second would create an easier route for people to enter law enforcement jobs, even without four-year degrees. The third would create a Center for Firearm Violence Prevention and Intervention. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- Although the governor said that current public safety measures helped decrease homicides last year in Baltimore to fewer than 300 for the first time in nearly 10 years, he said there’s more work to do. “This inexcusable fact that 75% of all homicides are committed with a gun,” he said. “This is a public safety crisis. But it’s also a public health crisis.” William Ford/Maryland Matters.
446th GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONVENES AT NOON: Maryland’s General Assembly convenes Wednesday with big policy ambitions and without enough money to fund them, setting up a 90-day sprint to make tough choices needed to close a budget gap. Erin Cox and Katie Shepherd/The Washington Post.
- The state faces a $761 million budget shortfall projected for the fiscal 2025 budget, and the Department of Transportation recently announced $3.3 billion in cuts to proposed transportation spending that could dramatically affect every large and small political subdivision in the state over the next few years. Danielle Gaines and Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
MOORE DETAILS PLAN TO ADD TO LOW HOUSING STOCK: Ahead of what some Maryland political insiders have begun referring to as the state’s first “housing session” in more than a decade, Gov. Wes Moore released the details of a three-pronged agenda that encourages lawmakers to take action in the face of what the governor’s office referred to as a deficit of nearly 100,000 units. Hallie Miller/The Baltimore Banner.
MARYLAND DEMS LOOK TO IMPENDING SESSION, NOVEMBER ELECTION: On a frigid and rainy Tuesday, lawmakers, county officials and Democratic advocates gathered at the Westin Annapolis Hotel near the State House to outline party priorities ahead of their second session in 10 years with full control of the House, Senate, and the governor’s office. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
BROWN DEFENDS STATE VICTIMS ACT AS D.C. ARCHDIOCESE CHALLENGES: Attorney General Anthony Brown is defending the state’s Child Victims Act from a constitutional challenge raised by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in a pair of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by clergy. Alex Mann/The Baltimore Sun.
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERS ARRESTED AT U.S. REP. GLENN IVEY’s D.C. OFFICE: Six people were arrested late Tuesday morning inside the Longworth House Office Building as they protested Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Maryland) not calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war and his perceived “silence” on the conflict. Lateshia Beachum/The Washington Post.
MD SUPREMES TO DECIDE ON HISTORIC BLACK CEMETERY: The fight over a historic Black cemetery in Bethesda is now in the hands of the Maryland Supreme Court, as justices weigh the need to preserve a burial ground against the rights of the property owner who wants to sell it. Angelique Gingras of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.
MOORE’s ‘CABINET ROAD TOUR’ LANDS IN CARROLL COUNTY: Gov. Wes Moore, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, and members of their administration spent Friday meeting with Carroll County officials, organizations and nonprofits. Carroll was the first stop this year in what the administration is calling its Cabinet Meeting Road Tour. Since January 2023, Moore has been holding cabinet meetings in counties throughout the state and making time to visit nonprofits and organizations. Sherry Greenfield/The Carroll County Times.
COMMENTARY: A RIOT, BUT NOT AN INSURRECTION: An article from the Baltimore Banner in Maryland Reporter’s State Roundup Monday was headlined: Prison and probation: A look at the Marylanders involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection. There is that word again – insurrection. I know this is the favorite tool of the Democrats to try and convince the rest of us that an insurrection took place on Jan. 6, 2021. Marc King/Maryland Reporter.
‘GLO’ ALVAREZ, 89, RETIRED EXEC SECRETARY AT BWI, DIES: Gloria J. “Glo” Alvarez, a retired executive secretary for the chief of operations at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport and versatile cook, died of pneumonia Dec. 22 at the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie. The longtime Linthicum resident was 89. Frederick Rasmussen/The Baltimore Sun.
