LAWMAKERS SEEK SCHOOL POLICY CHANGE ON STUDENT CRIMINAL RECORDS: Lawmakers want the state superintendent of schools to implement policy changes regarding the sharing of students’ criminal records after one Howard County high school student was charged with murder while he was being electronically monitored for an earlier attempted murder charge in Anne Arundel County. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
GOP ELECTION BOARD MEMBERS EMAILED ACTIVIST WHO IS TRYING TO STOP ELECTION: A leader of a fringe activist group that tried to use the courts to stop November’s election has been urging Republican members of the Maryland State Board of Elections to use their positions to influence how elections are conducted — and the board members have been writing back, according to emails obtained through public records requests. The dozens of pages of email threads also included speculative voter fraud scenarios discussed between state Republican Party leaders and a GOP election board member. National democracy watchdogs say they’re seeing interactions like these play out in Maryland and across the country. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
ELECTION JUDGES WANTED, ESPECIALLY REPUBLICANS: As local election boards work around the clock to recruit and train workers before early voting starts on Thursday, some Maryland counties are facing pressure to hire more Republican election judges. Elections officials across the state saye they are still working through the challenge of hiring an equal number of Republican and Democratic election judges, who administer the vote and then count ballots. Caley Fox Shannon and Morgan Leason of Capital News Service/MarylandReporter.com.
SENATE PREZ TO PROPOSE ENDING TRASH INCINERATION SUBSIDY: Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson will sponsor a bill to remove trash incineration from the state’s list of subsidized renewable energy practices. Ferguson, a Democrat who represents Baltimore, said he has long believed that trash incineration doesn’t belong in the first tier of Maryland’s renewable energy mix. But recent developments in the region’s energy market, including escalating prices for ratepayers, make the 2025 session an optimal time for the incineration bill, Ferguson said. Christine Condon/The Baltimore Sun.
- Similar bills have been introduced almost annually since 2019, most recently in this year’s session, and all have stalled. But with Ferguson’s imprimatur, the legislation could receive the push it needs to finally get through. Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters.
ALSOBROOKS, HOGAN FLOOD VOTERS WITH ADS: As the Maryland Senate race enters the final stretch, the two main candidates are flooding voters with new ads aimed at heightening their appeal, with Democrat Angela Alsobrooks touting support from Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Larry Hogan pointing to the bipartisan backing he’s received. Katie Shepherd/The Washington Post.
ELFRETH OUTRAISES STEINBERGER IN CONGRESSIONAL RACE: State Sen. Sarah Elfreth continues to outpace her opponent in fundraising in the 3rd Congressional District race, according to the latest federal campaign finance data. As of Sept. 30, Elfreth, a Democrat, had raised a total of more than $2.1 million, outperforming her Republican opponent, Robert Steinberger, who raised $47,648.48. Megan Loock/The Baltimore Sun.
BIPARTISAN CELEBRATION OF GROUNDBREAKING OF MIDSHORE HOSPITAL: Gov. Wes Moore (D) and the state’s top Republican leaders put partisanship aside Tuesday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new medical facility that will better serve the citizens of the Middle Shore, a long-awaited project to replace the aging Shore Medical Center in Easton. “This shows what is required for progress to happen, and it takes all of us,” Moore said Tuesday at the Talbot County Community Center, which sits adjacent to the construction site of the future hospital. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
COLUMN: WHAT HAPPENS TO NAVAL ACADEMY UNDER TRUMP: You could hear the spittle fly as the Heritage Foundation shouted out its latest intellectual assault on the Naval Academy. All over Ruth Ben-Ghiat and a lecture the midshipmen likely will never hear. She’s a New York University historian with a book on what happens to the military when authoritarians take power. he academy’s history department invited her to speak about her work at the annual Bancroft Memorial Lecture. Then she was disinvited. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
HOW SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES VIEW THE BLUEPRINT: A 10-year, $30 billion plan out of Annapolis, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future aims to dramatically improve the state’s public schools by boosting teacher salaries, expanding pre-kindergarten and rewriting the curriculum — and school board candidates say the state’s schools need that improvement. “The Blueprint is Maryland’s surest path to creating beyond great schools,” said Phelton Moss, a school board candidate from Prince George’s County. But to hear other Maryland school board candidates tell it, the Blueprint is a budget-buster. Marwa Barakat and Colin McNamara of Capital News Service/MarylandReporter.com.
HOW SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES VIEW STUDENT CELLPHONE USE: “FOCUS NOW! PHONES LATER,” blares the newest school cellphone policy out of Washington County. This “clear message” debuted on the county’s website in August, kicking off the 2024 school year with stricter limitations on personal electronic devices. That message is one that resonates with Maryland’s school board candidates. Of the 74 candidates who responded to the Local News Network’s campaign questionnaire, 64 favored strict restrictions on cellphones in schools. Sasha Allen and Audrey Keefe of Capital News Service/MarylandReporter.com.
BA CO REPS SHARE TRANSIT CONCERNS WITH MDOT: Baltimore County’s population has quadrupled since the 1950s, with residents drawn to the suburbs ringing the city for the well-paying technology jobs in Hunt Valley, the waterfront views in Essex, the music shops in Catonsville and the restaurants in Towson. The problem is, getting from one of those places to the other requires sitting in horrible traffic, which has worsened since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on March. Those who represent Baltimore County at the local and state level shared these concerns Monday with officials from the Maryland Department of Transportation. Rona Kobell/The Baltimore Banner.
ARUNDEL SCHOOLS LIKELY TO GET TO LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: Anne Arundel County Public Schools is switching learning management systems in an effort to streamline the way educators, students, and parents access curriculum content, grading, and school communication. The Board of Education will vote on the final contract with Canvas — the system recommended by Superintendent Mark Bedell’s team after an evaluation process — at their next meeting Nov. 6. Bridget Byrne/The Baltimore Sun.
CARROLL FIREFIGHTERS UNION DISPUTE OFFICIALS’ FINANCIAL CONCERN: The local union representing career firefighters and paramedics in Carroll County is responding to assertions from county officials that three fire stations are financially unable to be staff with paid county employees, saying the notion is “contextually wrong.” Sherry Greenfield/The Carroll County Times.
