The organizers behind a much-anticipated ballot question asking voters to slash the city’s property tax rate submitted more than 23,000 signatures Thursday, more than double the number needed to place the question on the ballot. The proposed question would ask voters to cut the city’s property tax rate from 2.248% to 1.2% over seven years. After that, the rate would be capped.

An obscure but influential commission has begun to tackle a multibillion-dollar problem for the state of Maryland: How to pay for government’s ambitious climate goals. As state leaders tout Maryland’s tough standards for reducing carbon emissions — Gov. Wes Moore (D) earlier this month issued an executive order to advance certain climate initiatives — they have yet to identify ways to fund the various programs necessary to fully meet them.

Former Prince George’s County Council member Jamel “Mel” Franklin has been charged in a felony theft scheme in which authorities say he embezzled at least $130,000 of his campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, including rent, loans and cosmetic procedures for himself and a close friend. The scheme included falsifying information on reports filed with the State Board of Elections, located in Anne Arundel County, where the charges were filed Thursday.

 

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts is working with the city to finalize their contract ahead of BOPA’s flagship event later this summer. Interim board chair Andrew Chaveas said during a special board meeting that due to prolonged negotiations with the city, BOPA missed a deadline to submit its contract to the city’s spending board, which has to approve it.

The Anne Arundel County Council passed a bill Monday night eliminating reductions in pensions paid to county employees who retire and later return to work for the county. Introduced by Pete Smith, a Democrat representing Severn, the bill will eliminate reductions to a county employee’s retirement benefits if the person comes back to a different job 90 or more days after retiring.

The U.S. State Department is testing a new online passport renewal system, which it says will make the renewal process easier and faster. That’s good news for Marylanders looking to travel overseas, especially after many faced extended delays last year due to “unprecedented demand” for passport services on top of the regular seasonal demand.

As Maryland reels from the killing of Harford County’s Rachel Morin and the arrest of a suspect last week, Gov. Wes Moore expressed his frustration with the immigration system on “FOX & Friends” on Wednesday morning, blaming “long-standing inaction across Congress.” “I don’t think this is partisan because I don’t blame a singular party,” Moore said on the show. “We are not talking about a singular bill.

Soaring overdose rates. Front page stories. Baltimore getting a national reputation as a a city succumbing to heroin. It was the year 2000, and the city took action. A new mayor, Martin O’Malley, made state funding to expand drug treatment his top legislative priority. A health commissioner, Peter Beilenson, who had identified barriers to drug treatment by posing as a person in need, fiercely advocated for more resources.

Vice President Kamala Harris will hold an event in Maryland next week to mark the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning abortion protections, according to an announcement from President Joe Biden’s campaign. No time or location for the Monday event was immediately available. It’s Harris’ second visit to the state this month, following a gun violence-focused event June 7 with Democratic Senate nominee Angela Alsobrooks in Prince George’s County.

 

Following a session in which the legislature balked at protections against problem gambling, Maryland’s sports betting market has continued to grow and last month generated nearly $7 million for public education. While state contributions have risen along with the number of companies licensed to operate in Maryland, so, too, has concern about transparency between operators and potential bettors and about rates of problem gambling.