MULTIPLE CHECKPOINTS CLOSED AT BWI AIRPORT AS TSA STAFFING GAPS CONTINUE: Staffing shortages tied to the ongoing federal shutdown forced security checkpoint closures at BWI Marshall Airport on Thursday, raising the risk of delays for travelers in the days ahead. As a result of the closures, airport officials added that passengers should arrive at least three hours before departure as conditions remain fluid. Chevall Pryce/The Baltimore Sun.
- President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will sign an order allowing the Department of Homeland Security to pay airport security workers who have gone without a full paycheck since the shutdown began in mid-February. Jennifer Shutt/Maryland Matters.
MOORE PLEDGES A NEW BRIDGE BEFORE HE LEAVES OFFICE: Anne Arundel County, which sits on the south side of the bridge, is making plans for a more permanent memorial, Pittman said Thursday. A temporary memorial erected in the days after the collapse, featuring crosses and artwork honoring the fallen workers, remains on the Anne Arundel side of the bridge. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
- On the two-year anniversary of the container ship crash that brought down Baltimore’s Key Bridge, Maryland leaders gathered in Du ndalk, where the bridge used to cross the Patapsco River. to commemorate the lives lost and the damage done. John Domen/WTOP News.
- Of the 21 seafarers aboard the cargo ship when it slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024, eight still live in an extended-stay hotel in the city. No charges have materialized against them, and their ship returned to international seas last year, but they remain indefinitely tethered here by an agreement between their employer and federal authorities. Lillian Reed/Maryland Matters.
FORMER STATE SEN. PAULA HOLLINGER DIES AT 85: Former State Sen. Paula Hollinger, who sponsored abortion rights and several major pieces of health care legislation in a more than 30-year career in Annapolis, has died. Robert Lang/WBAL News Radio.
GOV. MOORE DISCUSSES CAMDEN YARD UPGRADES, DEVELOPMENT: During the pregame opening day ceremony at Camden Yards on Thursday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore was on the field to help unveil the most obvious upgrade to the beloved, historic ballpark. Moore, along with Orioles owners David Rubenstein and Michael Arougheti, state Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis, pushed a button, and an animation played on the new giant video board in center field. That was one of many upgrades that construction crews worked on over the winter through projects run by the Maryland Stadium Authority. Andy Kostka/the Baltimore Banner.
AS BUDGET WRAPS UP, RESTORATION OF DISABILITY SERVCIES FUNDS LOOKS UNLIKELY: A final spending plan for fiscal 2027 will likely not include additional money for developmental disabilities services, legislative leaders said Thursday. The House of Delegates gave final approval Thursday to its version of a $70.8 billion budget, which will go to a conference committee Friday to resolve small differences with a Senate plan passed a week ago.Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters.
COMMENTARY: THE UNAFFORDABLE AND UNFREE BLUEPRINT FOR MARYLAND’S FUTURE: Blueprint costs are projected to soar from $1.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2024 to over $4 billion annually, potentially requiring more than $30 billion in new state/local tax dollars by the end of the decade. Chris Roemer/CARROLL COUNTY TIMES.
SENATE EYES PAUSE ON COLLECTING TAX ON HOSPITALS OFFSHORE ‘CAPTIVE’ INSURANCE: Sen. Dawn Gile (D-Anne Arundel) knew she faced a complex job — pushing legislation that could unravel years of missed tax collections on captive insurance policies kept in offshore accounts by the state’s nonprofit hospitals. Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters.
The Dems may enjoy a solid majority here but they are failing to see how their policies negatively affect us causing people to vote with their feet. I’m really really trying not to leave but the state legislators are making it unbearably expensive to live here. We do not have 30 billion more in taxes to give. Wtf is wrong with these delusional people.