WHICH BUDGET ITEMS ARE LAWMAKERS EYEING TO CUT? Maryland state senators are revealing which budget items are on the chopping block as anxiety regarding federal funding under President Donald Trump continues to loom large during an already fraught fiscal season. They’re eyeing executive agency travel budgets, personnel costs, vacant state government positions, any programs recently passed by the legislature that could have their funding delayed and projects that could be put on hold. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
OP-ED: WHAT HAPPENED TO GOV. HOGAN’s BUDGET SURPLUSES? Marylanders on both sides of the aisle have frequently reached out to ask me, “What happened to the budget surpluses you and Gov. Hogan left Gov. Moore?” The answer is directly related to the failed leadership in Annapolis that spent nearly all of the budget surplus in just two years. David Brinkley/The Baltimore Sun.
BILLS AIM TO ALTER EMINENT DOMAIN RULES: State lawmakers on Tuesday considered two bills aimed at changing the process for eminent domain proceedings in response to a proposal that could result in private land across three counties being taken for a power transmission line. Ceoli Jacoby/The Frederick News Post.
STATE, B’MORE SUE GLOCK OVER EASE OF MODIFICATIONS: The state and the city of Baltimore sued gun maker Glock on Wednesday for its failure to stop the rising trend of its handguns being modified into machine-gun-like weapons used in violent crimes. The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, asks the court to stop the sale and distribution of Glocks in Maryland until the company changes the design of its handguns to be more resistant to modifications that let them “fire fully automatically — that is, to operate like a machine gun.” Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
HB 710 WOULD ALLOW SOME CONVICTED FELONS TO REGISTER TO VOTE: Under House Bill 710, a measure sponsored by Montgomery County Del. Jheanelle Wilkins, people convicted of a felony and serving a prison sentence could be allowed to register to vote. The measure is one of several bills Maryland lawmakers are considering this year to change election laws. Natalie Jones/The Baltimore Sun.
SENATE HEARS SAME ARGUMENTS IN NEW FIGHT OVER ELECTNG JUDGES: Maryland Supreme Court Chief Justice Matthew Fader and Carroll County Circuit Judge Maria L. Oesterreicher agree that the state’s current system of choosing circuit court judges at the ballot box allows for the broadest possible pool of candidates. They disagree on whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS WRESTLE OVER RIGHT AGE TO TEACH ABOUT GENDER: State Republican lawmakers pushed Wednesday to give parents a bigger say in sex education curriculum in their children’s schools, but their efforts were defeated along party lines. At the heart of the conflict are questions: what is the right age to teach students about gender and sexual orientation, and do parents have a right to restrict their kids from that curriculum? Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
BPW OKs 23-YEAR CONTRACT TO CURRENT BWI CONCESSIONAIRE: A divided Board of Public Works on Wednesday ended a bumpy, years-long process to find a concessions operator at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, awarding a lucrative 23-year contract to the incumbent concessionaire. Josh Kurtz/Maryland Matters.
FLU CASES ON THE RISE; 7 DIE SINCE LAST SEPTEMBER: Doctors’ phones are ringing and the emergency rooms are full of people coughing, wheezing and feverish. It’s the worst year for the flu in about 15 years. “Our flu volume since December is up six-fold,” said Dr. Umair Baig, an emergency physician at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson. “It’s way higher than it’s been in the decade-plus I’ve been here.” The state has reported 3,156 hospitalizations since late September due to the flu. Seven people — six adults and one child — infected with the flu have died. Meredith Cohn/The Baltimore Banner.
TRUMP RAISES HACKLES & HOPES OF MARYLAND’s CHRISTIAN LEADERS: President Trump raised both hopes and hackles last week among Maryland’s clergy when he announced the formation of a federal task force to root out “anti-Christian bias” within the federal government and the creation of a new White House faith office. Jonathan Pitts/The Baltimore Sun.
MARYLAND U.S. ATTY EREK BARRON RESIGNS: Erek Barron, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, resigned Wednesday effective the same day, according to a news release from his office. “Serving as United States Attorney has been the honor of a lifetime. The office’s career attorneys and administrative staff are public servants of exceptional caliber,” Barron said in the release. Racquel Bazos/The Baltimore Sun.
- In a brief statement posted to the office’s website, Barron announced that his resignation was effective immediately. Barron, a Democrat, was nominated by then-President Joe Biden and has held the job since October 2021. Madeleine O’Neill and Justin Fenton/The Baltimore Banner.
IVEY DROPS OUT OF RACE FOR PG COUNTY EXEC DEM NOMINATION: Prince George’s County Council Chair Jolene Ivey (D) announced Wednesday that she has dropped out of her party’s crowded race to replace Angela Alsobrooks as county executive. Lateshia Beachum/The Washington Post.
- Ivey said she was unable to discuss her decision further Wednesday. But with countywide name recognition and nearly $430,000 in her campaign account, thanks to a $250,000 loan last month, she was genearlly seen as one of the top candidates to succeed U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D), who left the county executive seat in December to be sworn in to the Senate. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
CARROLL SCHOOLS TO ELIMINATE 92 STAFF POSITIONS: Complying with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future will bring tremendous change to Carroll County Public Schools, Superintendent Cynthia McCabe said during a school board meeting Wednesday evening. The district plans to eliminate 92 staff positions and move an additional 90 employees to different schools to realize the goals of Blueprint, a state education reform law in the third year of a decade-long rollout. Thomas Goodwin Smith/The Carroll County Times.
B’MORE SHERIFF’s DEPUTIES OVERPAID BY $2.2 MILLION, IG FINDS: In an effort to raise the salaries of his deputies by $15 an hour, Baltimore Sheriff Sam Cogen set off a misconfigured code in the city’s payroll system 15 months ago. The result: $2,238,419.05 of overpayments were made in a three-month period, according to Inspector General Isabel Mercedes Cumming. Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew.
