Politics

Fall service changes from the Maryland Transit Administration went into effect recently, adjusting certain bus routes. Most notable was the addition of QuickLink 40 — a tweaked and rebranded version of the old QuickBus 40 — that connects Westgate and Essex through downtown. With plans for the Red Line — a future east-west transit line that Gov. Wes Moore officially resurrected in June — still unknown and years away, the express bus line will serve as the crosstown answer for the time being.

In early June, a staff member in the Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services asked her supervisor for help crafting a sensitive, and potentially explosive, email. Due to a cascade of challenges within the city agency, it had missed a consequential federal reporting deadline, staffer Camille Wathne wrote in the email draft. Without the report, the department couldn’t submit a request for financial reimbursement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan hasn’t completely ruled out running for president with an independent party if former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are front-runners as Republican and Democratic nominees early next year, he said on CBS News on Sunday. Robert Costa of “Face the Nation” asked whether Hogan is open to running as a candidate with No Labels, the party he co-chairs.

Starting as soon as next month, Marylanders may not have to bring their new cars in for state emissions testing until they are six model years old — instead of three. The matter will come before the state Board of Public Works next Wednesday, as it votes on a contract modification for the company that conducts the emissions checks for Maryland. If the Board of Public Works approves the change, the company likely will need a few weeks to make the adjustments.

Carroll County commissioners held a public hearing Thursday to discuss a proposed county law that would fine homeowners and businesses who make too many “nuisance” calls to police. Only two members of the public came to the meeting to give their opinions, but commissioners said they had been reading a lot of comments on social media about the proposed law. There was no vote on the ordinance Thursday.

Gov. Wes Moore has continued to push for Marylanders to take advantage of a federal broadband internet assistance program in which fewer than one in three of those eligible have enrolled. Tens of millions of low-income households across the country qualify for a $30-per-month internet discount through the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The new leader of the Maryland Public Service Commission said Tuesday that he plans to convene meetings with interested parties over the next few months to discuss the increasingly controversial issue of where to place renewable energy installations in the state. Testifying before a virtual hearing of the state Senate Committee on Education, Energy and the Environment, Fred Hoover, who took over as PSC chair in July, said he wanted to “get all the parties together to lower the temperature in some of these siting topics.”