STATE ORDERS HALT TO MAILINGS THAT LEFT VOTERS ‘INTIMIDATED, SHOCKED AND ILL-AT-EASE’: The Maryland Attorney General’s Office sent a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to a national voter engagement organization that it says is sending out mailers that “threaten to publicly expose” voting records of Marylanders just days out from the 2024 election. Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters.
- The Maryland Attorney General’s Office said Thursday that it is sending a cease-and-desist letter to a pair of Washington D.C.-based nonprofits for threatening to expose individuals’ voting history.The Center for Voter Information and the Voter Participation Center sent “voting report cards” to Marylanders that described whether they voted in the previous four elections. The report cards also listed the voting histories of two neighbors on the same street while redacting their names and addresses. Dan Belson/The Baltimore Sun.
Q&A WITH GOV. MOORE ON JUVENILE JUSTICE AND ‘INCREASED ACCOUNTABILITY’: New juvenile justice laws will be implemented Friday in Maryland that Gov. Wes Moore said will usher in more accountability and lower crime rates. Sun co-owner Armstrong Williams interviewed the governor to explore what the juvenile justice changes will mean for Maryland residents. Armstrong Williams/The Baltimore Sun.
- Children as young as 10 can be referred to the juvenile justice system for an expanded list of nonviolent crimes under a comprehensive and controversial juvenile justice law that takes effect Friday. Besides exposing 10- to 12-year-olds to Department of Juvenile Services supervision — previously 13 was the cutoff age — the law requires that any child charged with motor vehicle theft get a Children in Need of Supervision petition. William J. Ford/Maryland Matters.
MOORE STUMPS FOR MCLAIN DULANEY, SCALISE FOR PARROT IN FINAL PUSH: The two candidates in the tight race for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District pulled out big names to rally voters on the last day of early voting Thursday with Gov. Wes Moore (D) appearing in Montgomery County on behalf of Democratic nominee April McClain Delaney and U.S. House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) lending support to Republican nominee Neil Parrott in Frederick. Ginny Bixby/MoCo 360.
ALSOBROOKS CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEERS GET SURPRISE VISIT FROM OBAMA: The campaign invited Obama to a volunteer phone banking session at a local union hall in Prince George’s County, managing to keep his visit a surprise to all but campaign insiders. The former president, wearing dark slacks and a casual, black, button-down shirt, bounded into the cafeteria-sized room to extol Alsobrooks and give the few dozen volunteers encouragement. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
PREDICTIONS FAVOR ALSOBROOKS OVER HOGAN: The Hill newspaper which covers Congress says Prince George’s County Executive “Angela Alsobrooks has a 99% chance of winning Maryland.” The three most recent independent polls have her ahead of former Gov. Larry Hogan by 12-13 percentage points. The Cook Political Report continues to classify the race as “Likely Democrat,” its second highest ranking, as does Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball. The bad news for Alsobrooks and Democrats is that The Hill’s national model predicts Republicans have a 71% chance of flipping the U.S.Senate to the GOP, and Donald Trump has a 53% chance of winning the presidency, the same chance Republicans have of maintaining their majority in the House. The Hill
THE POLITICS OF CHANGE TAKE CENTER STAGE IN KENT COUNTY: With 19,188 residents, Kent County is Maryland’s smallest by population. Grain sales are an $89 million industry, second-highest in Maryland. Geographically isolated, the county’s sprawling farms and multigenerational farmers give it a frozen-in-time feel. But a pandemic influx of wealthy outsiders, remote workers and early retirees from liberal enclaves like Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia — native Kent Countians might call them “chicken-neckers” or “come-heres” — is nudging the county’s electorate to the left. Leo Sanderlin/The Baltimore Banner.
B’MORE ON DEADLINE TO OBLIGATE COVID-19 FUNDS, OR LOSE IT: Baltimore is on a fast-approaching deadline to obligate all $641 million of its federal COVID-19 relief funds by the end of this year — or else it will lose the money. Around $501 million has been obligated as of Sept. 30, per a new report released Thursday by the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs. Brooke Conrad/The Baltimore Sun.
WHO SIGNED THE PETITION TO SHRINK B’MORE CITY COUNCIL? : More than 75% of the people who signed it live in majority-Black neighborhoods, including many of the city’s poorest and most disinvested, the Banner found. For weeks, a coalition of City Council members, labor leaders, community organizers and Mayor Brandon Scott have warned that a measure to shrink the Baltimore City Council will take away vital representation from Black residents and poor neighborhoods. Lee O. Sanderlin and Greg Morton/The Baltimore Banner.
HEAVY VOTER TURNOUT IN BALTIMORE: Turnout for early voting has been robust in Baltimore, election officials say, reflecting a strong trend reported across Maryland and in some parts of the country with the consequential 2024 presidential election just days away. Fern Shen/Baltimore Brew.
FORMER B’MORE MAYORS URGE YES VOTE ON HARBORPLACE BALLOT QUESTION: Three former Baltimore mayors have announced their support for a ballot measure that would allow a private company to redevelop the aging Harborplace pavilions at the Inner Harbor. Abby Zimmardi/The Baltimore Banner.
CARROLL COUNTY’S ELECTION DIRECTOR FILES PEACE ORDER AGAINST REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEMBER: The director of the Carroll County Board of Elections filed a peace order Wednesday morning against a member of the Carroll County Republican Central Committee, claiming that she was being followed as she left an early voting center this week. Carroll County Election Director Erin Perrone filed the peace order in Carroll County District Court against Katherine Adelaide, a member of the county’s Republican Central Committee. Sherry Greenfield/Carroll County Times.
***HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARYLAND REPORTER. HELP US CELEBRATE: Hard to believe that MarylandReporter.com launched 15 years ago tomorrow, Nov. 2, 2009, with the help of a foundation worried about the loss of state government reporting. We were the first nonprofit news website in Maryland covering state government and politics. Help us celebrate by making a donation during our annual matching gift campaign. ***
A LOOK AT HOW LARRY HOGAN WIELDED HIS VETO PEN: During the eight years Republican Senate candidate Larry Hogan spent as Maryland governor, Democrats held supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly. One of his strongest tools to shape policy was his veto pen. These are a small selection of the more than 160 measures he vetoed for policy reasons. Rachel Baye/WYPR-FM.
COMMENTARY: IS PARTISANSHIP DRIVING SOME MARYLANDERS’ STICKER SHOCK OVER HIGH PRICES? Since the post-COVID-19 economic recovery, Americans have struggled to contend with persistently high prices for a wide variety of goods and services. Recently, the Federal Reserve acted to cut key interest rates, signaling that this inflationary pressure may finally be relenting. Ian G. Anson/Maryland Matters.
AACO DISTRICT 5 CANDIDATES CLASH OVER PANDEMIC RECOVERY QUALIFICATIONS: The District 5 Board of Education race is between incumbent and teacher union endorsed Dana Schallheim and mental health professional LaToya Nkongolo. District 5 encompasses the Arundel, Broadneck and Severna Park high school clusters. Schallheim was elected in 2018 when she defeated an appointed school board member by about 1,250 votes. Bridget Byrne/The Baltimore Sun.
