WILL FOSTER CARE ISSUES FINALLY BE RESOLVED? Hospital overstays for children waiting for foster care is a problem that lawmakers have been grappling with for years. But it’s a problem that many believe they will be able to finally address in 2026. In addition to House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk’s House Bill 1559, the House and Senate both have versions of “Kanayiah’s Law,” a proposal named for a teen in state custody who died in a Baltimore hotel last fall. And, the Department of Human Services has taken steps to halt placement of children in unlicensed settings, policy that would be codified under the bills. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
HALF OF MARYLAND DISTRICTS BELOW $60,000 MINIMUM FOR TEACHER PAY: With just months until they have to meet a July 1 deadline to raise teacher salaries to a $60,000 minimum, only about half of Maryland’s 24 school districts have reached the threshold and the rest are scrambling to get there, education officials said Monday. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
PROTECTING STATE FLAG; WHO DESERVES CREDIT FOR POWER LINE PAUSE? The Maryland flag needs protecting. So says Sen. J.B. Jennings, who introduced a bill Monday that would enshrine the flag – already a state symbol — into the Maryland Constitution. Also, a challenger to Senate President Bill Ferguson is taking credit for BGE’s temporary pause on an underground power line project. And the one-man protest over midcycle redistricting started last month by Sen. Arthur Ellis is over. It took two days to notice. Bryan Sears and Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
- Jennings said that the bill was drafted soon after Gov. Wes Moore said the state’s flag was a “contradiction” on a national podcast. “Ideas create a spark, which the spark creates flames and the flames create change,” Jennings said. “I don’t want anybody to change our flag.” Gary Collins/The Baltimore Sun.
COMMITTEE DELAYS ROCKFISH REGULATIONS: A legislative committee is holding up new rockfish regulations from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources that would open a catch-and-release fishery in April for the first time in several years. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
- The fight pits catch-and-release anglers against charter operators and others in the fishing industry who want to preserve more traditional harvest opportunities. Josh Davis/The Baltimore Sun.
REPUBLICANS ON PANEL HOLD SYMBOLIC PROTEST VOTE OF IG NOMINEE: A handful of Senate Republicans engaged in a symbolic protest vote Monday in opposition to the appointment of a Moore administration attorney to the soon-to-be-vacant job of inspector general for education, saying the inspector general should not be so closely tied to the administration she will be keeping tabs on. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
BODYCAM FOOTAGE SHOWS CLASH BETWEEN DELEGATE AND B’MORE POLICE: Newly released Baltimore Police body-worn camera footage captures a heated New Year’s Eve encounter between Del. Caylin Young and responding officers — including a moment when the Baltimore City Democrat told police, “I don’t think I’m above the law. I’m on top.” The nearly three hours of footage documents officers responding just after 9 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2025, to a domestic dispute involving Young and the mother of his child outside her Northeast Baltimore residence. Gary Collins/The Baltimore Sun.
RIFT BETWEEN MOORE & SOME DEMS LINGERS WITH ONE MONTH LEFT IN SESSION: With a month left in the 2026 legislative session, the lingering rift between some Democratic members of the General Assembly and Gov. Wes Moore is unlikely to significantly affect this year’s legislative session. But it might alter the next if Moore wins a second term, say political professors. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
ICE WAREHOUSE CONTRACTORS NEW TO SUCH MASSIVE PROJECTS: For the private companies helping U.S. ICE turn a massive Washington County warehouse into a detention center, this is a government project bigger than anything they’ve ever tackled. A review of public contracting records shows that one company is a new government contractor while another has more than a decade of experience supporting the Department of Defense. But neither has ever had a deal as massive, according to federal spending records. Daniel Zawodny and Ben Conarck/The Baltimore Banner.
CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATES FIND NO DETAINEES AT B’MORE ICE FACILITY: Maryland congressional Democrats reported there were no immigrants detained in Baltimore’s U.S. ICE field office on Monday, several days after a federal judge imposed a limit on the number of people that could be held there. “It happens to be that there’s nobody in this facility,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen told reporters after his mid-morning visit. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
MARYLAND’s NUCLEAR PLANT GROWS, BUT CONCERNS REMAIN: Thanks to a recent $100 million upgrade, the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant can produce 10% more energy than it once did — “more than all the existing wind and solar generation in Maryland,” said Fabion Seaton, senior advocacy manager for Constellation Energy Group, which manages the plant. In early November, Constellation proposed a further expansion. But that plan, like every proposed nuclear expansion nationwide, faces a daunting question: Just how green is nuclear energy? Aamaly Hossain of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.
DURING PARTIAL GOV’T SHUTDOWN, AIRPORT SECURITY LINES ARE LONGER: Security lines stretched out of airports and into parking lots Monday as the partial federal government shutdown continues. TSA agents are working without pay, and many are absent. So, travelers have to be prepared and patient. At Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, though, it’s business as usual. Still, many are arriving from airports experiencing the worst of it, including Houston. Tommie Clark/WBAL-TV News.
B’MORE SEEKS TO BAN PRIVATE DETENTION CENTERS: Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen introduced a bill to ban private detention centers in the city. The bill, introduced Monday, aims to enforce the ban through zoning regulations. Cohen said that individuals who commit crimes should be processed through the normal judicial system rather than be held in private detention centers. Khiree Stewart/WBAL-TV News.
FORMER BA CO ADMIN OFFICER SUES COUNTY FOR SEAL DOCUMENTS: Fred Homan, Baltimore County’s former administrative officer, is suing the county for documents related to a court case involving its former inspector general, Kelly Madigan. The documents relate to sealed court records about a meeting that happened five years ago between Madigan and then-County Executive Johnny Olszewski’s chief of staff, Pat Murray. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
We can’t really afford to worry about how “Green” nuclear energy is. What we need to remember is every source has its up and downsides to use. The Nuclear advantage is we need a lot of energy that is CO2 free. Solar and wind take up massive amounts of land (or ocean) that have downsides to the local wild life. Dead Birds, wildlife land taken up from the ecosystem, beached whales, turbines stirring up the atmosphere, the mining processes for all of the components (often toxic) that are used in Solar Panels. Then there is the recycling of Solar Panels, or lack there of. Not to mention wind farm graveyards. The benefits outweigh the consequences when it comes to Nuclear. Yes we have the nuclear waste which can be reduced through a recycling process. Newer Nuclear plants do not have the meltdown risk the older plants do. We just need to ease our fears and commit.