SENIORS EXPECT NOTIFICATION OF END TO MEDICARE SUPPLEMENTAL: Thousands of Maryland seniors expected to receive notice this month that their supplemental Medicare plans will no longer be available next year, sparking frustration, fear and confusion. Insurance carriers say that Maryland’s unique hospital system is costly for them to do business in, and several are reducing their coverage in the state or pulling out of counties entirely. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
MARYLAND DEMS SEEK TO ‘CONTEST EVERY SEAT’ IN UPCOMING RACES: The Maryland Democratic Party is launching a campaign Monday to field credible candidates to give Republicans competition in traditionally conservative areas. Dubbed “Contest Every Seat,” the initiative aims to fill ballots across the state with Democratic candidates for the House of Delegates, state Senate, county councils and county commissions. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
- The campaign is already underway. Democrats control just under two-thirds of the General Assembly. But even though they have long dominated more urban areas of the state, Maryland Republicans have maintained a strong foothold in rural regions, including the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland. Ben Mause/The Baltimore Sun.
MARYLAND LEADS 24-STATE CHALLENGE TO GUARD DEPLOYMENT IN ILLINOIS: Maryland is the lead state, joined by 24 other jurisdictions, on a legal brief filed Saturday that calls the Trump administration’s attempted deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois “unlawful, unconstitutional and undemocratic.” William Ford/Maryland Matters.
COLUMN: HEY HEGSETH: 3 WOMEN NAVAL GRADS ARE RUNNING FOR OFFICE: Mikie Sherrill, Amy McGrath and Eileen Laubacher. All are running for political office. They’re doing it 50 years after the first women were admitted to Annapolis and at a time when President Donald Trump is denigrating the role of women in the military. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
A BIG RED SCHOOL BUS BLURS LINE BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE: LifeWise Academy, a Christian education program, is making a push into three Maryland school districts. The Ohio-based nonprofit is already in 34 states, ferrying thousands of kids from public schools to Bible classes during the school day. In Harford County, it has the support of two school board members, including Melissa Hahn. Kristen Griffith/The Baltimore Banner.
MO CO DISTRICT 39 SLATE PROMISES A CONTENTIOUS RACE: Three incumbent state legislators from District 39 filed Friday for re-election as a slate, setting up what arguably may be the most contentious race for the General Assembly within Montgomery County in the run-up to the Democratic primary in June 2026. Louis Peck/Bethesda Today.
MO CO GOP CONVENTION A VICTORY LAP AND CALL T ACTION: The annual Montgomery County GOP convention in Gaithersburg on Saturday was part victory lap, part call to action. Locally, a majority of voters in 2024 supported a Republican-led effort to limit the county executive to two terms, preventing Democrat Marc Elrich from seeking re-election in 2026. But the county remains a Democratic stronghold where Republican influence on local politics is limited. Ceoli Jacoby/Bethesda Today.
BA CO POLICE CHIEF ON LIST DUE TO 1986 $3 PARKING VIOLATION: Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough said the only reason he’s included on a “Brady list” is a decades-old dispute over a $3 parking violation from 1986, when he was a 19-year-old cadet. Such lists are kept by prosecutors’ offices and local law enforcement agencies to track police officers who, due to past misconduct, may have credibility issues when testifying. Céilí Doyle and Ben Conarck/The Baltimore Banner.
HAMPTON HISTORIC SITE APPARENTLY SHUT DOWN: The Hampton National Historic Site in Baltimore County is closed, sort of, because of the government shutdown. It can be difficult to know which National Park Service sites are open or closed. Neither Hampton’s website nor its Facebook page says that it’s closed. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
KEY BRIDGE DETOURS FORCE BA CO TO SEEK AID FOR ROAD DAMAGE: Baltimore County officials say they are seeing significant road damage in Dundalk from heavy vehicle and truck traffic being diverted onto local roads due to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
SCHMOKE’s MISSION TO SAVE UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE: Kurt Schmoke is the first to admit his idea to save the University of Baltimore might not work. Enrollment is bleeding, the university is in a long-term structural deficit and the pressure is on for Schmoke, as its president, to find a solution. It will likely take years. But the former Baltimore mayor sees a solution: merging with Baltimore City Community College. Ellie Wolfe/The Baltimore Banner.
FEDS ALLEGE FORMER MIDSHIPMAN MADE THREATS TO ACADEMY: On the tense day that followed the killing of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, an ex-midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy allegedly posted a message on a social media app popular among the brigade. “Honestly not that surprised I’ll be carrying out the mass execution of my peers in a couple,” Jackson Elliot Fleming wrote anonymously from his home in Indiana, according to federal prosecutors. Tim Prudente/The Baltimore Banner.
