MARYLAND ER WAIT TIMES ARE THE WORST, BUT IMPROVING: A legislative report found last year that wait times in Maryland’s emergency rooms were the nation’s worst, and a new report said the state has exceeded the national average for more than two decades. At the worst-performing hospitals, patients can wait a full day to be admitted, state data shows. But there is good news. Meredith Cohn and Lillian Reed/The Baltimore Banner.
MOORE CONTINUES TO REFUSE TO TURN OVER DATA ON FOOD AID RECIPIENTS: Gov. Wes Moore’s office said he isn’t cowed by the Trump administration’s threat to withhold federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program administrative funding from states, including Maryland, that refuse to turn over data on food assistance recipients. Mennatalla Ibrahim/The Baltimore Sun.
LARGE BA CO DATA CENTER PLAN PULLS IN STATE REPS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS: Ahead of the formal submission of plans to build a 150-megawatt data center in Baltimore County state legislators and residents are examining the potential benefits and risks such a complex could bring to the area. On Wednesday a panel that included state Sen. Charles Sydnor and Dels. Sheila Ruth and Aletheia McCaskill, who represent portions of western Baltimore County, discussed the impacts the proposed data center could have on residents, their electricity bills and the environment, in an effort to learn more before plans are solidified. Natalie Jones/The Baltimore Sun.
NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES NEARER TO SEAT AT TABLE ON BAY ISSUES: Native American tribes have called the Chesapeake Bay home for thousands of years, so, for tribal members, it’s hard to understand why they don’t have a voice in the long-running campaign to restore the massive estuary. On Tuesday, top officials of the states and federal agencies in the organized effort to clean-up the bay took a step toward righting that. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
MAYOR SCOTT CALLS BATES’ RIFT ‘INEXPLICABLE:’ A day after Baltimore’s top prosecutor, Ivan Bates, pulled out of the city’s anti-violence initiative, Mayor Brandon Scott responded with an olive branch and an attempt to set the record straight. Scott, in a responding letter delivered Wednesday, called Bates’ decision “inexplicable” and urged him to reconsider. Emily Opilo and Lee O. Sanderlin/The Baltimore Banner.
- “I am really shocked that I got this letter at this particular time,” Scott told reporters. “Because I talked to him, and I talked to him last week, and I did not hear any of these things.” Carson Swick and Ruben Castaneda/The Baltimore Sun.
WATCHDOG GROUP SAYS BGE PIPE REPLACEMENT NEEDLESSLY COSTLY: A consumer watchdog organization says that Baltimore’s utility company has been putting profits ahead of safety when it chooses how to replace gas pipes. Baltimore Gas and Electric has been replacing hundreds of miles of pipe, including cast iron that dates to the 1800s, used to transport gas to homes. It’s expensive work, and costs are passed on to ratepayers, but a new report says the work is needlessly pricey. Giacomo Bologna/The Baltimore Banner.
JUDGE TO DETERMINE WHETHER TO RERUN AFSCME 44 ELECTION: A federal court judge will hold a hearing on Friday to determine whether to grant an injunction barring the rerun of an AFSCME Local 44 election where Baltimore sanitation workers defeated the union’s handpicked candidates. Mark Reutter/Baltimore Brew.
BA CO FIRE ‘HAZMAT CLEANING’ ALL STATIONS AFTER EMPLOYEE MISCONDUCT: Baltimore County Fire Chief Joseph Dixon informed staff on Wednesday that an employee under investigation for alleged misconduct is “not in the workplace at this time” and the department will be “hazmat cleaning” all fire stations and offices. Authorities have declined to say why the employee, whom they have not identified, is under investigation or how his actions created an environment requiring sanitization. Céilí Doyle and Sapna Bansil/The Baltimore Banner.
WHO IS MADIGAN’s INTERIM REPLACEMENT AS BA CO IG? Baltimore County’s inaugural inspector general, Kelly Madigan, is leaving her post in January to become Howard County‘s first inspector general. The man who will replace her — at least for a while — is her deputy, Steve Quisenberry. Quisenberry, a former FBI agent and certified inspector general, has been Madigan’s deputy since October 2020, 10 months after she started. Rona Kobell/The Baltimore Banner.
SPECIAL COUNSEL SEEKS REPUBLICAN NOMINATION FOR CARROLL STATE’S ATTY: Special Counsel Allan Culver, with the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office, has filed to run for the county’s top prosecutor seat in June, a position he held for 18 months on an interim basis. Culver, a Republican, says he “is not a politician,” but rather a “career prosecutor” serving the people and not political interests. Brendan Nordstrom/The Carroll County Times.
