STATEWIDE EFFORT SEEKS TO REFERENDUM NEW SOLAR EXPANSION LAW: A statewide effort is underway to challenge a new law that could allow significant expansion of solar energy projects on agricultural land in Maryland. Jay Falstad, executive director of the Queen Anne’s Conservation Association, is spearheading a petition for a statewide referendum that, if successful, would place Senate Bill 931 on the ballot for the next general election. Hannah Combs/The Easton Star Democrat.
HARFORD LAWMAKERS’ CHILD CUSTODY BILL SIGNED INTO LAW: Harford County state representatives were able to get several bills signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore during this year’s General Assembly session. Last week, Moore took part in his last signing ceremony for the year. Among the legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by Harford’s senators and delegates were bills codifying the factors determining child custody, expanding insurance coverage for hearing aids and approving some new benefits for veterans. Bryna Zumer/The Aegis.
GLOBAL CAMPUS TO REINTEGRATE SPINOFFS AFTER CRITICAL AUDIT: The University of Maryland Global Campus said Tuesday it will reintegrate offices that it had previously spun off as independent businesses, after a highly critical audit last year suggested that the move was costly and that it skirted normal procurement procedures. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
COLUMN: GOV. MOORE BETS $1 BILLION ON QUBITS, WHATEVER THEY ARE: Qubits, that’s “cue-bits” to you and me, behave in ways that make no sense. Short for quantum bits, qubits can be two things: a 0 or a 1. Confusingly, they can also be two things at once, a 0 and a 1. It’s called superposition. Gov. Wes Moore is betting $1 billion over the next five years that profitable uses for subatomic parlor tricks will stimulate Maryland’s economy and create high-paying jobs. Governors like to name stuff, so it’s the Capital of Quantum, one of his three economic lighthouses. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
ICE ‘WELFARE CHECKS’ ON MIGRANT CHILDREN CALLED A RUSE: Federal immigration agents across the country are visiting the homes of migrant children who arrived in the U.S. without their parents, saying they want to check on the children’s welfare — but some immigrant advocates and elected leaders in Baltimore say the visits are just a pretext. The real intent, they argue, is to use the visits as an excuse to find undocumented immigrants. That’s a tactic some families say has intimidated them and made them and others worried about possible detention and deportation. John John Williams and Daniel Zawodny/The Baltimore Banner.
MOORE GETS MESSAGING BOOST FROM NATIONAL ORGANIZATION: A national group that routinely spends millions of dollars to help elect Democratic governors is giving Gov. Wes Moore a boost with his messaging as he tries to sell a state budget that’s become one of the most significant political challenges of his term. The messages serve to counterbalance a possible run by former Gov. Larry Hogan, who served two terms but could run again next year after taking a four-year break. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
REP. IVEY DENIED MEETING WITH ABREGO GARCIA: Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-4th) is usually calm and mild-mannered, but he admitted to being “angry” after a weekend trip to El Salvador where officials refused to let him see a constituent who’s been detained in prison there since March on orders from the Trump administration. “We crossed all the Ts, dotted all the Is. We get down there, they [El Salvador authorities] won’t open the gate,” Ivey said Tuesday of his attempt to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
STATE DEMS CALL TRUMP ATTACK ON JUDGES ‘EXTREME AND OUTLANDISH:’ Maryland Democrats expressed alarm Tuesday about President Donald Trump’s “extreme and outlandish” rhetoric against federal judges, as well as language tucked into a 1,116-page bill that would make it easier for chief executives to defy U.S. court injunctions. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore.
DEBATE OVER BA CO CODE CLOUDS IG MADIGAN’s REAPPOINTMENT: Two weeks after Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan was told she would have to reapply for her job, questions remain as to why. In a May 12 letter to Madigan, County Executive Kathy Klausmeier said that it’s the county code that requires her to open up the process for hiring an inspector general rather than reappoint Madigan. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
PLANNED METRO STATION EYED FOR TECH, SCIENCES BOOM IN MO CO: State and local leaders touted the promise of a proposed mixed-use development to be built over an existing North Bethesda Metro station as a way to grow Montgomery County’s burgeoning life sciences and tech industries. The facility is still years away from breaking ground. But Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said the effort could transform the area into something similar to Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., where technology firms are located close to MIT. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
- Houston-based firm Hines Development will take on the construction of a $40 million mixed-use life sciences hub near the North Bethesda Metro station, Montgomery County officials and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority General Manager Randy Clarke announced Tuesday morning at a press conference at the station. Ginny Bixby/Bethesda Today.
