MARYLAND PARENTS COULD STOP CHILDREN FROM REPEATING 3rd GRADE: Third-graders struggling to read won’t necessarily be held back, according to an updated draft literacy policy from the Maryland State Board of Education. The policy initially mandated that students unable to read at grade level would repeat the third grade, but the revised version allows families to seek a waiver that would permit their students to move into the fourth grade. As part of the waiver process, those families would commit to making sure their child gets additional support, such as summer school programming, before-or-after school tutoring or instructional support outside of the school day. Lilly Price and Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Sun.
MARYLAND ACLU WARNS OF MISUSE, ERRORS IN FACIAL RECOGNITION TECH: The ACLU of Maryland is calling for safeguards to be incorporated in a statewide policy governing the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement, saying that police use poses “significant risks” to the public. The technology, a tool used to identify people through artificial intelligence, has led to false matches and wrongful arrests, and poses amplified risks for people of color and women, the rights organization warned in a letter sent last week. The letter further warned that use of the tool with video footage could enable “mass surveillance.” Darcy Costello/The Baltimore Sun.
ELECTABILITY: THE MYSTERY MIX FOR ALSOBROOKS AND HARRIS: This year, Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive of Prince George’s County and a Democrat, sought support for her U.S. Senate bid from an elected official she had known for years. It was a woman and fellow Democrat who told her bluntly that Maryland was “not ready to elect a Black woman.” Alsobrooks beat a white man in her Senate primary by more than 10 percentage points. Public polling has shown her leading another, former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, whom she will face in November. That conversation underscores the way a party that is trying to elect the first Black female president is still battling anxieties about the idea of electability — and preparing to confront them. Jess Bidgood and Maya King/The New York Times.
HOGAN FACES CHALLENGES IN HIS SENATE BID: Larry Hogan knows what he’s up against in his campaign to become Maryland’s next U.S. senator. Sure, the Republican won statewide elections twice and remained popular through his two terms as governor. But voter registration and voter behavior present a significant challenge for Hogan in his Senate campaign. Not only does Maryland have a significant registration edge favoring Democrats, but voters across the nation very rarely elect senators from the opposite party from the one that dominates their state. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
RFK Jr. REMAINS ON BALLOT IN MARYLAND: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have suspended his national presidential campaign, but he will appear on the general election ballot in Maryland. Kennedy announced last week that he will wind down his campaign activities and endorsed Donald Trump, the Republican nominee and former president. Despite Kennedy ending his independent run, state elections officials said Kennedy has qualified for inclusion on the November ballot in Maryland. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
AUDIT FINDS POOR OVERSIGHT BY UM GLOBAL CAMPUS COST MILLIONS: The University of Maryland Global Campus spun off some of its information technology units into independent businesses that it then supported with $198.1 million in sole-source contracts with little oversight, according to a recent state audit. That lack of oversight of the supposedly independent firms may have contributed to the fact that UMGC had to abandon an IT project after spending $25.1 million with nothing to show for it, said the state audit. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
B’MORE SAYS CONTRACT WITH LAW FIRM REVIEWING DPW CLOSED TO PUBLIC: The Baltimore city Law Department says its contract with a D.C. law firm to review safety practices at the Department of Public Works in the wake of an employee death from heat exhaustion is not subject to public disclosure under the Maryland Public Information Act. Mark Reutter/The Baltimore Brew.
AFTER FIREFIGHTERS ENDORSEMENT, MAYOR SCOTT SEEKS TO RESTORE BENEFITS: Under a proposal being pushed by Mayor Brandon Scott, tens of millions in taxpayer dollars could go toward reinstating a few key benefits in the police and firefighters’ pension, which the city cut in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Both of Baltimore’s fire unions endorsed Scott’s reelection campaign this spring. Two days after winning the Democratic primary, his administration submitted a bill to the City Council that would reinstate several key benefits for police and fire retirees. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
EX-PG COUNCILMAN MEL FRANKLIN PLEADS GUILTY TO FELONY THEFT: Former Prince George’s County Council member Mel Franklin faces up to a year in prison after pleading guilty Monday to charges of a felony theft scheme and perjury. Prosecutors said that from 2020 through at least October 2023, Franklin embezzled more than $124,000 from his campaign committee. Cheyenne Corin/WTOP-FM News.
- The plea, accepted Monday by Anne Arundel Circuit Court Judge Mark W. Crooks, formalizes a plea agreement Franklin signed May 30 — two weeks before he abruptly resigned from his at-large seat on the council and three weeks before the Maryland State Prosecutor’s Office unveiled the charges against him. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
- As part of the agreement, Franklin must pay restitution of $133,168.67 to his campaign committee, Friends of Mel Franklin, which will be given to a charity of his choice. Jasmine Hilton and Lateshia Beachum/The Washington Post.
