There won’t be an early voting center in Hancock this year, but there will be one in Smithsburg. If you missed the Hancock early voting center saga, or if you’ve lost track, here’s a recap: Last year, the Washington County Board of Elections recommended the board headquarters on Virginia Avenue and the Hancock Town Hall as its two required early voting center sites for this year’s election. A third alternative, authorized by the county commissioners, was the American Legion in Boonsboro.
A key piece of Mayor Brandon Scott’s approach to stemming the city’s high rate of violent crimes has been investing in resources for returning citizens who were formerly incarcerated in local jails or state prisons. But the city’s flagship program to accomplish that work has gotten off to a slow start. Since a “soft launch” in the spring of last year, the “Returning Citizens Behind the Wall” program, which connects formerly incarcerated people with jobs doing manual labor for the city’s recreation and parks department at $15 an hour, has helped only 103 participants, according to an update from the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement provided to the City Council’s public safety committee on Wednesday.
Fans and alumni of the CIAA are taking over downtown Baltimore with energy and exuberance. The CIAA, the nation’s oldest Black college athletics tournament, has a full week of basketball games, events and parties to entertain the crowds. However, the tournament is much more than the games and the atmosphere. It’s also about community and providing opportunities for young people.
The Frederick County Council is considering a bill that would raise the taxes some county residents pay for street lighting in their neighborhoods. According to County Budget Director Kelly Weaver, the county has three electric lighting districts — one in Braddock Heights, one in Libertytown and another just outside the Brunswick town limits. During a meeting on Tuesday, Weaver told the council that the electric lighting districts were created by groups of residents who wanted street lights installed in their neighborhoods, but had no homeowners’ association to carry out the task.
Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates named Zeke Cohen as his pick for City Council president on Wednesday, calling him “the one person in this race who can hit the ground running.” Cohen, a councilman who currently represents Southeast Baltimore, faces incumbent City Council President Nick Mosby and former City Councilwoman Shannon Sneed in the Democratic primary. Bates’ endorsement marks the first time he’s publicly weighed in on the 2024 primary, which will be held May 14.
What’s this? Donald Trump AND Joe Biden endorsing a piece of legislation in Annapolis? Thanks to a clever and illicit use of Artificial Intelligence, that’s exactly what appears to be taking place this week. In a short video submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday, the 45th and 46th presidents of the United States appear to be backing a bill by Del. Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery), which would establish regulations for the use of AI and other digital sources in campaign ads and other materials.
The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether Donald Trump may claim immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion case, adding another explosive appeal from the former president to its docket and further delaying his federal trial. The court expedited the case and will hear arguments the week of April 22. The move puts the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination on track for another high-stakes date with the high court, which earlier this month heard arguments in a separate case questioning whether Trump disqualified himself from running for a second term under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection ban.”
Maryland will pay for private pretrial electronic monitoring of poor defendants through at least the end of the year, state lawmakers said Wednesday, confirming plans to salvage the program after it abruptly ran out of federal funds this month. The initiative — launched in the pandemic and open to qualifying defendants deemed not a flight risk or threat to the community — will reopen within a week, Maryland state Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery) said in an interview.
An ambitious plan to transform the Harbour House and Eastport Terrace public housing communities in Annapolis has cleared an important hurdle. The city and the housing authority announced in a news release this week that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had approved their detailed redevelopment plan. The Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant Initiative leverages public and private funds to support and create locally driven strategies to help transform struggling neighborhoods with public or HUD-assisted housing, according to the CNI website.
Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery) appears to resemble a teenager when he sits among his colleagues on the House of Delegates floor. He turned 27 years old on Jan. 4, making him the youngest member currently serving in the General Assembly. But Vogel is guided by his lived experiences, which came into play last week when he spoke in support of House Bill 558, a measure to create a health education framework in the state. Some of the topics the bill addresses include family life and human sexuality, gender identity and sexual orientation, and mental and emotional health.