WITH DATA CENTERS ON THE HORIZON, MARYLAND HAS NO OVERALL POLICY: A vacant Social Security building in Baltimore County. A former power plant in Montgomery. An old mall site in Prince George’s. And that’s on top of a data center campus that has long been under development on a former industrial site in Frederick County. Yet, there isn’t a cohesive statewide policy regulating the arrival of data center facilities, which demand immense amounts of energy. Instead, local jurisdictions wield much of the power to approve or deny projects through zoning rules. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
- For more than two decades, the site of the demolished Landover Mall in Prince George’s County has sat idle, leaving residents in the now-predominantly Black county with the desire to have something in its place as shrubbery and other greenery push through the rubble of what was once a major weekend draw. Residents near the former mall are now facing something unfamiliar that, though local officials say it would generate millions of dollars in much-needed tax revenue, has stirred controversy: a proposal for a massive data center. Lateshia Beachum/The Washington Post.
- Federal regulators directed the operator of the nation’s largest electricity grid to establish transparent rules for AI data centers to connect directly to power plants. Peter Hall/Maryland Matters.
- An informal committee that opposes a Dec. 23 Frederick County Council decision to create a 2,615-acre zone for possible data center construction near Adamstown is in the early stages of an effort seeking to put a referendum on the November ballot that would allow voters to void the council decision. Erik Anderson/The Frederick News Post.
COUNTIES’ OPPOSITION TO CONOWINGO DAM RELICENSING ENDS: Less than two months after an Eastern Shore coalition challenged Maryland’s $340 million settlement with Constellation Energy to relicense the Conowingo Dam, opposition to the deal has fallen apart. Last month, three of four counties that had signed onto the Clean Chesapeake Coalition’s administrative appeal of the dam deal backed out. Then, late this week, the last jurisdiction backing the appeal, Cecil County, also withdrew, marking an end to a short-lived challenge of the long-awaited settlement. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
MARYLAND STUDIED ITS COMPLICITY IN LYNCHINGS; WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? A Maryland commission recently concluded that state leaders and institutions were complicit in 38 lynchings and the widespread racial terror that followed the Civil War — and said current leaders should atone with cash payments to descendants of the victims. The recommendations set Maryland on a course to undertake a politically complex debate on reparations while President Donald Trump says some institutions are too fixated on slavery. Erin Cox/The Washington Post.
VOGEL BILL AIMS TO END LOBBYING PERK OF LAVISH DINNERS FOR LAWMAKERS: Del. Joe Vogel, a Democrat from Montgomery County who joined the General Assembly in 2023, is taking aim at the longtime legislative perk of free lavish dinners with a bill that would bar lobbyists, corporations and special interest groups from taking lawmakers out on the town, except in a few limited circumstances. Katie Shepherd/The Washington Post.
SEVERN OSPREY STUDY FINDS GRIM RESULTS, AN OMEN FOR THE BAY: For the first time in decades, researchers on the Severn River in Anne Arundel County systematically documented the reproduction of the Chesapeake Bay tributary’s osprey. Their findings were grim. Across 63 nests tracked last spring by Annapolis-based Operation Osprey, just 15 chicks survived. The fish hawk’s low reproduction on the Severn is part of a distressing trend that’s played out across the Chesapeake Bay. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
NEGLECT BUT NOT ABUSE FOUND IN CHILD’s SUICIDE: The Disclosure of Information on a Child Fatality offers the most detailed account yet of the days before 16-year-old Kanaiyah Ward died by suicide on Sept. 22. She had been in state custody. It clears the one-on-one service provider Fenwick Behavioral Services of allegations of child abuse, but finds that child neglect was indicated in the teenager’s death. The report explains how critical staffing shortages led to one chaperone being assigned to work a 53-hour shift. Katie Shepherd and Clarence Williams/The Washington Post.
MOST MARYLAND CONGRESS MEMBERS OPPOSE VENEZUELA ACTION: Hours after the dead-of-night military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Maryland’s congressional leaders have split along party lines in response to the mission. Sara Ruberg/The Baltimore Banner.
- Republican Rep. Andy Harris praised the military action and the Trump administration’s plan to try Maduro for drug trafficking. “It’s about time someone stood up to the narcoterrorists who have been poisoning our youth for years while our government has turned a blind eye… ” Harris said in a statement Saturday. Some Democratic members of Maryland’s delegation questioned the decision by President Donald Trump, a Republican, to authorize the strikes without congressional approval. Raquel Bazos/The Baltimore Sun.
- Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote, “Amazingly, the president wants the people to think his unconstitutional war reflects his concern about illegal drug trafficking just one month after he pardoned the drug-dealing ex-president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, commuting his 45-year sentence after one year Hernández brought in 400 tons of cocaine to America or 800,000 pounds, saying he was going to ‘stick it up the nostrils of the gringos.’” Carson Swick/The Baltimore Sun.
COLUMN: A LOOK BACK AT A YEAR IN POLITICAL IMAGES: When I look back on Maryland politics and sports coverage from 2025, I think about visuals that have been imprinted on me, perhaps because they seemed to capture or reveal something in a single frame. This happened in downtown Baltimore, at the U.S. Capitol, and even at an Orioles game.Here are some of those “snapshots,” and why they seem significant. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
CHARLES DEMS’ CHOICE TO FILL DISTRICT 27A SEAT SET FOR CONFLICT: The Charles County Democratic Central Committee chose Yonelle Moore Lee on Saturday to fill the vacant District 27A seat in the House, setting up a conflict with Prince George’s County Democrats who backed a different candidate Tuesday. The conflict means that Gov. Wes Moore (D) will make the choice between Moore Lee and Darrell Odom Sr., the Prince George’s County nominee, to represent the district that straddles the two counties. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
CLOSING NASA LIBRARY IN GREENBELT JUST ONE PART OF SHUTTERING PLAN: NASA’s largest library, located at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, that the Trump administration permanently closed last Friday after more than six decades as a central research hub for the agency and the global space science community, has 100,000 volumes. Also under the shuttering plan, 13 buildings and more than 100 science and engineering laboratories on Goddard’s 1,270-acre campus are slated to be shut down by March. Staff/Southern Maryland News Net.
HOWARD IG BOARD MEMBER SAYS MADIGAN SELECTION A CONFLICT: Kelly Madigan’s last day as Baltimore County’s first inspector general was much like her six-year tenure — eventful. First, Baltimore County officials declared Madigan did not have the authority to name her deputy, Steve Quisenberry, to be her successor and serve as the acting inspector general. Later on Friday, attorney Tonya Baña filed a complaint on behalf of a member of the Howard County Inspector General Advisory Board, which vetted the candidates and chose Madigan from a pool of nearly 50 applicants. The complaint alleges that Quisenberry violated Howard County ethics laws by serving on the advisory board that selected his boss. Rona Kobell/The Baltimore Banner.
MADIGAN BEGINS NEW HOWARD IG JOB TODAY: Kelly Madigan dealt with hostile members of the Baltimore County Council and county executives during her six years as the county’s first inspector general. Madigan resigned last month and begins her work Monday as Howard County’s first IG. For the second time, Madigan gets to start from scratch and create an office of inspector general. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
CITY STATE’S ATTY BATES TOUTS HUGH DROP IN HOMICIDES: Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates enters the 2026 election cycle at a pivotal moment for the city and his office. After years of persistently high violence, Baltimore has experienced a historic drop in homicides, with most violent and non-violent crimes on a downtrend, as well. The question now facing voters is not only how that progress happened, but how durable it is. Luke Parker/The Baltimore Sun.
BA CO PARAMEDIC SAYS DISTURBING VIDEOS WERE ‘ARTISTIC:’ A Baltimore County Fire Department paramedic testified in court this week that he was being artistic when he posted videos of himself masturbating while at his workplace and at home, and denied that items he used in the videos belonged to relatives or colleagues. Céilí Doyle and Sapna Bansil/The Baltimore Banner.
CARROLL AT A CROSSROADS: FOUR DECISIONS TO SHAPE 2026: Carroll County found itself at a crossroads in 2025. The ninth-largest county in Maryland has seen greater population growth and interest from developers in recent years. Yet Carroll has the second-largest agricultural land preservation program in the country. This past year, the county’s Board of Commissioners grappled with energy projects, development strategy, property rights and a growing county staff. Here are four of the biggest political decisions that the commissioners made in 2025 and how they could shape county policies in the new year. Lily Carey/The Carroll County Times.
VANDALS DRAW SLURS, SWASTIKA ON SYKESVILLE BUILDING: Vandals broke into a concession stand building at Mayeski Park in Sykesville, destroyed appliances, stole equipment, and drew racial slurs and a swastika in the building. The identities of the people who destroyed the property are unknown. The date and time of the burglary are also unknown. Gabriella Fine/The Carroll County Times.
