In a break with tradition, Julian Jones Jr. was reelected as Baltimore County Council chair for the fourth time in five years and will serve a third consecutive term as chair, the first in county history. It will be his fourth time in five years serving as County Council leader. Council members elected Jones unanimously Tuesday evening at their first meeting of the year. Jones, who was last elected chair in January 2022, said in an interview Tuesday morning that he expected to win reelection. Typically, the chair is rotated every year among members of the council’s majority party, though previous members have served two terms as chair before. Democrats hold a 4-3 majority on the council, including Jones, a Democrat who represents the predominantly Black 4th District and who is the first Black member to lead the council.

Speaker of the House Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) is having one. So is state Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). So are all four standing committee chairs in the Senate and four of the six committee chairs in the House of Delegates. So, for good measure, are Gov.-elect Wes Moore (D) and Comptroller-elect Brooke Lierman (D). With a three-month ban on political fundraising set to begin for state officeholders at high noon on Jan. 11, the exact moment that the 90-day General Assembly session gavels in, a weeklong frenzy of post-New Year’s Day fundraisers, one of the most unsavory traditions in Maryland politics, is set to begin. At least 45 state lawmakers will be looking to vacuum up campaign cash in the days leading up to the session.

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland was one of 20 Republicans who voted Tuesday to deny the speakership of the U.S. House of Representatives to Kevin McCarthy, leaving the body temporarily unable to pass bills or swear in members. Voting by all of the chamber’s 434 members present left McCarthy well short of a victory during three rounds. Harris, a member of the Freedom Caucus — the House’s farthest-right voting bloc — and 19 other Republicans refused to give the California representative their support during the third and final vote before the House adjourned until noon Wednesday.

The $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that President Joe Biden signed into law in December earmarks millions of dollars for Baltimore-area colleges and universities. In total, the Baltimore region will see over $80 million in direct federal investments from the legislation. The money will help universities expand scientific research, train more health care workers and create more opportunities for entrepreneurs. Morgan State University earned the largest sum of money of any Baltimore institution at just under $5 million.  The largest chunk of money to MSU is $2 million earmarked for Morgan State University’s Center for Equitable Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, according to a joint statement from Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen.

Some residents of Columbia, Maryland, rallied to the side of the community’s top leader against what they say is an attempt to fire her after 18 months on the job. Supporters of Lakey Boyd, president and CEO of the Columbia Association, the homeowners association which manages the community of about 105,000, held a rally in Columbia Monday to warn association board members not to oust Boyd. Residents spoke out in favor of Boyd’s leadership. “Lakey embodies what Columbia was built on, future thinking and community focus — live, work and play,” said resident Laura Bacon. She said that since Boyd took leadership of the association in April 2021, she has made every effort to connect with Columbia residents of all backgrounds.

Last month’s ruling by U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia voiding the license issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the Conowingo Dam drew predictable responses. Environmental groups hailed the Dec. 20 decision as a victory for efforts to address the tons of pollution, including sediment and nutrients, that was once trapped by the Susquehanna River structure but now regularly passes through the dam and into the Chesapeake Bay. Meanwhile, Baltimore-based Constellation Energy, Conowingo’s owner, denounced the decision as an “attack on the state’s largest source of renewable energy” putting at risk hundreds of millions of dollars the company had already pledged toward environmental programs.

With already funded plans to upgrade their home and an eye toward how their neighborhood has improved over the years, the Ravens want to extend their lease on M&T Bank Stadium for at least 15 years and as long as 25 years. “We felt it was important to show a commitment to the community, to the city, to the state, to our fans,” said Chad Steele, the team’s senior vice president for communications. The state’s Board of Public Works will vote at a meeting Wednesday on whether to approve the lease between the Ravens and the Maryland Stadium Authority, the quasi-public agency that owns the facility.

A group of video game testers has formed Microsoft’s first labor union in the U.S., which will also be the largest in the video game industry. The Communications Workers of America said Tuesday that a majority of about 300 quality-assurance workers at Microsoft video game subsidiary ZeniMax Studios has voted to join the union. Microsoft already told the CWA it would accept the formation of the union at its Maryland-based video game subsidiary, fulfilling a promise it made to try to build public support for its $68.7 billion acquisition of another big game company, Activision Blizzard. Microsoft bought ZeniMax for $7.5 billion in 2021, giving the Xbox-maker control of ZeniMax’s well-known game publishing division Bethesda Softworks and popular game franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout.

The shocking collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday night has renewed concerns about the dangers of football. While I certainly agree with the need to make football safer, that’s the wrong lesson to draw from this situation. Rather, Hamlin’s cardiac arrest highlights the need to make automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) readily accessible in all sports facilities, especially where youth sports are played. The scary moment occurred after Hamlin, 24, apparently slammed his chest into the shoulder of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Hamlin stood up briefly after the tackle before collapsing on the field. His heart had stopped. Medical staff members rushed to perform chest compressions and used an AED to shock his heart.