GA LEADERS AGREE TO BUDGET COMPROMISE WITH $1.6B IN TAXES: House and Senate fiscal leaders reached final agreement Friday on a compromise budget that includes $1.6 billion in annual taxes and ends a one-year experiment with a racing authority tasked with modernizing a storied racetrack and preserving an industry. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
STATE OFFICIALS KEEP EYE ON D.C. AND $1B IN POSSIBLE CUTS: As the governor and state lawmakers finalize the state’s budget, they’re keeping an eye on Washington, where Republicans are considering maneuvers that could hit Maryland to the tune of $1 billion. The Republican-controlled Congress wants to extend and expand tax cuts, and that means slashing $880 billion worth of federal spending over the next decade to pay for it. House Republicans believe they can find hundreds of millions in Medicaid savings, but outside analysts say they can’t reach the goal they set without cutting coverage. Pamela Wood and Meredith Cohn/The Baltimore Banner.
HOUSE OKs BILLS TO SPEED ENERGY GENERATION: The House passed a potentially transformative package of energy reform bills Saturday that are aimed at hastening new power generation in Maryland and curtailing costs for ratepayers. The move tees up the three-bill package, backed by General Assembly leadership, for final passage, even if it may come on the 90-day session’s final day. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
AS SESSION NEARS END, LAWMAKERS DEBATE FLURRY OF BILLS: After a jam-packed three months, Maryland lawmakers deliberated a flurry of bills during rare Saturday sessions, with several major policies still unsettled before the legislative session ends Monday. Legislators in both the House and Senate debated a wide range of topics Saturday, from immigration to elections and energy. Hannah Gaskill and Natalie Jones/The Baltimore Sun.
LAWMAKERS OK BILL TO LIMIT STATE LIABILITY IN SEX ABUSE SUITS: Lawmakers gave final approval Saturday to a bill designed to give survivors of childhood sexual abuse their day in court, while shielding Maryland from what could be billions of dollars in payouts for such claims. The rapid-fire passage of House Bill 1378 — it got out of the House, through the Senate, back to the House and to the governor’s desk in just two days — followed two weeks of often emotional and sometimes personal debate about the bill. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
- The changes, which would slash the amount of money survivors can win in court, come despite warnings from plaintiff’s attorneys that they may be unconstitutional. “It’s a bad idea,” one attorney told a Senate committee this week. Madeleine O’Neill and Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
STATE ELIMINATES PANEL OVERSEEING HORSERACING: Maryland is changing course — again — on how it manages the struggling sport of thoroughbred horse racing, eliminating a state panel that has been overseeing a massive transition in the industry. The Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority, created by the state in 2023, will suddenly dissolve years earlier than originally contemplated. Pamela Wood and Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Banner.
HOMELESS SERVICES BRACE FOR SHAKIER FUTURE: Maryland’s homeless service providers are bracing for a shakier future after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began delivering recent grant funding weeks behind schedule. The state’s nonprofit shelter and housing providers say they have weathered the HUD delays without making service cuts, but state officials warn that may not last. Paul Kiefer of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.
MARYLAND’s DEM LAWMAKERS DECRY TARIFFS, STOCK MARKET TUMBLE: Maryland Democratic lawmakers expressed dismay Thursday over President Donald Trump’s tariffs on all imported goods, a move that caused the financial markets to tumble and some manufacturers to announce layoffs. “For years, we’ve been told to take Donald Trump seriously, but not literally. We were told his incoherent economic philosophy and outrageous rhetoric were merely negotiating tactics for a master in the art of the deal,” Rep. Steny Hoyer said. Colin McNamara of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.
DOJ, JUDGE TUSSLE OVER MARYLAND MAN HELD IN EL SALVADOR PRISON: Government attorneys slammed a judge’s order to return a Salvadoran immigrant to the United States, arguing in a Saturday filing that the judge’s directive was “indefensible” and that the United States has “no authority” to make a sovereign nation release the man. Maegan Vazquez/The Washington Post.
- The Justice Department suspended a veteran lawyer after he said in court that officials mistakenly deported a man to prison in his home country of El Salvador and conceded that he did not know the legal basis for the expulsion. Perry Stein and Katie Mettler/The Washington Post.
- On Sunday, a federal judge – for the second time – has ordered the Trump administration to return a Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, blasting the U.S. government in a ruling that noted a now-suspended Justice Department lawyer admitted he didn’t know why the man was being held. Staff/The Associated Press.
FEDERAL JUDGE PERMANENTLY BARS NIH FROM LIMITING RESEARCH FUNDING: A federal judge permanently barred the Trump administration on Friday from limiting funding from the National Institutes of Health, located in Bethesda, that supports research at universities and academic medical centers, restoring billions of dollars in grant money but setting up an almost certain appeal. Zach Montague /The New York Times.
HARRIET TUBMAN DOWNGRADED IN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HISTORY: For years, a National Park Service webpage introduced the Underground Railroad with a large photograph of its most famous “conductor,” Harriet Tubman, a Maryland native. “The Underground Railroad — the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, through the end of the Civil War — refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage,” the page began. Tubman’s photograph is now gone. In its place are images of Postal Service stamps that highlight “Black/White cooperation” in the secret network and that feature Tubman among abolitionists of both races. Jon Swaine and Jeremy B. Merrill/The Washington Post.
O’MALLEY FIRES UP ‘HANDS OFF SOCIAL SECURITY’ CROWD: The “Hands Off Social Security” protest kicked off Saturday morning with protesters gathering outside the administration’s headquarters in Baltimore County. Organizers said they intend to push back against the “greatest threat” Social Security has ever faced. Speakers included former Gov. Martin O’Malley, who was head of Social Security for part of the Biden administration. Maya Lora and Cody Boteler/The Baltimore Banner.
CITY ELECTIONS BOARD CHIEF JONES DIES AFTER RETIREMENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Hours after the announcement of his retirement as director of the Baltimore City Board of Elections, Armstead Jones died Friday at 71. Del. Melissa Wells announced Jones’ passing while making remarks Saturday afternoon at the House of Delegates. She said Jones died Friday night. Jay Judge/The Baltimore Sun.
