FREDERICK COUNTY LAWMAKERS ASK AG BROWN TO PROBE ICE INCIDENT: Frederick County’s District 3 legislative delegation has asked Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown to investigate the conduct of federal immigration agents near the Tasker’s Chance neighborhood this month. The request follows two days of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity that began when a man fled from federal agents during a vehicle stop Sept. 3. Joseph DeBell/The Frederick News Post.
STATE APPEALS RULING THAT STRUCK DOWN DIGITAL AD TAX: State officials are asking a circuit court to review a state tax court ruling last month that struck down a first-of-its kind digital ad tax that was supposed to help fund Maryland education reform. Three tech companies that challenged the 2021 Maryland law — Apple, Google and Peacock TV — won separate Maryland Tax Court rulings in August that found the law violated the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act. The appeal filed in Anne Arundel Circuit Court asks a judge to review those decisions. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS MEETING BEGINS AMID CONCERNS OVER LOSS OF REPRESENTATION: Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-4th) says the annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s legislative conference is typically “a big homecoming,” but this year’s event could be the last for some members at a time when Black representation is under threat on Capitol Hill. The conference comes just months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s April ruling in Louisiana v. Callais gutted racial protections in the Voting Rights Act, saying states’ use of race-based redistricting amounts to an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” William Ford/Maryland Matters.
COMMENTARY: BALLOT QUESTIONS MUST UNDERSTANDABLE TO DISABLED COMMUNITY: State Sen. Cheryl Kagan of Montgomery County has led efforts to make ballot questions easier to understand, mounting a six-year campaign for plain-language legislation Several studies show that the average reading level among people in the deaf community is between the 4th and 5th grades. Eight ballot questions appeared in the last three even-numbered election years: 2020, 2022, and 2024.I found that the average grade level for these eight questions was 14.1, which proves Kagan’s argument. Howard Gorrell/Maryland Reporter.
DESPITE REFORM, RATE HIKE REQUESTS FROM POWER COMPANIES MOUNT: Savings from a sweeping utilities reform bill this year are on the way, but energy regulators told state lawmakers Tuesday that they have seen rising rate requests from power companies this year, and expect to see more. Those comments came during a briefing for the House Environment and Transportation on the implementation of the Utility RELIEF Act, signed into law this year as lawmakers continued to search for ways to rein in rising energy bills. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
FORMER U.S. ED SECTYS, MARYLAND LAWMAKERS PROTEST DEPT FIRINGS: Three former U.S. Education Department secretaries and the union representing agency workers on Tuesday urged the department’s top watchdog to investigate the cost and impact of mass firings last year. U.S. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee ranking member Bobby Scott of Virginia, as well as a handful of other Democratic lawmakers and union leaders, joined Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. Shauneen Miranda/Maryland Matters.
FREDERICK COUNTY EXEC REJECTS DATA CENTER BENEFIT AGREEMENT: Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater rejected a benefit agreement with a data center developer on Monday, amid public outcry. Quantum Maryland LLC submitted an application for a development rights and responsibilities agreement on Sept. 1. QM promised $110 million in community benefits, while also offering to reduce data center development by 20% and potable water consumption by 80%. Nathanael Miller/WYPR-FM.
BCPS SEEKS $88.6M FOR BUILDING MAINTENANCE: Baltimore City Public Schools is requesting $88.6 million for building upkeep, renovation and replacement projects across the over 140 buildings it maintains — a number it doesn’t expect state or local funding to meet and that is millions shy of what district staff say it needs. Racquel Bazos/The Baltimore Sun.
FOR $65K, AI SCHOOL PROMISES KIDS CAN ‘CRUSH ACADEMICS:’ For about $65,000 in tuition, parents could soon enroll their children at a Bethesda private school that promises students can “crush their academics in 2 hours” a day with the help of AI software. Talia Richman/The Baltimore Banner.
CIVILITY A CAMPAIGN ISSUE IN TAKOMA PARK MAYOR’s RACE: It was two hours into a Takoma Park City Council meeting, and the mayor wasn’t tolerating interruptions. “I just ask you to respect our panelists and the people that are here, and to not disrupt this meeting,” first-term Mayor Talisha Searcy said firmly during the 2023 exchange with Tom Gagliardo, an attorney who had — unprompted — shouted an opinion. Three years later, Gagliardo, 79, a former Takoma Park city attorney, would be running to unseat Searcy, 46 — and that decorum and civility. Jeff Barker/The Washington Sun.
ABUSE SURVIVORS MAY SEE NONE OF ARCHDIOCESE PROPERTY SELL-OFF BOON: The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s ambitious effort to halve the number of Catholic churches in America’s oldest diocese has brought in nearly $10 million. Yet the plaintiffs seeking settlements from the church for decades-ago sexual abuse may never see that money — or millions more from properties soon to hit the market. Rona Kobell/The Baltimore Banner.
EXPERIMENTAL SMALL FUSION REACTORS SEEK TO COMPETE: While progress begins on small, modular nuclear fission reactors across the United States for electric generation, others are betting on fusion, the still-experimental fusing of lightweight atoms that powered Tony Stark’s fictional Iron Man suit. Karl Hille/The Baltimore Sun.
