STATE, LOCAL OFFICIALS PREP FOR WORST-CASE ELECTION DAY SCENARIOS: The Trump administration won’t rule out sending federal agents to the polls this election season, dismissing the question as nonsense, but Maryland officials are taking the possibility seriously. Gov. Wes Moore, Maryland’s elections administrator and a host of local officials say they’re preparing for worst-case scenarios amid uncertainty. They’re setting up hotlines and asking state residents to report voter intimidation or election misinformation. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO GET NEW, INCOME-ADJUSTED RATINGS: Maryland’s annual school ratings will be released this morning, giving families a sense of how schools are doing based on standardized test scores, staff and student surveys, attendance and the breadth of class offerings. But those school ratings are not much more than a proxy for family income, said Josh Michael, president of the Maryland State Board of Education. Schools with students from higher-income families have high ratings, and schools with a majority of low-income families have lower ratings. In the next year, the state will rewrite its rating system to give more weight to how well schools help struggling students catch up and to student performance on the state test, as measured by pass rates. Liz Bowie/The Baltimore Banner.
PROPERTY TAX BREAK FOR ANDURIL CRITICIZED: Baltimore County is poised to give a huge property tax break next week to the defense contractor Anduril Industries. Anduril plans to build a shipyard at Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point. But at a hearing Tuesday afternoon, the County Council got some pushback about handing over tax dollars to a company that profits from wars. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
ANTI-REDISTRICTING PAC FACES COMPLAINT ABOUT DONOR DISCLOSURE: A political action committee running ads opposing changes to congressional redistricting rules has been targeted in an anonymous campaign finance complaint. The complaint, filed over the weekend with the Maryland State Board of Elections and Office of the State Prosecutor, argues that the PAC, Truth for Maryland, has not disclosed its donors as required by law. Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Banner.
ALSOBROOKS, VAN HOLLEN SEEK $311M IN FED FUNDS FOR NONPROFITS: Maryland’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen are looking to earmark hundreds of millions of dollars for special projects. A large chunk of that funding, around $311 million, is specifically requested for nonprofit organizations. That raises transparency and accountability concerns, according to Jeremy Portnoy, an investigative journalist with Open the Books, a government spending watchdog. Brooke Conrad/The Baltimore Sun.
DATA CENTER ISSUE HEATS UP FREDERICK COUNTY EXEC RACE: With just days left in the campaign, Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater (D) finds herself in an unlikely dogfight with an underfunded GOP challenger who is now the subject of attack ads produced by a super PAC. Voter anger over data centers may, at least in part, be responsible. Christine Condon and Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT FEDERAL SUIT AGAINST ARUNDEL SCHOOLS: The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division’s suit against the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, alleging that the school system allowed students to change their gender without parental knowledge or consent, is the latest front in an ongoing saga related to the board’s gender identity policies. Those policies were first brought to light in July, when parents working with a conservative nonprofit sued the school system, alleging that a school “socially transitioned” their child without their knowledge or consent. Cody Boteler/The Baltimore Banner.
- Slightly more than two months after Anne Arundel County public schools amended a gender policy due to a threat from the federal government, the school district got sued anyway. The suit seeks a court injunction to not only prevent Arundel schools from enforcing its “Safe and Inclusive Environments for LGBTQ+ Students” policy, but also to allow parents to review and challenge any errors in their child’s educational records. The policy, the suit says, violates the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
MO CO SEEKS DISMISSAL OF DOJ LAWSUIT ON DEFUNCT ICE MASK LAW: Montgomery County has asked a federal judge to dismiss the part of a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit challenging its Unmask ICE Act, arguing that the local law was no longer in force when the Trump administration filed its complaint. Ceoli Jacoby/Bethesda Today.
BA CO COUNCIL OKs COUNTY OFFICIALS SALARY RAISES: The Baltimore County Council has been raising salaries for county officials on the eve of next week’s election. It is expected to take a vote on Monday, on the eve of Election Day, on raising the county administrative officer’s salary 18 percent, to more than $310,000 annually. Last week it approved a 73 percent pay hike for the next county council that will be sworn in in December, to nearly $120,000. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
MCPS RETIREMENT INCENTIVES COULD HIT $6 MILLION: Montgomery County Public Schools spent nearly $6 million on payouts for more than 570 employees who were given an incentive to retire, according to data provided at Monday’s County Council Education and Culture Committee meeting. The incentives for eligible employees could reach up to $12,000, according to a May email to staff. Ashlyn Campbell/Bethesda Today.
