BPW OKs $150M IN CUTS; AFFECTED AGENCIES PLEA FOR HELP: Maryland faces nearly $1 billion in projected budget deficits driven by as much as $800 million in projected Medicaid shortfalls over two years. On Wednesday, the Board of Public Works, chaired by Gov. Wes Moore (D), approved nearly $150 million in budget reductions. The cuts will be coupled with other actions in an attempt to ease the pressure on the state’s budget. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
- For Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue, the cuts to her office’s budget — a drop among the $148.3 million approved Wednesday morning to be slashed across state agencies by the Board of Public Works — is antithetical to the financial question state constitutional officers are attempting to answer. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- At Moore’s behest, the cuts were approved by the Board of Public Works, but only after impassioned pleas from those affected by the cuts. Dartigue spoke against $1.13 million in cuts to her office. “OPD has been woefully under-resourced for decades,” she said, noting that the majority of criminal defendants are represented by public defenders. Pamela Wood and Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
BLUEPRINT IMPLEMENTATION REVIEW FACES ANOTHER DELAY: The independent agency that oversees Maryland’s multibillion-dollar education reform plan has canceled a scheduled Thursday meeting at which officials said they might have been able to start approving local school district plans. Scheduling conflicts forced the postponement of the Thursday meeting of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board, which grants final approval of plans. That meeting has now been set for Aug. 1.William Ford/Maryland Matters.
B’MORE JAIL UNIT WITHOUT AC: Amid the high temperatures in Maryland, jail detainees were “baking in their cells” without air conditioning, according to the loved one of an inmate at a Baltimore correctional facility. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which runs Baltimore jails, confirmed on Wednesday that one of its facilities, the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center, had been partially without air conditioning since Friday after a blower motor malfunctioned on a housing unit tier. Ben Conarck/The Baltimore Banner.
IS COVID RISING IN MARYLAND? It’s July and as if the excessive heat isn’t enough, there is also coronavirus out there. The surveillance is less widespread, or even timely, these days. But more people who bother to test are positive for COVID-19, and some are being hospitalized, and more virus is being found in wastewater samples. “I wouldn’t necessarily think it’s anything major yet,” said Andrew Pekosz, a COVID researcher and professor of immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Meredith Cohn/The Baltimore Banner.
OLSZEWSKI OUTPACES KLACIK IN FUND-RAISING: Johnny Olszewski Jr. continued to put financial distance between himself and Republican opponent Kim Klacik in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger for Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District. Lia Russell/The Baltimore Sun.
COMMENTARY: MARYLAND GOP SHUTS OUT THE PRESS, LOSE PUBLICITY: The leaders of the state GOP, in a departure from anything I’ve ever experienced — and this is the sixth Republican convention I’ve covered and my 14th overall, if you include the Democrats’ — have decided that all of the delegation’s events will be off-limits to the media. As will the delegates themselves. But what is lost when a political party refuses media access at its most high-profile quadrennial event? For the party, the answer starts with this: Free publicity. Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters.
MICHAEL STEELE CHIDES GOP, SAYS IT NEED ‘POLITICAL ENEMA:’ On a quiet street just two blocks from the Donald Trump-inspired euphoria inside the Republican National Convention, a small group of the disaffected were mourning a party they once knew, now long gone. Maryland’s former Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, the star attraction at the gathering of anti-Trump conservatives, had strong words for his party — one that he said “needs the biggest political enema it has ever seen.” Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
VANCE IGNITES MARYLAND DELEGATES; NOT SO FOR LGBTQ ADVOCATES: Delivering the most important speech of his short political career, Donald Trump’s running mate Sen. J.D. Vance drew on his humble Ohio origins Wednesday night to introduce himself to the American people during the penultimate session of the Republican National Convention. As Maryland convention delegates waited for Vance’s remarks on the floor Wednesday night, they expressed optimism about the Trump-Vance ticket’s ability to tackle issues that matter to Marylanders. Caley Fox Shannon of Capital News Service/MarylandReporter.com.
- Vance strongly disagrees that LGBTQIA+ people should be protected from discrimination. He promised to vote against codifying the right to marry for same-sex couples. And even though he has slightly adjusted his views, he has said in the past that he does not support abortions — even in cases of rape or incest. Maryland advocates react to pick as running mate. John John Williams/The Baltimore Banner.
TACKLING INVASIVE FISH SPECIES IN MARYLAND WATERS: Branson Williams feels the weight of his responsibilities. The 39-year-old Marylander is tasked with defeating an elusive and relentless enemy that shows no signs of weakening. Specifically, he worries about blue and flathead catfish and northern snakehead, the terrible trio of invasive fish that has been wreaking environmental havoc in Maryland waters for decades. Joe Heim/The Washington Post.
