What should we make of the recent survey finding by the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) that 41% of the state’s teacher’s work a second job to make ends meet?
Election 2018
Inauguration Gallery: Prayer in the morning, speeches at midday, a purple surfboard at night
Below is a gallery of 19 photos from Gov. Larry Hogan’s second inauguration, most of them posted on the governor’s Facebook page and taken by the photographers of the Governor’s Press Office. Click on the arrow at right to move ahead.
Budget
Shady deals at MTA, persisting problems with social services, issues with developmental disabilities, UMES, auditors find
In four reports released in the past week, state auditors found: potential shady contract deals at the Maryland Transit Administration that they referred for prosecution, persisting problems at local social services agencies, failure to follow state procurement regulations and check residency requirements at a state university, and problems in verifying that Marylanders with developmental disabilities are getting the help they need.
General Assembly
New ‘red flag’ law prompts more than 300 court orders on guns
In the three months since its implementation, Maryland’s “red flag” gun safety law has prompted more than 300 protective orders across the state, law enforcement officials told state lawmakers Tuesday.
General Assembly
Maryland voters support raising the minimum wage to $15
On one of the top issues facing legislators in Annapolis this session, 61% of Maryland voters favor raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and almost half (47%) strongly favor the idea, according to a new poll for MarylandReporter.com by Gonzales Research & Media Services. The move is broadly favored by more than three-fourths of Democrats (78%) and eight out of 10 African Americans (81%), as well as a majority of independents (55%). Only among Republican voters, a minority of the Maryland electorate, is their broad opposition to it, with almost half (49%) strongly opposed to the hourly hike.
General Assembly
Gallery: Opening day of the new Maryland General Assembly
Opening day of the new Maryland General Assembly was crowded with family and friends as 43 new delegates and 17 new senators (many of them former delegates) were sworn in along with the returning legislators. Here’s a gallery of photos that captures some of the day.
General Assembly
Like many new delegates, Alice Cain is pinching herself
Del. Alice Cain is a freshman legislator and one of eight Democrats to take over a seat previously held by a Republican. “I’m pinching myself. I’m so inspired, getting to know the other freshmen delegates. There’s a real spirit of public service.”
General Assembly
Opinion: Live streaming of legislative sessions would honor journalists
I spent three hours off-and-on last Thursday watching the live gavel-to-gavel coverage on C-Span of the new U.S. House of Representatives being sworn in, including the return to power of that Baltimore girl turned San Francisco maven, Speaker Nancy D’Allesandro Pelosi. Wednesday the new Maryland General Assembly is being sworn in and we can watch the live gavel-to-gavel of the proceedings NOWHERE.
Poll: Hogan rides high, Trump in the dumps, middling support for sports betting, more for legalizing marijuana
Gov. Larry Hogan enters his new term with universal high approval from every sector of Maryland — blacks, whites, Republicans, Democrats, men, women, rural and suburban — according to the latest Gonzales Maryland Poll. All groups approve by 70% or more. President Donald Trump, on the other hand, continues to have high disapproval from almost two-thirds of Maryland voters. Half of them favor beginning impeachment proceedings.
General Assembly
Public will get to propose 6th Congressional District lines to commission online
The public will have the opportunity to help redraw the contorted lines of Maryland’s gerrymandered 6th Congressional District, the Governor’s Emergency Redistricting Commission announced at its organizational meeting Friday in Annapolis, just hours before the Supreme Court agreed to consider the case from Maryland. The Supreme Court’s decision to review an appeals court’s order to redraw the lines of the 6th CD because it is unconstitutional could make the work of the governor’s commission irrelevant if the high court decides to reverse the lower court order. But the commission plans to press ahead with hearings and redrawing the lines of the 6th and adjacent districts.
News
System favoring plea deals penalizes defendants who go to trial
Defendants who reject plea bargains and are convicted when they choose to go to trial for many types of crimes face longer sentences – sometimes substantially longer – than defendants who make a deal, a Capital News Service analysis shows.