MARYLAND REACHES ’30 by 30′ LAND CONSERVATION GOAL YEARS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: The protected land includes a 1-acre fish hatchery at Unicorn Lake in eastern Maryland and the sprawling Green Ridge State Forest in the west. It includes shorelines, farms and woods around Naval Air Station Patuxent River, and the Chesapeake Forest Lands, some 75,000 wooded acres that are home to species like bald eagles and the once-endangered Delmarva fox squirrel. None of it can be developed, and all of it has helped Maryland reach a landmark conservation goal six years ahead of schedule, before any other state that’s joined an effort known as “30 by 30.” Cara Buckley/The New York Times.
NEW BILLS SIGNED FOCUS ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE, AID TO FEDERAL WORKERS: Gov. Wes Moore and Maryland’s legislative leadership signed a slew of bills into law Tuesday afternoon with a particular focus on criminal justice and protection for federal employees facing job losses under the Trump administration. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- Two bills were filed on behalf of Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater. One would allow statements made by a child to a professional forensic interviewer to be read in court in exception to the rule against hearsay. The second will authorize Frederick County government’s human resources team to use fingerprint-supported background checks for certain prospective county employees or volunteers. Ceoli Jacoby/The Frederick News Post.
LEGISLATURE SLOW TO PASS POLICE REFORMS, EVEN AFTER FREDDIE GRAY’s DEATH: Jill Carter, a Baltimore Democrat, sponsored police reform bills throughout her 20-year political career in the State House and Senate, including a bill that failed mere weeks before Freddie Gray died of injuries he sustained while in police custody. Carter believes that had the legislature not “turned a blind eye to the nature of police reform” in 2014 and 2015 “it is quite possible Freddie Gray might not have been killed,” she said. Ultimately, Black women like Carter took the lead on passing substantive police reform policy — six years later. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
100 DAYS AS SENATOR, ALSOBROOKS DOESN’T HOLD BACK ON TRUMP: Sworn in Jan. 3 as the first Black and second woman U.S. senator in Maryland history, Angela Alsobrooks represents a state that—at the outset of the Trump administration—included the nation’s third largest concentration of federal government employees. So it did not take long for her to begin lobbing verbal broadsides at President Donald Trump’s unprecedented effort to slash the federal workforce through executive order. Louis Peck/Bethesda Today.
VAN HOLLEN TAKES CENTER STAGE WITH DEPORTATION CASE: Weeks after the Trump administration seized Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Prince George’s County, stashed him in a Salvadoran prison and flouted courts ordering his return, it was Maryland’s genteel senator who grabbed the world by the collar to demand its attention. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
SUPREMES SEEM TO SIDE WITH PARENTS IN MO CO OPT-OUT CASE: Supreme Court justices appeared to side Tuesday with Montgomery County parents who say the county’s refusal to let them opt their children out of classes with LGBTQ-themed books violates their right to raise their children according to their faith. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
- It’s unclear when the U.S Supreme Court will make a decision in a case brought against Montgomery County Public Schools by parents who believe their religious freedoms are being violated by a district policy regarding LGBTQ+ books. But supporters of the plaintiffs were hopeful that the questions posed by the justices during oral arguments indicated the court was on their side. Ginny Bixby/Bethesda Today.
JUDGE REBUKES TRUMP ADMIN IN ABREGO GARCIA CASE: The Trump administration said in documents filed in federal court Tuesday that it has engaged in “appropriate diplomatic discussions” with El Salvador concerning Kilmar Abrego García, the Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to the Central American country last month and is still being held in prison there. However, District Court Judge Paula Xinis again sharply rebuked the administration for not providing enough information about its efforts to comply with her order to facilitate the man’s return. Steve Thompson/The Washington Post.
FORMER FED PROSECUTOR WITH TIES TO TRUMP ON HARVARD TEAM IN LAWSUIT: Robert Hur, a former top Maryland federal prosecutor with ties to the Trump administration, is one of the attorneys representing Harvard University in its legal battle against the administration after officials froze billions of dollars of the university’s federal funding. Natalie Jones/The Baltimore Sun.
SHERIFF: WE WON’T ENFORCE COURT ORDER IN CIVIL DISPUTE: Carroll County law enforcement will not enforce court orders providing property access for Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project land surveying purposes to the Public Service Enterprise Group, if they are granted by a federal judge. “Our office will not get in the middle of a civil dispute between landowners and the Piedmont group,” Sheriff Jim DeWees said Tuesday. Thomas Goodwin Smith/The Carroll County Times.
FOUNDATION STEPS UP WITH $1.2M FOR KEY BRIDGE FAMILIES: The Baltimore Community Foundation has donated $1.2 million to help the families of the six workers who died in the Key Bridge disaster, Mayor Brandon Scott says. This donation comes almost two weeks after The Baltimore Banner reported that none of the $16 million the community foundation raised following the bridge collapse has gone to the victims or survivors, despite advertising that intent. Lee O. Sanderlin/The Baltimore Banner.
CARROLL’s PROPOSED $581M OPERATING BUDGET COMES WITH STARK WARNING: As Carroll County Management and Budget Director Ted Zaleski presented a proposed $581 million fiscal 2026 operating budget for the county government Tuesday, he again issued a stark warning that massive cuts to the federal government could negatively impact the county’s budget plans. Sherry Greenfield/The Carroll County Times.
FORMER DJS EMPLOYEE ACCUSED OF CHILD MOLESTATION: A former Maryland Department of Juvenile Services employee accused of molesting dozens of boys at a state facility in Baltimore County decades ago was indicted on 57 felonies Monday. Luke Parker/The Baltimore Sun.
