DAY AFTER SESSION ENDS, MOORE SIGNS 146 BILLS INTO LAW: Gov. Wes Moore signed 146 bills into law after Maryland legislators rushed Monday to pass legislation before the midnight deadline. Lawmakers rallied to address affordability and accountability as the state reacted to the Trump-Vance administration’s agenda, legislative leaders said Tuesday. “What we are watching just South of us is for the past 90 days, we watched chaos unfold,” Moore, a Democrat, said at Tuesday’s bill signing. Staff of Capital News Service/Maryland Reporter.
- During the opening remarks of the bill signing ceremony, Gov. Wes Moore, House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk and Senate President Bill Ferguson all touted a legislative session that focused on lower costs and fighting back against Trump administration policies. Sarah Petrowich/WYPR-FM.
- Montgomery County resident Alisa Weiner found it difficult to put her feelings into words Tuesday as she watched Moore sign the Jillian and Lindsay Weiner Short-Term Rental Safety Act into law. But she repeated her hopes that the bill, named for her daughters who died in a 2022 fire in a rental without working smoke detectors, will protect another family from the anguish her family has suffered. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
- The just-completed General Assembly session will likely be remembered for issues it spent the most time on, including a wide-ranging energy bill that promises at least $150 in annual savings for customers and more for those in lower income brackets, and limitations on how much local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration agents, cracking down on those here without proper documentation. Jean Marbella/The Baltimore Sun.
BILL TO REFORM FILING OF CRIMINAL CHARGES FAILS: Efforts to reform a system that allows anyone to file for criminal charges without input from police or prosecutors failed on Monday at the 11th hour of the Maryland General Assembly’s 90-day legislative session. Del. Jackie Addison was minutes away from scoring that victory. Dylan Segelbaum and Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
JAWS! MEGALODON GETS OFFICIAL STATE STATUS: Shark lovers, rejoice. A bill to make the prehistoric shark megalodon the Maryland state shark has passed in the legislative session in Annapolis. Up until the final day of session, it wasn’t looking good for what was once the world’s most powerful predator. Megan Knight/WMAR-TV News.
MOORE NOW TURNS TOWARD RE-ELECTION BID: The 90 days of Annapolis lawmaking and deal-making are done, and now Gov. Wes Moore turns to convincing voters that he deserves another four years in office. Moore will crisscross the state pitching his first term as a series of successes. He’ll need to convince voters that his achievements are as big a deal as he says they are — and that his shortcomings don’t matter as much as his critics believe. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
WES MOORE YEARBOOK IDs HIM AS ‘COLLEGE REPUBLICAN:’ New questions are emerging about how Gov. Wes Moore has presented his personal and political identity, after a 1998 yearbook photo from Valley Forge Military College identified him as a member of the school’s “College Republicans” chapter — a detail his office has declined to explain. The listing, confirmed this week by the college, adds to a growing body of unanswered questions about Moore’s public biography. Gary Collins/The Baltimore Sun.
COURT: ANTON’S LAW REQUIRES AGENCIES TO RELEASE OFFICER NAMES: In a forceful order affirming the public’s right to government records, the Appellate Court of Maryland ruled that Anton’s Law, the state’s historic police transparency measure, requires law enforcement agencies to release the names of officers who use physical force against citizens. Katie Mettler/The Washington Post.
POTOMAC TOPS LIST OF ENDANGERED RIVERS IN U.S.: The Potomac River, the iconic waterway that serves as a backdrop to countless images of D.C., tops the list of most endangered rivers in the country, according to a newly released report that cites the impacts of a recent sewage spill and data centers in the region. The report cautioned that the river supplying drinking water for 5 million people in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. could be in danger of reaching “an inflection point.” Dana Hedgpeth/The Washington Post.
REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT CHALLENGE DELEGATE FOR BA CO COUNCIL SEAT: The future of northern Baltimore County does not belong to MAGA, if you ask Theaux Le Gardeur or Shawn McIntosh. Both are running for the seat to represent District 5 on the Baltimore County Council being vacated by Wade Kach after a dozen years, and mounting distinct campaigns to challenge early entrant Del. Nino Mangione — Le Gardeur in the Republican primary and McIntosh in the general election. Céilí Doyle/The Baltimore Banner.
WASHINGTON CO RESIDENTS PROTEST RIOT GEAR PURCHASE: As the Washington County Commissioners entered the council house Tuesday morning, they were met by a chalk mural depicting all of the people who have died in ICE custody since President Trump took office in 2025. Protestors rallied outside the hall as the commissioners voted to approve the purchase of $118,639 in riot gear. Nathanael Miller/WYPR-FM.
HARFORD COUNCIL REJECTS CHARTER AMENDMENT ON WHO CAN SERVE: A charter amendment that would have allowed residents to decide whether employees with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, Harford County Public Schools and the Harford County government can serve on the County Council was rejected Tuesday night. The council has encountered turbulence due to the dual employment of two of its elected members, prompting lengthy legal processes and removals from office that were overturned by the Appellate Court of Maryland and the Supreme Court of Maryland. Matt Hubbard/The Aegis.
MO CO INCINERATOR NOW FOUND IN COMPLIANCE: All three units at the Dickerson incinerator were found to comply with the state’s air pollutant limits during the most recent round of tests, the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection said Friday. Ceoli Jacoby/Bethesda Today.
BALTIMORE BANNER COMPANY BUYS PITTSBURGH PAPER ON VERGE OF CLOSING: The Baltimore Banner’s parent organization will buy The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – a purchase that will allow the more than two-century-old Pennsylvania newspaper to avoid its closure that had been planned for next month. Marcus Dieterle/Baltimore Fishbowl.
- The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism announced Tuesday that it had signed an agreement to purchase the assets of the Post-Gazette from Block Communications Inc., the family-owned company that has operated the paper for nearly a century. Liz Bowie/The Baltimore Banner.
There is not much we should be celebrating from this session. The Gov continues to give his best impression of a Fake and a fraud. Along with a second year in a row of handing back pennies to the tax and ratepayers of MD. Go on get, get outta here kid ya bothering me. take the pennies and be thankful. Look mom I’m doing something about our shitty energy policy that continues to bankrupt marylanders.