WIDE-RANGING SCHWARTZ-HARRIS DEBATE GETS HEATED: Republican Rep. Andy Harris and Democratic challenger Dan Schwartz challenged each other in a rapid-fire forum Tuesday night filled with sharp exchanges over the Iran war, what’s best for the 1st District’s farmers, and federal budget cuts. After the debate, Harris invited reporters into a separate room for questions and answers, but shut down reporters’ questions that he said were “silly.” He told one reporter that she, in a pack of reporters also recording him, was not allowed to record. Harris called for his staff to summon police to have the reporter removed when she continued recording. Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
- U.S. Rep. Andy Harris also drew audience laughter during the League of Women Voters debate with challenger Dan Schwartz when he said that environmental regulations by the Democrats caused the price of diesel to rise. Short video clip posted by American Bridge 21st Century.
- Here’s the debate in its entirety for viewing. Video starts around minute 14. Radio Chesapeake.
- Interjections from audience members, largely in opposition to Harris’s statements, interrupted the debate several times but tensions in the room boiled over when the candidates were asked about the Trump administration making a deal with Russian leadership for diesel. “Making a deal with Russia to lift sanctions on their diesel when they are actively working with Iranian forces to kill our troops is not only wrong; it’s disgusting,” Schwartz responded, “and it follows the pattern of this administration pardoning criminals.” Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
MOORE ADMIN: STATE CENTER TO BE REPLACED WITH MIXED-USE CAMPUS: For a period spanning 20 years and four governors, Maryland has been flummoxed and hamstrung over what to do with State Center, a dilapidated 28-acre state office complex in Baltimore’s center. Now, Gov. Wes Moore’s administration has a plan: tear State Center down and build a mixed-use campus in its place. Lee O. Sanderlin/The Baltimore Banner.
MOORE TO CRACK DOWN ON CHILDREN STEALING CARS: Gov. Wes Moore said Tuesday he’s has had enough of children stealing cars in Maryland. About two weeks after a motorcyclist was killed in Baltimore after being struck by a car allegedly driven by a 12-year-old, Moore ordered the state Department of Juvenile Services to coordinate a multiagency intervention into youth auto theft. Alex Mann/The Baltimore Banner.
- The Department of Juvenile Service said it plans to “strengthen coordination through existing Youth of Concern meetings to identify youth at risk, respond quickly to incidents, and connect youth and families with appropriate services and supports, including younger children who are served with community and/or residential services through the Child in Need of Supervision process.” William Ford/Maryland Matters.
PRESS FREEDOM GROUPS OBJECT TO MOORE’s RESPONSE TO QUERIES FROM SINCLAIR, SUN: Several national press freedom groups are condemning a practice used by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s administration in response to inquiries from news outlets affiliated with Sinclair and The Baltimore Sun. In a letter to Moore’s administration, the organizations — including the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists — took issue with Moore’s office sending “routine” inquiries from those outlets for legal review, as Moore faces a defamation lawsuit filed by David Smith, the executive chairman of Sinclair and principal owner of The Baltimore Sun. Staff/Maryland Matters.
- In a letter organized by Freedom of the Press Foundation, the press rights groups argued that Moore’s policy amounts to unlawful retaliation. “It is particularly jarring that, while government agencies under your watch stonewall reporters based on flimsy pretexts, you take to the airwaves to condemn the Trump administration’s unconstitutional ban of news outlets the president doesn’t like from the White House. Yes, Trump frequently turns his personal grudges into censorial government policy, to the detriment of the public. But your own conduct appears not much different,” the letter to Moore said. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
MOORE CAMPAIGN FAILS TO BACK CAMPAIGN’s CLAIMS: “Everything is high. I mean, it’s sky high,” said 90-year-old Essex resident Louzetta Deboe. “It don’t come down, and when they say it’s coming down, it doesn’t come down.” Deboe’s daily lived experience collides with a central reelection message from Democratic incumbent Gov. Wes Moore. His campaign website claims his administration has “made energy more affordable” and has given the “middle class a tax cut.” Gary Collins/The Baltimore Sun.
COLUMN: RASKIN A POLITICAL WARRIOR WHO BEFRIENDS THOSE HE DISAGREES WITH: U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, is known as a political warrior against what he regards as huge gulps of executive power excesses and presidential self-dealing by Donald Trump. But Raskin does something many Americans in this acrimonious climate struggle with: He befriends people with opposite views of Trump. Jeff Barker/Free State of Mind.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH IN MARYLAND’S INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY: Both lawmakers and the Pentagon have questioned whether enough is being done to support the well-being of the nation’s cyber operators in the aftermath of a suicide cluster this summer that took the lives of five personnel associated with U.S. Cyber Command at Fort George G. Meade. Maryland legislators are pushing to provide an added $11 million to the agency as part of the proposed defense budget for 2027, so officials at the Anne Arundel installation can ease barriers to care and make more providers available. Matti Gellman/The Baltimore Banner.
FAMILY OF SLAIN FORT HOOD NURSE SPEAKS OUT ON PUBLIC EXECUTION: Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, of Havre de Grace, was one of 13 people killed when a gunman opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas in November 2009. Last week the Pentagon set the execution date for the gunman, Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, but Warman’s younger sister Tammy Harper says she forgave Hasan long ago. “I’m not one that I’m going, ‘Hooray, hooray, he’s going to be dead,’” said Harper, who lives in Pittsburgh. “No, that is not me.” Matthew Wynn and Bryna Zumer/The Aegis.
MARYLAND LAWMAKERS UNAWARE OF DRONE TAKE-DOWN: At least two Maryland lawmakers who attended the Army-Navy game in Baltimore in December, when federal authorities used electronic jamming equipment to take down a drone, said they were not alerted at the time, raising questions about how federal authorities coordinated with stadium and local security officials. Todd Karpovich and Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
EX-B’MORE ED BOARD MEMBER RACKED UP CONNECTIONS BEFORE FBI SEARCH: After FBI agents searched his Baltimore County office on Sept. 30, the influence Mujahid Muhammad had long cultivated has begun to waver. Baltimore City Public Schools and Behavioral Health System Baltimore are ending contracts with his company, and an ethics panel is reviewing the school system’s relationships with his businesses. Scott accepted his resignation from the board hours after the FBI action. Liz Bowie and Justin Fenton/The Baltimore Banner.
PARAMEDIC GETS 25 YEARS FOR BEFOULING FOOD, EQUIPMENT IN BA CO: A Baltimore County paramedic was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison for masturbating and urinating on food and office equipment at county fire stations, crimes the judge called “perverted, repulsive and disgusting acts.” Christopher M. Carroll, 36, pleaded guilty in August to three misdemeanor counts of causing another person to ingest his bodily fluids. Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence. Sapna Bansil/The Baltimore Banner.
- On Tuesday, his co-workers spoke in court about how Carroll’s actions have had a lasting effect on them, breaking down the trust they once had. His supervisor said that before the discovery, her relationship with Carroll had been “positive” and “friendly.” Learning about his misconduct was a shock, she said. Maggie Trovato/The Baltimore Sun.
ILLUSTRATOR’S HISTORY OF MARYLAND FLAG LED TO UMD TEAM SUSPENSION: At first, Benjamin Jancewicz didn’t know what was happening. The former Baltimore resident and graphic illustrator now based in Ottawa, Canada, began getting messages on Tuesday about an illustration he had created nearly 10 years ago for a blog post examining the Confederate symbols in the Maryland state flag. The image caused a firestorm this week when the University of Maryland, College Park club tennis team republished it. The image replaces the red-and-white Crossland coat of arms in the state flag with images of Ku Klux Klan hoods. The university suspended the entire club team. Ellie Wolfe/The Baltimore Banner.
