Cynthia Prairie, Author at MarylandReporter.com

State Roundup, March 21, 2017

House revises Trust Act, allowing some jurisdictions to continue working with ICE agents; House panel kills Gov. Hogan’s proposal for a nonpartisan redistricting commission; Attorney General Frosh may gain authority to sue price-gouging drug companies; Hogan’s statements on Senate President Miller during anti-fracking announcement disappoints Sen. Zirkin; Democratic congressmen rally to ask Hogan to come out against GOP Obamacare replacement; medical pot dispensary seeks OK for Arundel County site; Baltimore City Council OKs minimum wage hike; and Ed Hale Jr. plans to run for Baltimore County Council.

State Roundup, March 20, 2017

Gov. Hogan surprises just about everyone with announcement that he supports banning fracking in Maryland; Senate passes bill to monitor ways to prevent 400,000 Marylanders from losing health insurance under Trump administration; homeowners behind in water bill payment may get reprieve from home loss; House OKs brewery tap room sales bill; DHMH nominee gets a hearing; House approves ‘yes means yes’ standard for sex education in public schools; Trump win credited with revival of Democratic women’s club in Anne Arundel; and GOP lawmakers also push back over zeroing out of Chesapeake Bay program.

State commission would monitor health care coverage as Congress replaces ACA

The Maryland Senate on Friday adopted the Maryland Health Insurance Coverage Protection Act to monitor congressional plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act that could cost the state billions to maintain current coverage.

Rascovar: Saving the Preakness and Pimlico’s future

Thanks to revenue from Maryland’s successful slots casinos, the state’s thoroughbred racing industry has seen a re-birth that hints at prosperity for the Free State’s billion-dollar horse industry in future decades. To keep those good times a-rollin’, though, will require a major investment by Annapolis political leaders and by their counterparts in Baltimore City.

State Roundup, March 17, 2017

Black Caucus fails to sway Senate panel on bail reform as it approves only allowing misdemeanor cases released without bond; House passes revised Hogan budget, sends it on to Senate; Senate OKs paid sick leave with a veto-proof margin; Mongtomery senators seek to alter Gov. Hogan’s deal with Marriott International; fracking protesters arrested as Sen. Carter Conway says she’ll move bills out of committee; beer bills sure to foment brouhaha in Annapolis; House OKs bill to curb kiddie school expulsions; Maryland judges joins Hawaii in halting President Trump’s latest travel ban; and news outlets around Maryland begin looking at how Trump budget could affect the state.

Senate approves extra funding for Md. Public TV if Trump cuts aid

Starting next year live C-Span style deliberations of the Maryland House and Senate could be televised and live streamed during the last two weeks of each session, under a provision in a bill to support Maryland Public Television should Congress cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as President Trump has proposed.

State Roundup, March 16, 2017

House of Delegates gives preliminary OK to Gov. Hogan’s $43.5 billion budget after restoring most of Hogan’s spending cuts; lawmakers compromise of transportation bill, delaying transit scoring for two years; Hogan promises veto of paid sick leave bills, calling them jobs killers and campaign tools; bill to lengthen statute of limitations of victims filing suit for child abuse likely to pass; another Hogan nominee withdraws from consideration; judicial panel orders Senate president, House speaker deposed on gerrymandering; and federal judge in Maryland joins Hawaii in blocking President Trump’s latest travel ban.

Paid sick leave bills “dead in the water,” Hogan says, promising veto

The paid sick leave bills making their way through the legislature “are dead on arrival” if they reach his desk, Gov. Larry Hogan declared Wednesday. He promised reporters “I will veto them immediately” because they have the potential to kill thousands of jobs and “are disastrous for our economy.” This story compares who is covered in the legislative proposals and Hogan’s own bill.

State Roundup, March 15, 2017

Attorney General Frosh blasts industry-backed bail reform bill as undermining court rule to curb money in release; sick leave, transportation scoring compromise bills go before Senate; delegate wants Medicaid coverage for adult dental work; Gov. Hogan criticized for more Facebook editing: posting news stories with doctored headlines; Hogan nominees met with skepticism; Republican Arundel councilman to run for delegate; and Maryland challenge to President Trump travel ban goes before a federal judge.

Columbia at 50 Part 9 ENVIRONMENT: Respecting the Land While Building a City

“To respect the land” was one of the four basic goals for Columbia often repeated by developer James Rouse more than 50 years ago as he pitched his proposal “to build a complete city” on 14,000 acres of farmland, woods and stream valleys. The goals seem almost a contradiction. If he wanted to “respect the land,” why not just leave the fields and forest as they were? Because they were not going to stay that way for long as suburban development spread from Baltimore and Washington along the new interstate highways.

Cynthia Prairie

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