Politics

Gov. Wes Moore’s administration hailed the news this week that Maryland had won $130 million in federal funding for various climate initiatives. As the state scrambles for the billions of dollars it will need to meet its ambitious climate mandates, state officials and environmental groups cast the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants as good news — and a momentum-builder as the state seeks to develop a clean energy economy.

Construction on the Maryland State House is reaching the final stages as work on the main building wraps up and focus shifts to the Old Treasury Building and other projects. Crews are working on areas of the building below the dome, making improvements to the grounds and restoring the Old Treasury Building. The restoration of the dome, including waterproofing and other repairs, was completed shortly before Gov. Wes Moore’s inauguration last year.

Former President Barack Obama officially endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday to be the Democratic Party’s 2024 nominee. Obama was one of the only high-profile Democrats who had yet to endorse Harris, who quickly secured enough delegate support to clinch the nomination so long as the delegates do not change their mind before the Democratic National Convention’s virtual roll next month.

Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Angela Alsobrooks will launch her first television ad of the general election Thursday with a message her campaign intends to continue pushing until November: Control of the Senate could come down to her matchup with Republican Larry Hogan. In a state that hasn’t elected a Republican senator since 1980, the race between the two-term Prince George’s County executive and the former two-term governor is the most competitive in decades.

Baltimore’s mayor said Department of Public Works employees will get the resources to safely do their jobs amid a damning new report released Tuesday by the inspector general. Baltimore City Inspector General Isabel Cumming said in her report that she found potentially dangerous working conditions in some DPW facilities.

U.S. Sens. Christopher Van Hollen and Benjamin Cardin along with Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, David Trone and Glenn Ivey, all Maryland Democrats, Wednesday announced $10 million in federal funding for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to construct approximately 50 acres of reefs within existing oyster sanctuaries in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman vetoed portions of a comprehensive rezoning plan that would have changed the zoning and land uses for properties on Shot Town Road, a historically Black neighborhood on Broadneck Peninsula, and on Ember Road in Pasadena, his first legislative rejections since taking office in 2018.