31,000 APPLY FOR BUTTERFLY LOGOS ON ID TO INDICATE HIDDEN DISABILITY: Almost 31,000 people have applied to get butterfly logos added to their driver’s licenses and identification cards to indicate a hidden disability in the year since Eric’s ID Law allowing the logos took effect. That feat was marked Thursday by Eric Carpenter-Grantham, the law’s namesake, his mother, Linda, and 148 others at a celebration at Andrews Federal Credit Union in Prince George’s County. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
EPA TO RELEASE $37M TO AID BAY CLEANUP EFFORTS: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi announced Friday that the agency will disburse $37 million to localities to aid Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction and cleanup efforts. An additional $53 million in matching grant funds will be awarded to 83 projects across the watershed, 32 of them Maryland-based. Shannon Heckt/Maryland Matters.
STATE FINES HARFORD DEVELOPER FOR CONTINUED TRIBUTARY POLLUTION: Months after reaching a record settlement over mud pollution from a Harford County housing project, state environmental regulators have fined the developer another $24,000 for continuing to foul a Gunpowder River tributary. The Maryland Department of the Environment levied $6,000 penalties for four occasions this past spring and summer when inspectors found that sediment from the Ridgely’s Reserve development had washed offsite into local streams. Timothy Wheeler/The Bay Journal.
BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO RESTRICT MENHADEN HARVEST: A bipartisan group of Maryland legislators is pushing for fishery managers to institute further restrictions on the harvest of Atlantic menhaden, a small fish that sits at the base of the Chesapeake Bay food chain. In their letter, the 29 Maryland senators and delegates endorsed a suite of policies that would set new rules for harvesting the silvery forage fish, a key food group for species including striped bass and osprey. Christine Condon/Maryland Matters.
PERDUE SOYBEAN PROCESSOR SEEKS TO INCREASE DISCHARGES: Maryland’s environmental regulator is poised to allow a soybean processor on the Eastern Shore to discharge up to five times more polluted water into the headwaters of a Chesapeake Bay tributary. The pending action comes as the owner of the Salisbury soybean plant, agribusiness giant Perdue Farms, continues to struggle with removing PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” from its effluent more than three years after their discovery. The Maryland Department of the Environment contends that the new permit will provide more protection to the surrounding community. Jeremy Cox/The Bay Journal.
STATE HAILS SETTLEMENT WITH MEDICAL WASTE INCINERATOR: State officials are hailing the announcement that the troubled Curtis Bay Energy facility will stop incinerating medical waste at its South Baltimore site in order to settle a Maryland Department of the Environment lawsuit charging the company with repeated air pollution violations. Curtis Bay Energy is one of the largest medical waste incinerators in the country. Under the proposed consent decree, the site will continue operating as a medical waste transfer station, but at sharply reduced levels. Staff/Maryland Matters.
FISH KILL IN BASIN RUN COMES AMID STATE LAWSUIT AGAINST DAIRY FARM: Downstream from an embattled northeast Maryland dairy farm, a beloved creek again brimmed with dead fish — this time, thousands of them. The fish kill in Basin Run comes in the middle of a state lawsuit against Kilby Farms, a dairy operation in Cecil County, over repeated discharges of manure and other harmful liquids into the waterway. Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
TRUMP SET TO SPEAK AT TRADEPOINT ATLANTIC ON TUESDAY: President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks Tuesday at Tradepoint Atlantic, the 3,300-acre industrial site in southeast Baltimore County. Trump will speak at 4 p.m. at an event where Anduril Industries, a defense technology firm, will announce “the next chapter of our work to rebuild American defense manufacturing,” according to a company press release sent Saturday morning. Sapna Bansil and Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Banner.
BPW TO BE ASKED FOR $550,000 TO DEFEND MOORE AGAINST SMITH SUIT: The Maryland Board of Public Works, chaired by Gov. Wes Moore, is being asked on Oct. 7 to approve a $550,000 potential payment for outside lawyers defending Moore in a defamation lawsuit brought by Baltimore Sun co-owner David Smith, raising questions about whether the governor should participate in the three-member board’s vote. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
THIRD PARTY GOVERNOR CANDIDATES DECRY EXCLUSION FROM MPT DEBATE: There are four candidates on the ballot for governor this fall. There will be two on stage Tuesday for the only scheduled debate of the campaign. To Andy Ellis and Cathy White, that doesn’t seem right. Ellis, the Green Party nominee, and White, the nominee of the Working Class Party, have continued, without success, to push for inclusion in the debate being held by Maryland Public Television. But MPT says only Gov. Wes Moore, the Democratic nominee, and Republican nominee Dan Cox met the criteria to be on the stage. Pera Onal/Maryland Matters.
STATE SUPREMES TO DECIDE ON ANOTHER ORPHANS’ COURT JUDGE’s REMOVAL: The Maryland Supreme Court will hear arguments today over whether a second member of the Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court should be removed from office. If Chief Judge Vickie Gipson is removed, she would become the third judge elected to the court in 2022 who did not complete a four-year term. According to state filings, Gipson’s recommended removal stems from an escalating feud with former Judge Marc Knapp, which included shouting matches, suppressed dissents and ethics breaches. Sofia Montoya-Deck/The Baltimore Sun.
B’MORE PUSHING LARGEST TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT: A proposal being considered by Baltimore officials would ask the state to approve what would be the largest transit-oriented development area in Maryland history — potentially giving projects later proposed within the zone priority consideration for certain state loans, grants and tax credits. Jessica Baugh and Brian Carlton/The Baltimore Sun.
COLUMN: CAN SCHWARTZ BEAT HARRIS? Since Independence Day, I’ve been following Dan Schwartz, the 38-year-old candidate seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, listening as he talks with supporters at sweat-soaked rallies, youth door-knocking campaigns and parking lot gatherings. Through it all, I’ve asked — can Schwartz win? The answer I found is yes. But the path to an upset is narrow. Rick Hutzell/The Baltimore Banner.
ARUNDEL COUNCILMAN PUSHES SUITE OF ETHICS BILLS: Political contributions from developers and perceived conflicts of interest were hot-button topics in Anne Arundel County’s primary elections, and County Councilman Nathan Volke is keeping those issues alive headed into the November election. The Pasadena Republican, who’s widely expected to win reelection in November, hopes to pass a suite of three ethics bills that would affect county elected officials. Cody Boteler/The Baltimore Banner.
SOME B’MORE SMOKE SHOPS SELLING RESTRICTED THC PRODUCTS: Some of Baltimore’s 1,400 smoke shops sold a Baltimore Sun journalist products that employees described as marijuana and edibles labeled as containing intoxicating THC, despite state restrictions on what unlicensed retailers may sell, a Sun investigation found. Adam Bednar/The Baltimore Sun.
RASKIN SEEKS PROBE INTO TAXPAYER FUNDED TRUMP ADS: Rep. Jamie Raskin is calling for a federal investigation of television spots paid for by taxpayers that heavily promote President Donald Trump, which are airing just weeks before the midterm elections. Raskin and Rep. George Whitesides, of California, wrote this week to the GAO seeking a probe into the ads, which the White House has called public service announcements. But Raskin pointed out that one of the videos is nearly identical to an ad that President Trump ran in 2024. Mitchell Miller/WTOP-FM.
AS BANNED BOOK WEEK NEARS, RASKIN WARNS OF THE GROWING THREAT: Ahead of Banned Books Week, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin warned about attempts to limit what students are allowed to read. Raskin joined Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in introducing resolutions “expressing concern about the growing problem of book banning.” The lawmakers have taken similar action several years in a row. Talia Richman/The Baltimore Banner.
