The leader of the Maryland Senate said Republican appointees to the State Board of Elections will have to answer questions about involvement in the failed Jan. 6 insurrection following the recent arrest of a board member. President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) said Tuesday the process by which the Senate reviews and confirms appointments will not change in the near term. The questions about personal involvement in Jan. 6 and a nominee’s personal beliefs about elections will be litmus tests, he said.

Mayor Brandon Scott kept his cards close to the vest for months ahead of a much-anticipated vote on an ambitious new housing proposal, keeping quiet on whether he’d sign the bill package into law. While affordable-housing advocates paraded and picketed City Hall to drum up support, top officials in the Scott administration were raising red flags about the proposal’s scope. Baltimore could face a $1.8 billion budget shortfall over the next decade, and officials in the Department of Finance repeatedly warned that the city budget could hardly sustain another tax credit or risk stunting new development.

 

Various projects aimed at increasing pedestrian safety highlight the town’s annual transportation priority list. On Monday, the town council approved a letter that will be sent to the Worcester County Commissioners outlining the projects municipal officials would like to see as transportation priorities. Officials are requesting sidewalks on Route 346, crosswalks in various locations and a pedestrian bridge over Route 113.

 

The Orioles pledged their support Wednesday for a Baltimore City Council bill that would ban the use of tobacco and nicotine products at stadiums, including Camden Yards, within the city limits. The Major League Baseball organization issued a statement noting that it will also ban the use of tobacco products at both of its Florida training complexes: Ed Smith Stadium Complex, which hosts spring training, and the Buck O’Neil Complex at Twin Lakes Park.

The Montgomery County government could be doing more to support its transgender residents, a Jan. 16 report found, recommending that officials consider creating a resource center and lobbying the state to require cultural competency training for medical providers. Council Vice President Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4) commissioned the 57-page report created by the Montgomery County Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO) in early 2023. Stewart has taken on the lack of resources for LGBTQ+ residents in the county as a key part of her work as a councilmember.

Greater Baltimore travelers looking for warmer locations will have a new international option this spring. Bermuda’s boutique airline, BermudAir, will have three weekly, nonstop flights to and from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport starting March 18, the airline announced Wednesday. The Anne Arundel County airport is the fourth destination in the United States offering nonstop flights for the airline, which launched last year.

The Baltimore Development Corp. has hired the leader of a major Maryland venture fund to restart its technology development program. Arti Santhanam, currently the executive director of the Maryland Technology Development Corp.’s (TEDCO) Maryland Innovation Initiative, will now be charged with bringing the Emerging Technology Centers back to life as its executive director starting February 1.

In doing so, the bill would allow entities looking to install such emergency generators to circumvent the CPCN process and the regulations that come with it. Aligned Data Centers, which had been the first tenant on Quantum Loophole’s planned data center campus, applied for a CPCN exemption in May 2023 after receiving site plan approval from the Frederick County Planning Commission.

In what is shaping up to be a financially difficult year for the Maryland General Assembly, community health and hospital advocates hope state lawmakers consider bills that would improve access to care for low-income Marylanders, help reduce high-cost drug prices and reform prior authorization practices. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has labeled the next few months “a season of discipline” as the state faces a projected $761 million budget deficit that is expected to grow in the coming years.

Multiple municipalities and residential properties in Frederick County would get more than $6.4 million in loan funding for water improvement projects — including treating water system contamination and stream remediation — under Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed fiscal year 2025 capital budget. The towns of Myersville and Thurmont would receive $781,000 and $2.2 million, respectively, to treat the presence of PFAS — known as “forever chemicals” — in water facilities.