Politics

Staring down a laundry list of ambitious goals and a growing state budget deficit that could restrict some progress on his plans, Gov. Wes Moore is setting his sights on passing more than a dozen new laws that he says will improve public safety, affordability, the economy and public service work. Incentivizing the construction of affordable housing, offering new grants for community revitalization and protecting election workers are among the aims of the Democratic governor’s 16 bills in the annual 90-day session of the Maryland General Assembly that runs through April 8.

The Maryland Department of Human Services will fully reimburse stolen food assistance, reversing course on a policy that limited how much, and how often, theft victims could be refunded. The policy change was announced Tuesday in an internal policy memo to department staff, effectively ending many of the restrictions on how stolen food assistance can be replaced.

The Anne Arundel County Council passed a resolution Monday night stripping power and autonomy from administrative council staff and the council chair. The resolution, 4-24, makes all seven council members supervisors over council staff and allows members to raise administrative matters for a vote if they disagree with each other on a decision. In the past, administrative decisions, such as when and how to draft amendments, were made by council staff, and personnel decisions, like granting leave, were made by the chair.

No father wants to get the call Frank LaPere did last Sept. 25, informing him his daughter, Pava LaPere, a 26-year-old tech CEO, had been found dead on the rooftop of the Baltimore City apartment building where she lived. The condition of the crime scene was so grim, it prompted a Baltimore City Police detective to call in the homicide unit. “I got a call from the detective who was on scene and who discovered her body,” LaPere, who resides in Arizona, said in an interview this week. “I knew something was wrong on Sunday because she always calls me on Sunday.”

An overflow crowd gathered to watch the Howard County Council meeting Monday night at the George Howard Building in Ellicott City, crying out and interrupting council members as they discussed a proposed resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. Council member Liz Walsh, a Democrat who represents District 1, introduced the resolution last week. It asked for the Biden administration and congressional leaders in Maryland to facilitate an end to the Israel-Hamas war and to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

State Sen. William “Bill” Folden (R-Frederick) is sponsoring a bill to allow law enforcement officers to stop and search a vehicle if the odor of cannabis is perceptible from the outside. The bill, titled the Drug Free Roadways Act of 2024, would reverse a key provision of a law passed on the final day of the 2023 legislative session. HB1071, which took effect on July 1, 2023, prohibits law enforcement officers from initiating a stop or search of a person, motor vehicle or other vessel based solely on “the odor of burnt or unburnt cannabis.”

Last week, lawmakers shared how they’ll rework the juvenile justice system in an attempt to curb youth crimes, such as auto thefts and handgun violations. They’ve also justified the reasoning behind those choices. Their State House news conference, which included both chambers’ leaders and the governor, marked a reckoning for lawmakers who are paring back reforms they passed just under two years ago.

In his previous three bids for office, Baltimore mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah has run financially competitive campaigns, some costing upward of $1 million, fueled by donations from some of the region’s most well-funded business executives and community leaders. The families of local real estate leader John Luetkemeyer, Baltimore Sun owner and Sinclair Chairman David D. Smith and Baltimore Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos are among those who have backed his past efforts, in addition to over 100 more who supported with maximum contributions or donated to a PAC backing Vignarajah.