Politics

The all-male Baltimore County Council with only one Black member is being presented as “Exhibit A” as to why the structure of the body needs to change. A workgroup is preparing to make recommendations to the council on whether the seven member County Council should be increased to nine or even 11 members. Because it would be the first such change since the county charter was established in 1956, one member of the workgroup, Sheila Lewis, called it a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.

Before taking on the challenge of addressing youth crime during the 2024 legislative session, Maryland lawmakers listened at town halls and to briefings from prosecutors, defense attorneys, police, medical personnel and impacted families. So did Maryland Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Vincent Schiraldi, Gov. Wes Moore’s controversial, reform-focused cabinet pick. Schiraldi, chosen by Moore to helm an understaffed and financially mismanaged agency as firearm possession and car theft charges among Maryland youth increased, is heralded by many juvenile justice advocates as an expert in his field and an exciting pick to head the department responsible for tamping down youth crime.

Densely packed in Lawyers Mall in Annapolis on Tuesday morning, mothers, advocates and policymakers celebrated a decade of legislative wins limiting firearm access and laid out plans to establish civil liability for gun dealers in 2024. Since 2013, the General Assembly has passed legislation mandating universal background checks and requiring gun owners to apply for handgun qualification licenses, banned the sale and possession of ghost guns, implemented red flag laws, created guidelines on safe gun storage, limited who is eligible to receive a concealed-carry license and restricted where guns may be carried.

Frederick County Councilman Mason Carter is hoping the county’s state delegation will sponsor a bill to let volunteer fire companies and similar nonprofits accept credit cards as payment at gaming events. The proposal is meant to address one fire company’s interest in accepting credit card payments for online raffles. Carter proposed the bill as part of the county’s 2024 legislative package in September 2023. It was the only initiative put forward by the County Council, which voted unanimously to support it.

They target the U.S. Post Office’s “blue boxes” on street corners where people drop in their checks and letters. They break into mailboxes at town houses and apartment complexes. And they’ll pluck mail out of mailboxes at the end of driveways. A new bill proposed in Maryland would go after the thieves who steal mail and checks by making it a crime to steal from U.S. mailboxes.

Less than a week after a Maryland Senate committee reviewed a proposal that would require four-year public colleges and universities to guarantee admission for first-year students, a House subcommittee discussed the same issue Monday during an overall review of higher education in the state. One of the topics before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and Economic Development focused on direct admission, which allows high school students to go through a less rigorous college application process without formally applying to an institution.

Only one Maryland county is electing an executive in 2024. That’s in Cecil County, where voters choose their executives in presidential election years instead of in gubernatorial years like their counterparts across the state. This year, Cecil County Executive Danielle Hornberger (R) is battling for a second term. But depending on the outcome of this year’s U.S. Senate election, there could be a special election in Maryland for a county executive position in early 2025.

On Wednesday, top lawmakers in Annapolis will provide their answer to the outcry for public safety when it comes to crimes committed by children and unveil their plans to build more accountability into the juvenile justice system. Though youths commit a fraction of overall crime, including crimes of violence, state and local officials have spent months weighing criticisms over steps they’ve taken in recent years to prioritize rehabilitation over incarceration.

Gov. Wes Moore has proposed competitive grant funding of up to $10 million annually for communities across the state with high rates of child poverty, but those eligible will first need to establish comprehensive local plans for combating generational poverty. The governor has proposed $15 million for the first year of the grant program in the state’s $63 billion budget and is planning to bolster the grant funding with private and philanthropic investments.