Len Lazarick

Hogan’s run for president was all talk – and wonderful talk it was

Hogan’s run for president was all talk – and wonderful talk it was

I never believed Gov. Larry Hogan would challenge President Trump for president. I also had a hard time understanding why so many media types – local and national – were taking the prospect seriously. And then I realized that Hogan himself seemed to be taking the venture seriously, actively stoking the speculation by not laughing it off. Then he went to New Hampshire, and I began to mistrust my own political instincts and judgment about this man I had gotten to know over the past decade.

Opinion: If you value educators, pay them fairly

Opinion: If you value educators, pay them fairly

To be a teacher these days, we are also social workers, counselors, life coaches, and frontline health responders to Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) kids, every day, in our classrooms and in the halls of our schools, says Prince George’s County teacher Yvonne Baicich in an opinion piece we publish to mark the national Teacher Appreciation Day.

The state of the State House press corps

The state of the State House press corps

In a tradition that goes back at least a dozen years, members of the State House press corps gathered at half past midnight on April 9 after an unusually somber Sine Die. We had just marked the first session in 17 years without Michael Busch wielding the speaker’s gavel, ending with a memorial joint session of House and Senate. It was a pretty robust year for State House reporting, though the session was fairly tame.

ACLU, 16 groups ask speaker hopefuls for greater openness, legislative reforms, term limits

ACLU, 16 groups ask speaker hopefuls for greater openness, legislative reforms, term limits

The ACLU, Common Cause and 15 other progressive groups and unions are asking the candidates for speaker of the House of Delegates to answer a questionnaire that commits them to greater openness in the legislative process and to term limits for the speaker and committee chairs.The twelve-part questionnaire raises many of the issues that have long troubled witnesses, advocates, lobbyists and journalists about how the legislature operates.

Funding lags for tree buffers that clean up streams heading to the Bay

Funding lags for tree buffers that clean up streams heading to the Bay

Alder, willow and sycamore saplings in plastic tubes line a portion of the stream. Steve Derrenbacher, a veterinarian and third-generation farmer, said they’d like to add more streamside trees and even permanently preserve the entire 148 acres their family has owned since 1942. But their conservation hopes are on hold, because the federal program that would pay them to extend the forest buffer is not taking any new applicants right now.

RIP: A final day without Mike Busch — but a photo album of remembrances

RIP: A final day without Mike Busch — but a photo album of remembrances

For 17 sessions since 2003, two constants for the final day were the two Mikes. Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr, president of the Maryland Senate whom at MarylandReporter.com we call simply Mike Miller, and Michael Erin Busch, speaker of the House of Delegates.Now Busch is gone, dead Sunday afternoon after a series of medical problems. Until two years ago, he was a vigorous, energetic, athletic man in firm command of an unruly bunch of 141 who called him “coach.” Here is a photo album with some remembrances.