WHAT BILLS MADE THE CROSSOVER DAY CUT: Almost all of the major anticipated bills passed the crossover hurdle, but some cross-filed bills — the same legislation filed concurrently in the House and Senate — were amended to create a version different than what was approved in the other chamber. This is most notably the case for a bill in the Senate that would ban private prisons in Maryland. Sarah Petrowich/WYPR-FM.
BILL WOULD ALTER SYSTEM OVER WHO CAN FILE CRIMINAL CHARGES: Maryland lawmakers are making changes to a system that allows anyone to file for criminal charges without input from police or prosecutors, one of scores of bills that advanced during a marathon day of lawmaking Monday. Pamela Wood and Dylan Segelbaum/The Baltimore Banner.
ANNAPOLIS BACKS STATE BILL TO FIND MORE REVENUE SOURCES: Annapolis leaders are calling on the state government to study how the city, and other municipalities, can diversify their funding sources beyond the current reliance on property taxes.The Annapolis City Council voted unanimously Monday to support a General Assembly bill that would make a task force to study municipal and county revenue sources, revenue streams currently unused by these local governments, and revenue sources used by local governments in other states. Katharine Wilson/The Baltimore Sun.
PUBLIC COMPLAINS IT WAS LEFT OUT OF HAGERSTOWN ICE MEETING: A meeting to address a controversial plan to open an immigration detention facility in Maryland had some controversy of its own with members of the public saying that they were left out of the event. Gov. Wes Moore and U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney met Monday with a select group of stakeholders to discuss community and environmental concerns and the status of a federal lawsuit over an ICE detention facility planned near Hagerstown. Kate Amara/WBAL-TV News.
STATE AWARDS McDANIEL COLLEGE $2M FOR BUILDING RENOVATION: The Maryland Board of Public Works approved more than $2 million in funding last week for a McDaniel College building renovation project. The renovations on Merritt Hall will allow the building to house new programs. The state’s award of $2,160,000 will fund about half of the hall’s $4.3 million renovation, which began in summer 2025. The school funded the remaining share of the project. Gabriella Fine/The Baltimore Sun.
ALMOST NO ONE WANTS TO BE DORCHESTER’s TOP PROSECUTOR: The candidate filing deadline came and went. And no one, it seemed, wanted to be the top prosecutor in Dorchester County. One candidate had filed earlier in the process, only to withdraw the very next day. The Republican incumbent declined to run again. The county’s Democratic Central Committee reached out to a number of possible candidates but found no takers. Their GOP counterparts, however, were able to find someone to put forward: a 46-year-old with only five years of attorney experience. Justin Fenton/The Baltimore Banner.
B’MORE COUNCIL CURBS CITY AGENCIES’ COOPERATION WITH ICE: The Baltimore City Council unanimously passed legislation to sharply curb any cooperation with between city agencies and ICE. The Safe Spaces and Communities Act prohibits the city or any organization working with the city from entering into an agreement with a governmental or private group that houses detained immigrants. Scott Maucione/WYPR-FM.
B’MORE COUNCIL PRES SEEKS ONE-YEAR MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS: Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen wants a one-year moratorium on data centers in Baltimore City and was to introduce legislation to that effect Monday. The proposed legislation defines data centers as facilities “used for remote storage, processing, and distribution of data” that have an electrical demand of 10 megawatts or greater. They would be prohibited zoning use anywhere in Baltimore City for one year after the bill is enacted. Aliza Worthington/Baltimore Fishbowl.
CECIL DETECTIVE WAGES WAR AGAINST ATM SKIM SCAMMERS: Will Muller has stopped at approximately 100 ATMs, 400 point-of-sale terminals and 300 fuel-pump card readers in Cecil County during the past four months, not to withdraw money or to make purchases or to buy gasoline — but to determine if the machines are real or fake. Muller is a Cecil County Sheriff’s Office detective who specializes in detecting realistic-looking replicas of credit and debit card readers that criminals surreptitiously place over real ones and then steal the account numbers and PINs of unsuspecting customers. Carl Hamilton/The Cecil Whig.
TRUMP ADMIN SEEKS TO DEPORT ABREGO GARCIA TO LIBERIA: The Trump administration is again trying to send the wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland to the west African nation of Liberia and urging a federal judge to dismiss a bar on his removal, according to legal documents filed over the weekend. Ariana Figueroa/Maryland Matters.
