GAMING FIRMS IN ‘ELABORATE SCHEME’ IN D.C. UPPED LOBBYING IN MARYLAND: A pair of gaming companies that recently settled with Washington, D.C., after what the city’s attorney general called an “elaborate scheme” that deceived officials have each increased their lobbying efforts in Maryland in the past year, according to a review of public records and interviews. One of those companies is already active in Maryland after securing a mobile sports wagering license in the state last summer, passing a state background check that found it to be in good standing, despite news reports that questioned its work in the nation’s capital. Sam Janesch/The Baltimore Sun.
CARROLL SHERIFF SAYS HE’LL CONTINUE TO SIDE WITH RESIDENTS AGAINST POWER COMPANY ACCESS: Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees said this weekend he will side with landowners resisting the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project — even after a federal judge cleared the way for power company contractors to access private land across three Maryland counties. On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge granted a preliminary injunction allowing Public Service Enterprise Group, the company behind the $424 million Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, to enter more than 100 private properties in Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties for survey work. Todd Karpovich/The Baltimore Sun.
STATE GAS TAX TO DECLINE ON JULY 1: A small decrease in the state’s gas tax is coming in July. New tax rates released by the Office of the Comptroller set the new tax rate on gasoline at 46 cents per gallon. The decrease of one-tenth of a penny is the second in two years and the fourth since a 2013 law was enacted that linked automatic increases to the rate of inflation. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
RESIDENTS PUSH BACK AGAINST POCOMOKE FOREST LOGGING PLAN: There aren’t any signs or hiking blazes, but nestled in the woods is a grassy parking area, and the beginning of a 0.7-mile walking trail in the Pocomoke State Forest. The trail may be short in length and unassuming from the roadside, but a commercial logging plan proposed by Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources has brought the lesser-known trail into the limelight. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
MOORE TO PARDON MORE PEOPLE WITH CANNABIS CONVICTIONS: Gov. Wes Moore said he’ll pardon thousands more people with cannabis convictions and prioritize funding for communities harmed by racist government policies, part of his effort to close the state’s racial wealth gap. The Democrat made his announcement on Juneteenth, a federal holiday memorializing the end of slavery, at a Black church in Cambridge renowned as a meeting hub for civil rights activists in the 1960s. Brenda Wintrode and Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS DENOUNCE PORTIONS OF MOORE’s PLAN: Moore’s Juneteenth announcement of $400 million in state funds to historically underserved communities isn’t sitting well with some Republican lawmakers, who view the initiative as an unproductive government handout. Carson Swick and Candy Woodall/The Baltimore Sun.
LAWSUIT SEEKS OPEN PRIMARIES: A lawsuit filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court challenges Maryland’s closed primary system, aiming to grant nearly 1 million unaffiliated voters the right to participate in primary elections. Filed on May 28, by five unaffiliated voters and backed by the Open Primaries Education Fund, the suit claims the taxpayer-funded primaries violate the state constitution by excluding independents. David Higgins/The Southern Maryland Chronicle.
MOST MARYLAND LAWMAKERS CONDEMN TRUMP ATTACK ON IRAN: Maryland lawmakers offered mixed reactions to the news of the U.S. military’s involvement in air strikes on nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday night. “Trump said he would end wars; now he has dragged America into one. His actions are a clear violation of our Constitution – ignoring the requirement that only the Congress has the authority to declare war,” wrote Sen. Chris Van Hollen in a statement released Saturday evening. Matt Hubbard, Mathew Schumer and Racquel Bazos/The Baltimore Sun.
PITTMAN WON’T FULLY ASSUME STATE DEM CHAIRMANSHIP FOR NOW: Maryland Democrats were poised to select Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman as the party’s chair, responsible for guiding the state’s dominant party in the 2026 election cycle. Pittman, a former community organizer who owns a farm, is in his second and final term as county executive — the only elected office he’s ever held. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
- However, Pittman cannot immediately assume his full duties, and the possibility of an extended delay leaves open the potential the party might have to elect another leader before the end of summer. That snag, involving state campaign finance law, and Pittman’s inability to immediately close the account that funded his county executive races, will bar him from fully assuming the role for now. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
AMTRAK TUNNEL UNDER B’MORE GETTING REBUILT: A squad of construction workers descend daily under the streets of Baltimore. They labor deep down, in the semi-secret and highly restricted chamber known as the Howard Street Tunnel. The massive brick-lined tube, hand-dug in the 1890s under the bed of downtown Baltimore’s Howard Street, has been closed to freight rail traffic since February for this complex infrastructure makeover. The work runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Along the way, the tunnel got WiFi and toilets. Jacques Kelly/The Baltimore Sun.
TENNESSEE JUDGE ORDERS ARBREGO GARCIA RELEASE: A Tennessee judge on Sunday ordered the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who lives in Maryland, from jail while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges, but he is not expected to be allowed to go free. Travis Loller and Ben Finley/The Associated Press.
- The judge scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to arrange the conditions for his release while also acknowledging that Abrego García is unlikely to be freed from federal custody. U.S. immigration officials have said they are likely to detain him for civil deportation proceedings, she wrote. Maria Sacchetti and Jeremy Roebuck/The Washington Post.
MARILYN MOSBY RELEASED FROM HOME DETENTION: Former Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s year-long home detention sentence ended on Friday. An order ending the home detention came from U.S. District Judge Lydia Griggsby in response to Mosby filing motions earlier this week for the return of her passport and waiver of her $1,447.23 location monitoring fee — legal restrictions that have limited Mosby’s ability to travel freely. Carson Swick/The Baltimore Sun.
- Griggsby agreed that the monitoring fee, required as a standard condition of release, “is too much of a financial constraint on Ms. Mosby at this time.” Mosby “has been financially devastated over the course of her prosecution,” and she is “now a single mother of two children with limited resources and many bills to pay,” her public defender said in a court filing, alluding specifically to her credit card debt. Mark Reutter and Fern Shen/Baltimore Brew.
PRINCE GEORGE’S ORDERED TO PAY $1.8M TO FORMER POLICE OFFICER: A U.S. District Court judge this week ordered Prince George’s County to pay $1.8 million in economic damages to a former county police officer stemming from a 2017 sexual assault that she alleged was committed by her supervising officer, an incident that Kara McMurray said in a lawsuit led to retaliation against her after she reported it. Jasmine Hilton and Lateshia Beachum/The Washington Post.
KEVIN CHIN LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN FOR HOWARD COUNCIL: Joined by community members and elected officials, Democrat Kevin Chin launched his campaign for the District 1 seat on the Howard County Council, saying he would focus on schools, the environment, public safety and housing affordability. Kiersten Hacker/The Baltimore Sun.
FRIEDSON BECOMES 5th DEM TO JOIN MO CO EXECUTIVE RACE: Andrew Friedson officially announced plans Sunday to seek the Democratic nomination for Montgomery County executive, becoming the fifth Democrat to get in the race for the June 2026 primary. Supporters touted the Montgomery County councilmember as the only candidate to present a brighter future for the state’s largest jurisdiction, with more than 1 million people. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
MO CO SEEKS TO PRESS MARRIOTT CHAIN NOT TO RETALIATE AGAINST WORKERS: Montgomery County officials are working to pressure the Marriott hotel chain into signing an agreement promising not to retaliate against workers at a county conference center if they choose to unionize — a step taken after the county neglected to include that provision in an operating agreement signed in March. Dana Munro/The Washington Post.
MO CO AMENDMENT WOULD ALLOW WATER CREMATION: Montgomery County Councilmember Natali Fani-González says the process that occurs after people die should be more environmentally friendly. That’s why she introduced a zoning text amendment this week that would change county zoning rules to allow licensed funeral homes and crematories to conduct alkaline hydrolysis, colloquially known as water cremation. Ginny Bixby/Bethesda Today.
AN UPSCALE COMMUNITY SEEKS TO DISCHARGE RACIST COVENANTS: So far 22 states have passed laws making it easier to discharge racist language from covenants in homeownership deeds, including Maryland in 2018 at the urging of Rodgers Forge volunteers. Now residents and former residents of an upscale community in Baltimore County are seeking to clean up their deeds. Jon Morgan/The Baltimore Banner.
GRACE KUBOFCIK, HOWARD CANDIDATES MUST-MEET PERSON, DIES AT 83: Candidates for Howard County government have always had busy schedules. They have to file paperwork, raise funds, assemble a team, knock on doors and hand out campaign materials. But if they were smart, they made time to meet with Grace Kubofcik, said Democratic Del. M. Courtney Watson, who represents Ellicott City. And if they weren’t, that’s OK, because Kubofcik would seek out a meeting with them anyway. Kubofcik died June 9 of a pulmonary blood clot. She was 83. Cayla Harris/The Baltimore Banner.
