Politics

A Maryland congressman is calling for investigators to look into the COVID-19 test scheme involving Medicare. Maryland U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-District 7, told the 11 News I-Team that he wants the Department of Justice, FBI and others to work with Congress to track down those who are sending unwanted COVID-19 tests to people across Maryland and charging the costs to Medicare.

Baltimore officials revealed new plans Thursday for designated kayaking and paddling routes along the city’s waterfront, to be named the Baltimore Blueway. A report, commissioned by the nonprofit Waterfront Partnership, lays out a plan for improving the city’s network of launch points and rest areas for small watercraft like kayaks, standup paddle boards and canoes, and adding signage and branding to attract new visitors and make navigation easier.

Montgomery County will be offering funding support for independently owned and operated businesses with 20 or fewer employees impacted by the Purple Line construction through Phase III of its Purple Line Light rail grants program. Eligible businesses can start submitting applications on Aug. 15. The County’s Business Center will host informational webinars on the program on Aug. 29, 30 and 31 in English, Spanish, and Amharic languages respectively at 8070 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring.

Frederick’s aldermen want the city to commit to spending money it has received from developers to build more affordable housing and school facilities. The city has nearly $6 million in school mitigation funds — intended to offset development in areas where schools are already overcrowded — and almost $5 million for building affordable housing paid by developers in lieu of putting affordable units in their projects, Alderman Ben MacShane said Wednesday.

Discontent with city leadership may have played a larger role than has been acknowledged in the recent, back-to-back departures of Baltimore’s police commissioner and director of the neighborhood safety office. Texts messages obtained by The Banner through a public records request show Shantay Jackson, then the outgoing director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, sent text messages to then-Police Commissioner Michael Harrison during the Police Department’s consequential City Council budget hearing on June 6, which led to his abrupt departure two days later.

Months ago, large groups of squeegee workers were a consistent presence on President Street in downtown Baltimore and in other busy intersections in the city. The workers, often Black teens and young adults, approached vehicles when the lights turned red, washing windows in hopes of a tip. Now, those same streets are noticeably quieter.

Eight years before Martin O’Malley was tapped to manage Social Security, he was running for president and claiming to be the only candidate with a plan to fix it. The vision, the former Maryland governor said, was not just to address the long-term outlook for a program expected to be incapable of paying full benefits by the mid-2030s, but to expand the benefits while raising wages and inspiring more private investment in retirement.

Two weeks after expressing concern over the lack of progress between the Orioles and the Maryland Stadium Authority in reaching a new lease, a state official now says he is “cautiously optimistic that we’re not too far from hopefully announcing a deal.” Maryland Treasurer Dereck Davis said Wednesday that, in recent weeks, he met with Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, and also with Orioles chairman John Angelos to discuss the topic. In those conversations, which Davis declined to detail, he said he wanted to convey his “sense of urgency.”

Eight environmental leaders are pressing Maryland energy regulators for more transparency on how the state’s renewable energy program is handled — and how the state hands out financial credits for entities that generate renewable energy. In a letter sent Tuesday to the five members of the Maryland Public Service Commission, the green groups suggest that the state’s renewable energy program isn’t delivering on its promise.