Marylanders’ progressive political instincts often make the Land of Pleasant Living not just more pleasant but more equitable and prosperous. Sometimes, however, progressives embrace policies that are destined to do the opposite. So it is with the “Fair Share for Maryland Act of 2024.” Senate Bill 766 proposes to do a couple of laudable things but would, in fact, do several others that would damage Maryland’s economy and quality of life. As Comptroller Brooke Lierman has recently pointed out, there are “flashing yellow lights for the state’s fiscal health”; we shouldn’t turn them to red.

Since 1936, legislative vacancies in Maryland have been filled by a Byzantine appointment process where the state central committee of the vacating senator’s or delegate’s party submits a name to the governor for an appointment to fill the vacancy. When vacancies occur early in a term, the appointee is able to serve for up to four years without voters having a say in who represents them. From 1776 to 1936, vacancies in the House of Delegates were filled by special elections, and from 1837, when state senators were first popularly elected, to 1936, vacancies in the state Senate also were filled by special elections.

The city of Frederick is looking for feedback from residents on designs for renovations to two parks in the city. The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation is conducting online surveys to gather information on the redesigns of Hill Street and Mullinix parks. The plan for improvements to Mullinix Park includes $500,000 for construction in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. There will be renovations and improvements to restrooms, paths and seating, landscaping, and playgrounds. New amenities will be added.

 

The Maryland Public Service Commission announced an upcoming second public hearing for a Wicomico County solar facility proposed by Porter Mill, LLC. The hearing will take place Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the Rockawalkin Community Hall at 6772 Rockawalkin Road. MPSC invites community members to comment on the proposal before Public Utility Law Judge Jennifer J. Grace. The first public hearing on the proposal was held Nov. 1, 2023.

 

A powerful commission tasked with constraining Maryland’s hospital rates is set to have a busy year. At a commission meeting Wednesday, the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) laid out its proposed policy and voting schedule for 2024 into 2025, and outlined its legislative priorities for the current legislative session. Among the commission’s priorities for the months ahead include tackling long emergency room wait times, participating in a new federal health care program and adjusting rates or reimbursement for care at Maryland’s hospitals.

 

As housing costs continue to rise in Maryland, more than a quarter of younger residents are looking to move out of state. That’s a key finding of a January survey of registered voters released Wednesday by the state’s largest Realtors trade group. Maryland Realtors is urging local governments to alter zoning laws and ease regulations to promote the construction of more “middle market housing,” such as duplexes, triplexes and cottage courtyards.

Environmental groups, and some legislators, are voicing concerns about a bill proposed by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, arguing that it excessively loosens oversight for energy-hungry data centers looking to open in the state. Moore’s camp argues that the bill reduces onerous red tape for data centers, which can be potent economic drivers, by exempting their large arrays of backup generators from a lengthy review process by the Maryland Public Service Commission.

At his first spring training in charge of the Orioles back in February 2019, the messaging from executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias was one of hope and opportunity for a process that one day might lead the team to where it is now. It’s safe to say things might sound a bit different on Thursday, as the 101-win Orioles from a year ago reconvene with Corbin Burnes topping their rotation, top prospect Jackson Holliday fighting for a spot, and a talent base built through those lean rebuilding years now considered one of the deepest in all of baseball.

If we disagree with the contributions and political activities our bank or grocery store make, then we have the freedom to shop and do business with other companies. That’s not the case with our energy providers operating under state-granted monopolies, facing no competition for their services. In exchange for the monopolies, utilities have to submit to regulation by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), which determines how much utilities are able to charge customers and how they can spend that money.

It’s only one election, for one House seat in New York, and an oddly-timed, low-turnout affair, on a snowy day at that. Still, both parties treated the race to replace expelled Republican George Santos as a real-world test of voter sentiment on immigration in the wake of Congress’s collapsed border deal. Echoing former president Donald Trump, whose opposition sabotaged the deal in the Senate, Republican candidate Mazi Pilip called the measure “an absolute non-starter because it simply puts into law the invasion currently happening at our southern border.”