Happy New Year!
This is the last day of our annual NewsMatch fundraising drive. Every tax-deductible donation to our nonprofit news site by tonight is matched by national and local donors. We are grateful to the 175 readers who have contributed $23,000 to support our work. Please join them by contributing online via credit card or PayPal or by writing a check dated this month to Maryland Reporter, 6392 Shadowshape Place, Columbia, MD 21045.
Unlike most of the State Roundups that we have published 4,000 times in the past 16 years, I’m doing this all by myself. My longtime friend and colleague Cynthia Prairie, the State Roundup editor, has the week off. She is one of the best copy editors I know. Copy editors do, or used to do, the final polish on stories. Checking spellings, titles, and ah those elusive things called facts.
Having lived and worked for many years in Maryland, Cythia has been doing the Roundup since 2011 from Chester, Vermont, where she and hubby Shawn Cunningham also produce the online Chester Telegraph news site. She knows probably more about Maryland government and politics than many of the journalists here.
Len Lazarick, founding editor of Maryland Reporter
SHAKEUP OF HOUSE LEADERSHIP: Newly elected Maryland House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk announced a revamped leadership team and committee structure for the House of Delegates, elevating several women and lawmakers of color, reshuffling key committee chairs and creating two new standing committees as lawmakers prepare to return to Annapolis on Jan. 14 for the 2026 legislative session.
- The biggest structural change is Peña-Melnyk’s decision to split the House Health and Government Operations Committee, which she used to chair, into a new standalone Health Committee and a separate standing committee on Labor, Elections and Government. The story includes a full list of all the assignments. Steve Crane/Maryland Matters, which grants free access to all its stories.
BIG DINNERS FOR LAWMAKERS: Lobbyists spend big bucks on ‘committee dinners’ with Maryland lawmakers. A new bill being introduced during the upcoming General Assembly session would ban the meals where lobbyists, corporations and special interest groups spent more than half a million dollars last year. Katie Shepherd/Washington Post
POLITICAL ANALYSIS OUTSIDE THE BOX: In Baltimore Fishbowl, political consultant Len Foxwell offers intelligent and outside-the- box analysis of the year ahead for the incumbent and the new speaker. He has particularly novel observations about the new speaker of the House of Delegates, where she has already shaken up the old establishment. He then takes his usual provocative style to the energy crisis engineered by the Democratic legislature. Get beyond the throat-clearing opening paragraphs, It’s worth reading. Len Foxwell/Baltimore Fishbowl
$168 FOR RURAL HEALTH Maryland gets $168.2 million for rural health in the first year of a program to offset Medicaid cuts. Five-year, $50 billion federal program will only make up for about a third of a $137 billion cut in rural health spending over next decade, one study shows. Shauneen Miranda/Maryland Matters
FASTER REVIEW FOR GAS POWER PLANT IN HARFORD: A natural gas plant proposed for Harford County can get expedited review, the Public Service Commission said Tuesday. Lawmakers created the accelerated process this spring, amid high energy bills. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters
NO SOLUTION TO LONG, UNRELIABLE BUS RIDES FOR CITY STUDENTS: It’s been nearly a year since a Banner investigation revealed just how hard it is for Baltimore children to get to school on time — and the devastating consequences of that decades-old struggle.City and school system leaders want the state to take responsibility for improving long, unreliable transit rides to school in Baltimore.But Maryland’s most powerful lawmakers remain mum on the issue. Liz Bowie/Baltimore Banner
PROPERTY VALUES CONTINUES TO RISE BUT SLOWER: Maryland property values are up on average by 12.7%, according to state tax officials, another year of double-digit growth that will lead to higher tax bills for many homeowners. But that growth is slower than during the last three years, where property values increased, on average, more than 20% over each assessment cycle. It’s a sign, some say, that Maryland real estate may finally be cooling off after years of being supercharged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hallie Miller/Baltimore Banner
PROTEST SHOOTING BY IMMIGRATION AGENTS: Protesters gathered Monday at the ICE Field Office in Baltimore in response to a Christmas Eve shooting involving ICE agents in Glen Burnie. Authorities said ICE agents shot and wounded the driver of a vehicle they claimed rammed into their vehicle.The protest, organized by the People’s Power Assembly, called on getting ICE out of Maryland — and everywhere else, for that matter. David Collins/WBAL TV
UNLICENSED ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES PROLIFERATE WITHOUT PROSECUTION: A Spotlight on Maryland investigation has found more than 115 suspected unlicensed assisted living facilities in Baltimore, despite a 2023 law that made it a felony to operate such facilities. State enforcement of the current law has been slow. Until Spotlight’s first report on Nov. 11, the state had only sent one referral to the attorney general’s office since 2023. Late last month, after multiple reports about unlicensed assisted living facilities, the attorney general received its first referral of the year. There have been zero prosecutions since the legislative change in 2023. Gary Collins/WBFF TV
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