Shortly after we posted an earlier blog about the elimination of the Distinguished Scholars program, Gov. Martin O’Malley issued a statement rescinding the withdrawal of scholarships to this year’s graduating seniors. He said: “Earlier today, I ordered the Maryland Higher Education Commission to restore funding to the 350 Maryland seniors who were counting on the $3,000 Distinguished Scholars award they earned to attend a Maryland college or university.”
Len Lazarick
Blog: Scholarship cuts add fuel to petition drive
If opponents of in-state tuition for immigrants needed any more ammunition for their petition drive, it was on the front page of the Sun Wednesday, below the story about the signing of the tuition bill. The article documents one of the little publicized cuts in the budget proposed by Gov. Martin O’Malley and passed by the General Assembly: the elimination of the Distinguished Scholar Program that would have provided $1.1 million to the best and brightest Maryland students graduating this year.
Maryland one of best states in collecting transportation data, study says
Maryland collects more data on various aspects of transportation than most other states, ensuring that taxpayers can get the biggest bang for their bucks, according to a new study from the Pew Center on the States and the Rockefeller Foundation. Maryland is one of 13 states that the study found is “leading the way” in collecting information on six important indicators dealing with transportation: safety, jobs and commerce, mobility, access, environmental stewardship, and infrastructure preservation.
Blog: Maryland Pension System makes no effort to keep its investments at home
A new national study found that many state pension systems over-invest in their own states and lose money, but Maryland is not one of them.
The study, published earlier this month by two faculty members at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, looked at whether state pension systems seemed to be biased toward making investments in their own states. The study found that when states keep their pension investment dollars close to home, they tend to lose more.
$3.1M renovation of old House of Delegates chamber takes it back to the Victorian era
Starting this summer, visitors to the State House will be able to transport themselves to the Victorian Era in Annapolis in the old House of Delegates chamber – complete with ornate paintings, luxurious furnishings and intricate carpeting. The long-planned re-creation of the chamber as it appeared in the late 1800s is nearly complete. The newly renovated room, where the House of Delegates met until the current chamber was finished in 1904, has been under construction for about two years.
Many hatchery-produced oysters are illegally harvested
The fruit of at least a third of the work done by state agencies to restore the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay is being stolen through illegal harvesting, according to biologists who research its oyster beds. Others say that number is even higher, closer to 80%. The state has invested about $50 million in oyster restoration since 1994.
State Roundup, May 6, 2011
Looking at Lt. Gov. Brown and his role in the O’Malley administration; primary vote move means Maryland will have more delegates to DNC Convention; no temporary Arundel slots means less revenues for the state, schools, horse racing; Mooney voted for in-state tuition to illegals in ’03; looking at transportation taxes from different viewpoints; camp fees to state increasing as much as 1,900% this summer.
Huckabee helps Md. GOP raise money as he looks at presidential run
Potential Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said he still doesn’t know if he will run for president, but he wasted little time Wednesday at a state Republican Party fundraiser in Montgomery County practicing a stump speech, and some comedy, in front of an enthusiastic crowd of about 100.
Blog: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels in Baltimore, and still not a candidate
Mitch Daniels did not come to Baltimore on Tuesday to announce he was running for president, but the governor of Indiana also did not come to the Pikesville Hilton to say he wasn’t running for president.
“I’m not a candidate for anything yet,” Daniels told a small audience as he accepted the Governor Reagan Award from the Harbour League, a four-year-old Baltimore-based organization of free-market conservatives, which some in the audience of about 60 had never heard of before the event.
Sponsor of immigrant tuition bill says repeal efforts could cost millions
The lead sponsor who objects to efforts to overturn his bill granting in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants said referendum efforts by opponents could cost the state millions and the drive is being funded by outside Tea Party interests. But state officials say the cost of putting the issue on the ballot is fairly minimal, and some organizers say there is little evidence of out-of-state funding for the petition drive.
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