Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday announced reductions and eliminations to state agency fees, saving Maryland taxpayers approximately $51 million over the next five years. Each state agency was asked to conduct a top to bottom review to determine which fees they could reduce or eliminate through administrative means by the end of 2015, Hogan said.
Although Maryland will not elect its next senator until November 2016, the party primaries are only 230 days away on April 26. Since incumbent Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski announced her retirement plans in March, the primary is shaping up to be a clash between two of the state’s best-known politicians, though four lesser-knowns have filed. On Tuesday, Rep. Donna Edwards, who represents Maryland’s 4th District, took another important step in her campaign, filing her certificate of candidacy, and officially placing her name on the ballot as a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Community members and law enforcement officials say Langley Park, located just inside the Capital Beltway in Prince George’s County, is rife with prostitution and human trafficking.
Yet law enforcement officials have said they’ve had trouble catching traffickers there, citing the language barrier, elusive perpetrators and scared victims.
Maryland has some of the lightest penalties in the nation for human trafficking of adults, which police officers and advocates say draws traffickers into the state.
A bill to strengthen trafficking penalties died in the Maryland General Assembly this session. Among the biggest opponents were advocacy groups working to end trafficking
Baltimore has become a hub for human trafficking because of its interstate highways and proximity to major airports, city and state officials say. But few human traffickers are arrested, and even fewer are convicted — while police continue to make hundreds of prostitution arrests every year.
Labor trafficking can be found in sweatshops, on farms, in restaurants and nail salons, on construction crews and custodial staffs and in American households, according to the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force. Labor trafficking victims are more commonly immigrants brought to the United States than Americans
The traffickers aren’t always the flashy, bling-wearing, urban street pimps Hollywood portrays, the records show. They are sex salesmen who use business cards and online classifieds like Backpage to market their products. The business — often referred to by insiders as “The Game” — includes strategy and deception.
Their stories, taken from court records, sketch out a common theme: Traffickers find vulnerable young women, seduce them with promises of security, then force them into the sex trade.
When they resist, they are beaten, drugged, threatened with the loss of their children.
And the businesses are everywhere. From a brick house in a quiet neighborhood to a three-star hotel near a swanky mall, sex trafficking has infiltrated the most ordinary of surroundings in Maryland.
Utilities are installing “smart meters” to save money on meter readers and to save energy. But 25,000 Marylanders have chosen to opt out of the program over fears about health and loss of privacy.
Maryland’s casino industry has been growing at a double digit pace since casino table gaming was legalized in 2012. But for casino operators, surviving and prospering becomes increasingly challenging in a climate of fierce competition. Maryland Live, the largest casino in the state, accounted for 76% of the state’s total casino business in 2014, with its 4,200 slot machines and 189 gaming tables.
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