UNION WANTS CORRECTIONS SECTY FIRED AFTER PAROLE OFFICER’S KILLING: Union leaders representing state parole and probation agents are calling for the immediate firing of Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs and two others following the line-of-duty death of an agent last week. Parole and Probation Agent Davis Martinez, 33, died Friday while conducting a home visit with a client in Chevy Chase. Martinez is the first parole and probation agent to die in the line of duty. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
STATE SUSPENDS HOME VISITS BY PAROLE AGENTS AFTER KILLING: Maryland has suspended home visits by parole and probation agents after an agent was killed last Friday in Montgomery County. Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services leaders “just said that they’re suspended now while they reevaluate,” said Rayneika Robinson, president of the branch of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union that represents parole and probation workers in Maryland. Rachel Baye/WYPR-FM.
- U.S. Marshal Service officers have apprehended a Chevy Chase man wanted in connection with the death of a state parole agent whose body was found Friday night in the man’s apartment, authorities announced Saturday night. Julie Rasicot and Sebastien Kraft/MoCo 360.
HOGAN TO SKIP REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTION: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan, the former two-term governor, won’t attend next month’s Republican National Convention that will be led by former President Donald Trump, a Hogan political adversary. “I can definitively tell you Governor Hogan will not be in attendance,” campaign spokeswoman Blake Kernen said in an email response to questions. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
ANALYSIS: THE UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD OF MAGA REPUBLICANS: For eight years, Larry Hogan was a Republican governor of a heavily blue state. Hogan won election and reelection in Maryland even as the state voted for Democrats for president and the Senate by wide margins. He also has been a long time critic of Donald Trump. But his mild rebuke of the former president after his conviction on 34 counts last week in which he said, “We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.” The RNC co-chair, however, chastised Hogan, not the newly convicted candidate for president. Lara Trump added that Hogan “doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point and, quite frankly, anybody in America, if that’s the way you feel.” Philip Bump/The Washington Post.
WITH NEW COVID VARIANTS, SURGE EXPECTED: With Maryland nearing 1.5 million reported cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, experts are monitoring new variants of the virus that could create a surge in cases in the coming months. Despite its cutesy nickname, health officials say the so-called “FLiRT” variants of COVID-19 seem to be more successful at evading immunity despite previous infections or vaccinations. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
DELEGATES TO PROBE BA CO RELEASE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: Del. Kathy Szeliga says that she and Del. Ryan Nawrocki will investigate Baltimore County’s release of illegal immigrants. Szeliga’s tweet was in response to a FOX45 News investigation that found that Baltimore County authorities do not routinely detain illegal immigrants on behalf of federal immigration officials even if they are charged with committing crimes in the county. Staff/WBFF-TV News.
ASSAULT CASE DISMISSED AGAINST DEL. HORNBERGER: Granting a motion made by the prosecution, a judge has dismissed an assault case that Del. Kevin Hornberger’s adult son, Adam Hornberger, filed against him in April after a purported dispute between the two at their home near North East, according to Cecil County District Court records. Carl Hamilton/The Cecil Whig.
MARYLAND COLLEGES MUST UPDATE TITLE IX GUIDELINES: Maryland’s colleges and universities were reminded Monday that they have until Aug. 1 to update their Title IX guidelines to ensure all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, can participate in all programs. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
HUNDREDS OF SEX ABUSE VICTIMS FILE CLAIMS AGAINST ARCHDIOCESE: Hundreds of people who were sexually abused as children by employees of the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore filed in the church’s bankruptcy case ahead of Friday’s deadline for claims, but the exact figure remains unclear. Alex Mann/The Baltimore Sun.
TWO SCHOOLS SYSTEMS CUT VIRTUAL LEARNING PROGRAMS: Dozens of parents and kids staged a sit-in outside Montgomery County Public Schools’ Board of Education headquarters in Rockville on Monday to demand the school system continue its virtual learning program. The school system announced last week that it would be shutting the Montgomery Virtual Academy down due to budget constraints, leaving around 800 kids that are currently enrolled in the program in a lurch. Shayna Estulin/WTOP-FM.
- The Frederick County Board of Education balanced its fiscal year 2025 budget Wednesday night after accepting a number of staff-recommended cuts and other changes.The balanced budget came at the expense of the Remote Virtual Program for grades 3 to 8, which was cut from Frederick County Public Schools’ fiscal year 2025 budget at a prior meeting. The program remains in place for high school students. Ceoli Jacoby/The Frederick News Post.
