BILL CUTTING JUVENILE ‘ADULT CRIMES’ HEADS TO MOORE’s DESK: A compromise bill that would reduce the number of crimes that automatically result in adult charges for teenagers passed out of the House of Delegates Monday and is headed to Gov. Wes Moore’s desk. Madeleine O’Neill/The Baltimore Banner.
- Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), the bill’s sponsor, called passage in both chambers “a significant step forward,” even as advocates and some Democratic legislators were saying it’s only a first step and will need to be strengthened in the future to help more youth. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
MOORE EXPECTED TO SIGN BUDGET BILL WEDNESDAY: Gov. Wes Moore is expected to sign the state budget into law on Wednesday, finalizing just over two months of negotiations among Maryland lawmakers as they sought to close a billion-dollar deficit without raising taxes. House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk’s office said “it’s for sure” expected that the governor would authorize the state budget this week. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
STATE’s SNAP, MEDICAID SPENDING COULD HIT $71M OVER NEXT TWO YEARS: Maryland will need to spend more than $71 million over the next two years to meet SNAP and Medicaid requirements set out by the Trump administration’s 2025 tax and spending legislation, even though the law restricts the number of people on the rolls. Scott Maucione/WYPR-FM.
MARYLAND SEEKS TO REDEVELOP LIGHT RAIL LANDS: The state is revamping plans to redevelop land at Light Rail and Metro Subway stations by working with the private sector to create new housing and retail hubs within walking distance to major public transit lines. The state owns 134 acres of land across 17 transit stations in Baltimore city and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, largely surface parking lots. Gov. Wes. Moore said the land is “just sitting there” and could accommodate up to 5,000 new homes while generating roughly $1.4 billion in added tax revenue. Daniel Zawodny/The Baltimore Banner.
SENATE OKs BILL TO CUT ELECTRIC BILLS; IT’s NOW HEADED TO THE HOUSE: The Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday for legislation that aims to reduce Marylanders’ electric bills, setting up a clash with the House of Delegates, which took some more aggressive steps to lower bills. The two chambers have a week to iron out their differences on the Utility RELIEF Act before the end of this year’s 90-day session. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
COMMENTARY: HALE’s POLITICAL, BUSINESS INTEREST START TO INTERSECT: It was only a matter of time before newly minted Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Hale’s business and political interests started to intersect. In a post on the Baltimore Blast social media sites, Ed Hale “Alumni” are being invited to a special gathering this week. Hale’s campaign using the Blast resources to promote Hale’s candidacy is more of a potential gray area when it comes to campaign finance law. Brian Griffiths/The Duckpin.
JUDGE REMOVES DELEGATE CANDIDATE FROM BALLOT OVER RESIDENCY: An Anne Arundel County judge on Monday ordered House of Delegates candidate John Dove Jr. removed from the ballot on the grounds he doesn’t live in the district he seeks to represent — the latest in a Democratic Party family feud that also presents important legal questions. Dove’s attorney, Tiffany Alston, said she would appeal immediately to the Supreme Court of Maryland. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
PART I: WHY A DATA CENTER COMPLEX IS COMING TO MONTGOMERY: Atmosphere Data Centers, a California-based company, has applied to Montgomery County to develop a campus of five data center buildings plus associated infrastructure on 110 acres zoned for heavy industry that it is under contract to purchase from Terra Energy. The parcel, part of Terra’s 700 acres, is surrounded by the county’s Agricultural Reserve. Ceoli Jacoby/Bethesda Today.
BALTIMORE COUNTY COUNCIL REJECTS RETURNING TO PART-TIME PAY: The Baltimore County Council Monday night decided it wants to be paid full time, rather than revert to being part-time employees. The issue came up after council members found themselves in a political snare trap that they had created. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
COLUMN: COUNTY ORPHANS’ COURT JUDGES TO RETURN UNCONSTITUTIONAL RAISES: Baltimore County violated the state constitution last year when it awarded $30,000 raises to its three orphans’ court judges. County Executive Kathy Klausmeier’s administration has asked the judges to return the money paid to them since July 1. When it comes to Maryland’s orphans’ court system, getting the law wrong is a common problem, with greater consequences than raises that the judges probably deserve. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
HOWARD COUNCIL BACKS AFFORDABLE HOUSING FUND: The Howard County Council voted Monday night to allow the county’s Housing Opportunities Trust Fund — which raises and allocates money to projects targeting affordable housing — to use the county’s credit line to borrow money. April Santana/The Baltimore Sun.
FAMILY OF ICE DETAINEE SAY AGENTS REAR-ENDED HIS VAN CAUSING INJURY: The family of Baltimore County resident Ever Alvarenga-Rios alleges he was essentially held hostage by ICE agents for four days while being treated in a hospital for injuries caused by ICE. The family said agents intentionally rear-ended his white van with such force that the airbags deployed. Instead of offering assistance, Vasquez said the agents beat him up, tased him and witnesses caught it on camera. Kate Amara/WBAL-TV News.
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials alleged the 32-year-old “dangerously evaded” officers attempting to arrest and eventually deport him, which ultimately led to a multicar pileup and the man attempting to flee on foot. John-John Williams/The Baltimore Banner.
McDANIEL COLLEGE THRIVES IN ORBÁN’s HUNGARY: It’s not easy to operate a college in Hungary. Its president, Viktor Orbán, has reduced funding for universities by over 40%, passed a law to boot out colleges and packed school boards with allies. But there’s one campus seemingly immune from the whims of the president: Maryland’s McDaniel College. The outpost appears to be thriving, despite a looming election that could trigger political unrest. Ellie Wolfe/The Baltimore Banner.
At this point I do not know what the solution is to reducing the Juvenile crime problem. Obviously if they were in a good home to begin with, statistically they would not be committing these crimes. The Banner Article says “About 80% of those children are Black, though Black children make up less than one-third of the state’s youth population.” Ok so what? IDK about you but I do not see Asians, Hispanics, and white children going around terrorizing communities with these “Adult Crimes.” That community specifically is committing most of these crimes resulting in the disparity. How do we change the attitudes/culture of these communities so that these juveniles stop committing these crimes? I’m hopeful the new law accomplishes whatever they want it to accomplish, but I am not holding my breath. It seems like every time we push more leniency crime goes up. We still have juveniles committing crimes with ankle monitors on! These juveniles in particular have shown they do not give 2 Fs about the law nor their victims. That’s the other thing, what about the victims? Everyone wants to coddle the offenders, but the victims get left behind and often Justice is not served in their favor.
In regards to the developing state lands. If this was a Trump proposal, everyone would be freaking out about it. But because it is Moore, it seems like everyone is on board with it.
The energy bill, well I wish i could support it. But after reading the article I have little hope of any meaningful savings. We are here because of at least 2 decades of shitty energy policy and it seems its going to continue even with this bill. The part of it that perturbs me is that they want to spread the cost of new gas lines to everyone than the gas users. Why should I be punished when I do not use gas? I have oil heat and that is costly too, but F me and people like me I got to subsidize YOUR gas line? I swear everything this state does negatively impacts me. I am almost never on the receiving end of anything good that helps. Screw us single MD homeowners that make less than $50k. Even the things that I could possibly take advantage of such as EmPower MD discounts to update my house are out of reach because the portion that I would have to pay for can’t fit in my budget because I am tapped out. Just Prop tax and House insurance is a total of $5k every year, energy is another 4-5k ish. Thats a 5th of my income. Then there’s the taxes that take at least another 25% of my income. That is almost a half of my income gone and the rest is for survival, health insurance, car insurance, eating, maintenance, CC debt. It is never ending.
Oh look the Bal Co Council rejected the idea that they are Part Time, who didn’t see that coming? Not shocked at all. Politicians are leaches on our society.
You know a lot of these ICE incidents would be reduced if we cooperated with detainers at jails. This idea that we are supposed to let these people back into society only for ICE to put the community in danger to try and apprehend them is F-ing stupid. If the Dem party was more fair and reasonable with some of their policies it wouldn’t be so hard to vote for them. But they continue to push shit that most people don’t want. We get it you don’t want “innocent” illegal immigrants just minding their business earning a living sent back. But that does not mean we can’t cooperate when dealing with illegal immigrants that have committed crimes. That is totally reasonable. Or with energy policy. Yeah we get it, we should move toward a future of less CO2 output, but that should not be at the expense of middle and lower classes having to struggle to pay their bills and creating an Energy Crisis. That is not Climate Denying, that is common f-ing sense. Or Tampons in men’s bathrooms? That’s a priority? We’re all struggling to survive here and we’re worried about F-ing tampons. These people have lost their F-ing minds.
I wake up everyday wondering if I am in the twilight zone. It was supposed to be a TV show, not real life.