Maryland’s congressional delegation plans to introduce legislation in the coming days that would require the federal government to cover the costs of rebuilding Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, though lawmakers didn’t have a price tag to cite during a Tuesday press conference — or a firm commitment from GOP leaders in the U.S. House to move the bill through that chamber.

Maryland lawmakers passed a handful of gun bills this year, permitting civil lawsuits against the gun industry and banning devices that turn handguns into machine guns. Top Democrats representing some of the state’s most liberal districts championed the bills. They fought for measures they say are needed to bridge legal gaps, fund trauma centers aiding gunshot victims and improve public safety by preventing gun violence.

Although campaign finance reports showing federal candidates’ fundraising and spending for the first three months of 2024 aren’t due to be released until next Monday, some Maryland contenders are already teasing their numbers as a sign of their level of support. Harry Dunn, the former U.S. Capitol Police officer who is making his first political run in the 3rd congressional district, is going to report raising more than $3.75 million since becoming a candidate in early January, his campaign told Maryland Matters.

When she was asked to serve on the Maryland Port Commission last year, Karenthia Barber knew it would be her chance to better promote all the opportunities that the port industry provides. After all, her father worked as a longshoreman for 40 years. Barber said she has been “honored” to have the opportunity with her colleagues to expand the economic impact of the port and the maritime industry.

 

With barely a month to go until election day, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott retains a sizable cash advantage over his rivals, including former Mayor Sheila Dixon, according to campaign finance filings submitted Tuesday, reporting nearly double the balance of his leading challenger. Dixon out-raised Scott since the last filing deadline in January, bringing in almost $273,000 compared to Scott’s $231,000 over that stretch.

If you’re a daily commuter across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, you probably find nothing awesome about it; the bridge is just part of a tired routine, 4 miles of the drive from Kent Island to Sandy Point and points beyond, then back again. But many others, who only cross the bridge once a year, still find the whole thing amazing (or terrifying), a wonder of engineering and a monument to human audacity.

 

Maryland lawmakers passed legislation creating a “Purple Alert” that would create large-scale alerts when adults with intellectual disabilities go missing. Jimmy Hall, the father of a man with intellectual disabilities who recently went missing, says now, families like his “will have a voice.” Hall’s 31-year-old son Rashawn Williams, who has Down syndrome, was missing for six days before he was found in a locked room at the Glenmont Metro station in October of last year.

Under a bill he signed Tuesday, Gov. Wes Moore will have access to up to $275 million in state reserves to temporarily buoy businesses and individuals whose work relies on regular cargo shipping in and out of the Port of Baltimore’s main channel. The governor isn’t expected to hit the $275 million cap, and the legislature has limited to $25 million the amount that he can withdraw at a time from the state’s rainy day funds.

With the 2024 Maryland General Assembly in the books, Gov. Wes Moore signed the first of hundreds of bills into law, including an act that would temper the economic impact of a devastating bridge collapse. The Democrat penned the measures into law during a ceremonial bill signing Tuesday, one day after the 90-day legislative session ended and two weeks after a cargo ship slammed into the support pier of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending the superstructure tumbling into the Patapsco River.

In 2019, a group of D.C.-area elected leaders said the region needed to build at least 320,000 housing units in the next decade to accommodate the region’s growth. But more than a third of the way through the decade, the region is falling behind the pace needed to meet this target, a Washington Post analysis found.