Politics

Gov. Wes Moore announced an executive order to “broaden” the state’s efforts to combat the the drug overdose crisis through reorganizing and expanding a state entity previously known as the Opioid Operational Command Center. Moore (D) said the order will “help broaden state and government’s approach to tackling the overdose crisis,” to reflect the ever-changing nature of the opioid crisis and overdoses in general.

In the new landscape of abortion discourse following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8th) and other Democrats are calling on top social media sites to combat potentially harmful misinformation related to abortion access and procedures. On Dec. 7, Raskin and 12 other Democratic members of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability sent letters addressed to Elon Musk, the chairman and chief technology officer of the social media site formerly known as Twitter, now called X, and Mark Zuckerberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, calling on them to combat the spread of misinformation on abortion.

The Maryland Department of the Environment has a plan — a plan to achieve the state’s ambitious climate and clean energy goals. But the plan isn’t quite ready for prime time yet — though it should be by year’s end. Which made the timing of Friday’s virtual hearing by the House Environment and Transportation Committee on how the state plans to implement the groundbreaking Climate Solutions Now Act a little inopportune. Lawmakers’ attempts to drill down on details of the Moore administration’s plans for meeting the provisions in the bill were politely swatted away more than a few times by Maryland Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain and her top lieutenants.

Produce business owner Abigail Diehl and Severna Park nurse Kristin Lyman Nabors have filed as candidates for the seat held by Democratic Rep. John Sarbanes representing the 3rd Congressional District. Sarbanes announced in October that he would not seek reelection after 17 years in office. The Anne Arundel residents, both Democrats, enter an already crowded candidate field that includes several seasoned liberal legislators from across the region.

In spite of a reported decline in youth crime and Baltimore’s slowed murder rate, Maryland’s juvenile justice policy has left some residents fearful and angry with their representatives in Annapolis, and confused about what their state laws actually do — especially in the face of a spate of car thefts. “The facts matter, but so does the perception,” Senate President Bill Ferguson, a South Baltimore Democrat, said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun last week.

The Orioles’ stadium lease extension was expiring in less than four weeks, and Gov. Wes Moore was moving quickly on a long-term lease to resolve a nagging issue that was becoming a political liability. On the morning of Dec. 8, the governor launched a plan in which the Maryland Stadium Authority would summon board members to a special meeting the following Tuesday to approve a freshly negotiated agreement with the team that his administration believed improved upon an earlier, nonbinding proposal.

A blue-ribbon transportation panel will ask lawmakers to consider bolstering the state’s flagging Transportation Trust Fund by raising tolls and imposing new or increased vehicle registration fees. The 31-member Transportation Revenue and Infrastructure Committee’s interim report is more of a menu of options for lawmakers to consider than a series of prescriptions.b “We’ve covered a lot of territory in a period of time,” said Frank Principe, who chairs the commission. “We also understand there’s a lot more to dig into and I don’t take that lightly. We certainly want to provide as much helpful input that we can in terms of trying to move these kinds of topics and conversations forward.”

Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation have successfully blocked the U.S. Naval Academy Athletic Association from building a second golf course on Greenbury Point. The announcement comes on the heels of Congress passing the final version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act Thursday morning. The provisions for protecting the Greenbury Point Conservation Area contain even stronger language than the draft legislation passed by the Senate earlier this year and make it nearly impossible to deforest the 231-acre peninsula extending out into the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River.

The appeal of a decision by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge upholding the rejection of an early voting site in Hancock could be heard in early February, according to the attorney representing the Washington County Board of Elections. The local board is not named in the suit, which was filed against state elections officials after the Maryland State Board of Elections formally rejected the site during an emergency meeting Nov. 3. That meeting came after the state board declined to approve the site at its Oct. 26 meeting.