Maryland's two leading gubernatorial candidates engaged in a brawl over their environmental credentials Wednesday as former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) visited a riverside bar in eastern Baltimore County.
After serving two one-year terms as the student member of the Prince George's school board, Edward Burroughs III, is hoping to continue his fight for the student voice by running for a four-year term on the board.
Maryland's fast-growing Hispanic population is about to have its first male representative in judicial robes, as Governor Martin O'Malley has chosen of defense lawyer Ricardo D. Zwaig for a Howard County District Court judgeship.
State Comptroller Peter Franchot this morning that he’s been haunted by news accounts of the weekend murder of a Johns Hopkins research assistant in Charles Village. Speaking before this morning's Board of Public Works meeting, Franchot said he’d like to talk with the suspects in the case.
Maryland Delegate Pat McDonough hopes to introduce an Arizona-style illegal immigration bill next session and he's polling candidates for their take before the elections this fall.
House Speaker Michael Busch has sworn in a new delegate for Baltimore City. Scherod Barnes was sworn in Wednesday to replace Delegate Ann Marie Doory. Doory left the legislature to take a position on the State Board of Contract Appeals. Barnes will represent District 43 until the start of the next term in January. Barnes is not running for a full term in this year's election.
Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. made a campaign stop Wednesday on the shores of Back River in Essex to champion his administration's Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act — and to criticize Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley for using money from the act's bay fund to help balance the state budget.
Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) will grant county government employees additional paid vacation time next year — despite consensus among most council members that the benefit is too expensive.
The Montgomery County Council needs better information on the cost of the legislation it considers, according to Councilman Michael J. Knapp. He highlighted a recent dispute over a plan to give county employees two to three days of additional paid leave in lieu of a pay raise. County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) says the vacation time would cost taxpayers nothing, but the county's Office of Legislative Oversight says the cost could be $7 million.
The Montgomery County Council voted Tuesday to alter the language of a ballot question sought by the county's volunteer firefighters. The volunteers are currently gathering signatures for voters to decide on the county's newly approved fee for some ambulance rides.
After helping to close Montgomery County's historic budget gap this year, County Council President Nancy M. Floreen says the governing body was able to turn a fiscal crisis into an opportunity to address long-term budget issues.
Frederick County Commissioner Kai J. Hagen is taking aim at his one of his board colleagues, Blaine R. Young, branding him as a candidate intent on developing almost every inch of land in the county.
Omari Patterson says he is running for the Frederick County school board to improve the system that helped shaped his life, but he must first challenge a state law that prohibits him from serving on the board.
Both the Prince George’s County Council and the Montgomery County Council have nine members. In Prince George’s, all nine represent individual districts, while in Montgomery five represent individual districts and the other four are elected countywide. Critics of the Prince George’s government frequently complain that the district-by-district system is partly to blame for the county’s dysfunction. Editor’s Note: Josh Kurtz will be leaving his position as a managing editor at Roll Call next month to become editor of Environment & Energy Daily, E&E’s online publication that covers Congress. Fortunately, Josh will continue his regular column for Center Maryland.
The Baltimore region’s economy has demonstrated relative strength in weathering the recession when compared to others in the nation’s Top 100 metropolitan regions, according to a June MetroMonitor report from Brookings Institution. Overall, the Baltimore region ranks among 19 regions that were rated as the “second strongest” metropolitan areas to have weathered the Great Recession.
The most exciting state Senate primaries in Maryland — with a couple of exceptions — are bunched together this year in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. This isn’t particularly surprising in Prince George’s, where bare-knuckle politics is commonplace, and factions and resentments are deep-seated. But it is somewhat surprising in white-glove Montgomery County. It’s not that Montgomery — a place where candidates woo voters by reminding them how high their IQ’s are — is lacking for ambitious pols.
Major business advocacy organizations from Maine to Virginia, including the Greater Baltimore Committee, are urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund and lead an $18.8 million planning effort for strengthening high-speed rail resources and related transportation modes in the heavily-traveled northeast corridor. If there is any region on which the federal government should focus its initial round of high-speed rail funding, it would be the northeast corridor, which has a population of 55 million and a $2 trillion annual economy.
The candidate filing deadline is upon us, and it’s always an exciting day. It’s always fun to hang out at the Board of Elections office in Annapolis, or in county boards of elections, to watch the stragglers come in, and it’s fun to pore over the candidate lists. It’s a ritual that separates the mere political junkies from the truly hard core.
Loyal readers of Center Maryland shouldn’t have been surprised by former Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s announcement Wednesday night that he had picked Mary Kane as running mate in this fall’s election. Back on March 16th, Center Maryland’s Josh Kurtz had revealed that Mary Kane was getting a close look by the Ehrlich campaign. Josh explained the many advantages that Kane could bring to the Republican ticket, as well as some potential lines of attack from the Democrats.
Will Election Day be merely bad for Democrats across the country, or catastrophic? The answer will have some bearing on what Election Day looks like in Maryland. History dictates that Democrats will do badly. With just two exceptions since the Civil War — the Depression election of 1934 and the post-9/11 election of 2002 — a new president’s party has always lost a significant chunk of Congressional seats during his first midterm. So even if this was an average year, Democrats could be expected to lose 25 or so seats in the House and five or six in the Senate.
A recent report on the education requirements projected for the nation’s work force in 2018 sends a compelling message to students, administrators and teachers in Maryland’s K-12 schools, as well as to our state’s higher education institutions. The report cites a “growing disconnect” between the types of jobs employers need to fill and the number of prospective employees who have the education and training to fill them.
If you’re a business owner or manager, how would you like to start an initiative in your workplace that would save your company almost six times the cost to implement it and increase employee productivity? What’s this strategy and how complicated is it, you ask? The answer is: it’s simple. Just participate in the state’s recently-launched Healthiest Maryland workplace wellness program.
It wasn’t all that surprising when Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith (D) announced 10 days ago that he wouldn’t run for state Senate this year. Despite the very vocal and insistent prodding from Senate President Mike Miller (D), Smith couldn’t see a path to victory in a conservative Towson-area district that he didn’t live in. Plain and simple. So his decision immediately raises two, inter-related questions: What does he do now? And what does he do with all his money?
In one way or another, you could call several members of the Maryland General Assembly throwbacks. Sometimes it seems like time stands still in Annapolis — governors come and go, but presiding officers of the legislature, committee chairmen and powerful lobbyists never leave. Political trends may take hold nationally, new political movements form, new coalitions exert power and influence, but in the Maryland State House, it’s the same good ol’ boys club.
Those jobs lost in the Great Recession of 2007? Many of them won’t be coming back, even if there’s robust economic recovery. Why this seeming paradox? According to a report to be released Tuesday by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, by 2018 the number of jobs requiring a college education will far outpace the number of jobs available to high school graduates and dropouts.
If Democrats lose control of Congress this November, will Nancy Pelosi pull a Hastert? Or will she stay and fight? You’ll recall that Dennis Hastert, the Illinois Republican who was Pelosi’s predecessor as Speaker of the House, wasted no time bailing when Democrats seized control of the House in 2006. He resigned his House seat early in 2007 (and it then fell to a Democrat in a special election). Would Pelosi do the same? It’s a question no one on Capitol Hill wants to ask publicly.
Do you know what was in that cool little photoblog app that you installed on your office computer last Tuesday? This is a seemingly innocent rhetorical question that cyber expert Bill Anderson, founder of Oculis Labs in Hunt Valley, Maryland, asks a Greater Baltimore Committee workshop audience of business executives.
Could American voters really hand the keys to the Capitol back to the Republicans this November? Hard as it may be to believe, the answer is yes. Polls continue to show that Americans blame George W. Bush more than Barack Obama for the economic crisis we’re in.
Republican sources tell me that as he plots his political comeback, former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) is taking a very close look at Mary Kane, the former Maryland secretary of State and wife of ex-state GOP Chairman John Kane, to be his running mate.
While there are unique circumstances relating to the recent contest between Maryland and Virginia for the Northrop Grumman headquarters, our state’s second-place finish in a high-profile two-horse race serves as a useful reminder of the basic reality of economic development.
The “nation’s report card” for big cities was released Thursday, and the reading scores of Baltimore fourth- and eighth-graders were middling, just as they had been in mathematics last December, when city kids were in the second tier among 18 big-city districts.
Michael Steele's tenure at the RNC has been simultaneously difficult and fascinating to watch. To beat a few metaphors to death, Steele is navigating in shark-infested waters, and to his credit, he hasn’t been eaten alive yet.
The recession has clearly affected the recent pace of growth in the Baltimore region’s three major bioscience and research parks. But it’s easy to also recognize that bioscience growth is still percolating in the Baltimore region.
We object to the characterization of easing of the stormwater pollution rules. The rules, as one of the speakers noted, were strengthened by adding the outside construction date of 2017 in the now adopted emergency regulations.
Constellation CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III warned that delays securing a federal nuclear loan guarantee jeopardized the company’s plan to build a third nuclear power reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Lusby, putting hundreds of potential jobs on the line.
A Baltimore jury on Wednesday awarded more than $34 million to 20 restaurant workers who claimed carbon monoxide exposure in a downtown hotel left them with permanent brain damage, leading to personality changes, memory problems and, in some cases, the loss of "conjugal affection."
Maryland sold $485 million in bonds on Wednesday to pay for the construction of capital projects across the state. The state Treasurer’s Office sold $143 million with an interest rate of 1.6% through a direct retail sale, with priority given to Maryland residents.
The crisis control center of Pepco this week is a repurposed conference room, which smells like ambiguous takeout. Anybody who is in charge of anything has spent the past several days around a giant table at the corporation’s downtown D.C. headquarters, strategizing how to restore electricity to the thousands of homes that lost it during Sunday’s storm.
Allegheny Power has submitted an application for the upgrade of a 40-mile section of transmission line to the Maryland Public Service Commission.
Baltimore's Foreign Trade Zone has been ranked the fourth best port-related foreign trade zone in the world by fDi Magazine, which is produced by The Financial Times.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday the failure of the automatic train-control system caused last year's Metro crash that killed nine and injured 70 near the Fort Totten Metro station, but systemic safety failures by Metro were among the contributing factors.
At the Tin Lizzie Wineworks in Clarksville, oenophiles can crush grapes, press and barrel the juices, and eventually take home their own case of vino. However, head winemaker Dave Zuchero cannot sell any of his own wine, created from the patch of grapes growing behind the Wineworks because county law prevents winemakers from running commercial wine businesses in Howard County.
The U.S. Navy has awarded an additional $750 million to Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in North Laurel, bringing the lab's contracts with the Navy to more than $4.7 billion. The additional money will be used to provide research, development and engineering on various projects, some of which have yet to be determined.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville, claiming the community center discriminated against an employee with a hearing disability.
Maryland has quietly stopped its longstanding practice of allowing teachers to review test booklets up to two weeks before its annual reading and math examinations were given.
Baltimore City schools lead in the number of sharp test score declines on the 2010 Maryland School Assessments, according to data analyzed by The Baltimore Sun, and the district ranks highest in the number of instances where schools recorded double-digit drops in performance.
When temperatures shot up over 100 degrees this summer, most people escaped the sweltering heat in air conditioning. But for Frederick County students who rode school buses this summer, that was not always an option.
Beginning in mid-October, parents with children in Carroll County Public Schools will have access to their kids’ test scores, attendance records, transcripts and student service hours from any computer with an internet connection.
Terry Goolsby of Upper Marlboro plans to adapt her professional career of helping businesses implement renewable energy sources to the school system if elected to the District 7 seat on the Prince George's County school board.
With little chance of a salary increase this year, Frederick County teachers have agreed to the next best thing — better health benefits and a one-time cash refund. The Frederick County Teachers Association has ratified its agreement for the coming school year, accepting the latest contract offer from the county Board of Education.
Maryland has just made the short list of schools eligible to win millions in federal education dollars.
Students in a summer program at The Children's Guild learned about helping the community by picking up trash along the Inner Harbor. Then they began creating a sculpture of a sailboat using the trash they collected.
Ebony Cross and Lacey Robinson are counting on two heads -- and then some -- being better than one when they take the reins at Landover's G. James Gholson Middle School this fall.
Money magazine recently ranked the combined Columbia/Ellicott City area No. 2 on its "Best Places to Live in America" list.
New sidewalks, crosswalks, speed cameras and a local bus service were among the recommendations presented to the Hyattsville City Council July 19 after a year-long study of traffic conditions in the city.
Maryland's Board of Public Works approved a complicated land deal Wednesday that clears the way for work on State Center, a massive redevelopment project meant to enhance the western edge of the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore.
A new national report on state budgets highlights Maryland as one of the more promising examples of economic recovery, but like most states, Maryland is still facing big budget gaps as federal stimulus dollars dry up.
The National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, is out with its annual ratings for the nation's beaches, based on amount of water pollution found last year.
John Pente lived his entire life within a one-block radius in Little Italy. He worked as a machinist for Western Electric and devoted himself to his family, his neighborhood and his church, St. Leo's.
The Christophers Crossing and Yellow Springs Road corridor will be a major arterial road serving pedestrians and cyclists by 2028 -- if all goes according to plan.
Penn Station, the city's bustling train, bus and taxi hub, sits almost exactly in Baltimore's geographic center. Within a two-mile radius lie many of the city's cultural treasures: four colleges and universities, two major art museums, a symphony and an opera hall and the stately main branch of the library.
Law enforcement and social service officials in Montgomery and Prince George's counties are expecting a $2.7 million federal grant that will increase anti-gang enforcement and education efforts in both counties later this fall.
About 29,000 Pepco customers in Montgomery County remained without power as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, and 15 traffic signals remained dark, mostly in the Bethesda area, as the county continued to slowly recover from Sunday's violent storm, county officials.
It looks like a Baltimore-based development team wants to take a legitimate stab at turning around the eyesore that The Market House in downtown Annapolis has become.
Following harsh criticism by the Planning Board, county designers have created a new plan for a future White Oak police station that quadruples the buffer of trees on the site while still leaving plenty of space for a county office building.
Maybe politics has no place in criminal justice, and maybe politics has no place within earshot of the family of the victim of a senseless street killing, but this is 2010, and this is Baltimore. We have to elect the chief prosecutor here, like it or not.
I see from my Inbox that Comptroller Peter Franchot is also associating himself with the 1-week sales-tax break that Marylanders will get starting Aug. 8. The names of Washington County Commissioner John Barr and Sen. Don Munson also find themselves in the same press release with Aeropostale, Banana Republic, BCBG MAXAZRIA, J.Crew, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren & Skechers. Just in case you throught there was anything except marketing going on here.
If former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is looking for evidence to bolster his claims that current Gov. Martin O'Malley has been fiscally reckless, he need look no further than the Democratic incumbent's public stance in favor of the referendum to overturn the Anne Arundel County zoning law that would allow slots at Arundel Mills Mall.
Joe Volz: There was a time not so many eons ago when voters trusted their public servants. A public servant worked for little or no money. He, or she, believed in helping the populace. The welfare of the voters came above his. Money wasn't important. Public service was supposed to be a sacrifice. But not anymore.
Maryland's two leading gubernatorial candidates engaged in a brawl over their environmental credentials Wednesday as former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) visited a riverside bar in eastern Baltimore County.
After serving two one-year terms as the student member of the Prince George's school board, Edward Burroughs III, is hoping to continue his fight for the student voice by running for a four-year term on the board.
Maryland's fast-growing Hispanic population is about to have its first male representative in judicial robes, as Governor Martin O'Malley has chosen of defense lawyer Ricardo D. Zwaig for a Howard County District Court judgeship.
Both the Prince George’s County Council and the Montgomery County Council have nine members. In Prince George’s, all nine represent individual districts, while in Montgomery five represent individual districts and the other four are elected countywide. Critics of the Prince George’s government frequently complain that the district-by-district system is partly to blame for the county’s dysfunction. Editor’s Note: Josh Kurtz will be leaving his position as a managing editor at Roll Call next month to become editor of Environment & Energy Daily, E&E’s online publication that covers Congress. Fortunately, Josh will continue his regular column for Center Maryland.
The Baltimore region’s economy has demonstrated relative strength in weathering the recession when compared to others in the nation’s Top 100 metropolitan regions, according to a June MetroMonitor report from Brookings Institution. Overall, the Baltimore region ranks among 19 regions that were rated as the “second strongest” metropolitan areas to have weathered the Great Recession.
The most exciting state Senate primaries in Maryland — with a couple of exceptions — are bunched together this year in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. This isn’t particularly surprising in Prince George’s, where bare-knuckle politics is commonplace, and factions and resentments are deep-seated. But it is somewhat surprising in white-glove Montgomery County. It’s not that Montgomery — a place where candidates woo voters by reminding them how high their IQ’s are — is lacking for ambitious pols.
Constellation CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III warned that delays securing a federal nuclear loan guarantee jeopardized the company’s plan to build a third nuclear power reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Lusby, putting hundreds of potential jobs on the line.
A Baltimore jury on Wednesday awarded more than $34 million to 20 restaurant workers who claimed carbon monoxide exposure in a downtown hotel left them with permanent brain damage, leading to personality changes, memory problems and, in some cases, the loss of "conjugal affection."
Maryland sold $485 million in bonds on Wednesday to pay for the construction of capital projects across the state. The state Treasurer’s Office sold $143 million with an interest rate of 1.6% through a direct retail sale, with priority given to Maryland residents.