Politics

Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor has appointed residents, officials, merchants and others to an ad hoc committee to examine parking in the city. The group will look at changing demand for parking downtown, community needs, and parking and mobility options, and will recommend actions, according to a release from the city.

A joint offer from White’s Ferry owners and county government to buy the Virginia landing site could have seen the historic ferry reopened as soon as 30 days from the purchase—but the bid was rejected by Virginia landowners. Now Chuck and Stacy Kuhn are looking to sell White’s Ferry to Montgomery County. “This is not what we had hoped, but we understand the importance of White’s Ferry to the region’s economy—and the ferry needs to get moving again,” Chuck Kuhn said in a prepared statement.

Two more Maryland businesses have qualified for consideration for a sports wagering license, according to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission, which oversees casinos and sports wagering in the state. The businesses, one of which has plans to open a betting facility inside the bar Sports and Social in North Bethesda, must get additional approval before opening to bettors.

With reported antisemitic incidents nearly doubling in Maryland last year, state lawmakers are proposing a package of bills aimed at preventing and addressing hate crimes. Sen. Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Montgomery) introduced five bills in the state Senate that he said target root causes of the increase in bias incidents in Maryland, which rose from 55 in 2021 to 109 in 2022, according to a report published this week by the Anti-Defamation League.
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Two months after taking office, Gov. Wes Moore (D) continues to work to fill positions on key boards and commissions. Moore on Friday sent an additional 128 nominees to the state Senate for consideration — and also announced that he was withdrawing the names of 13 previously announced appointees. Moore has now sent hundreds of names for top administration positions and commissions along to the Senate, which is trying to work through his nominees at a rapid pace, with the General Assembly session set to end on April 10.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) is working to shore up a beleaguered historic nomination in advance of a Senate hearing Monday. The governor met with members of the Coalition of Black Maryland State Troopers for about 90 minutes Friday to discuss Roland Butler Jr. Moore tapped the retired Maryland State Police lieutenant colonel to become the first Black superintendent of the organization. The meeting with Moore, which included Butler, comes days before a key hearing in the final two weeks of the session.

At a gathering that evoked the long road to marriage equality and the continued fight for the rights of the LGBTQ community, Gov. Wes Moore said he intends to sign a bill that would require Maryland Medicaid to cover gender-affirming procedures for transgender patients. “We should not be asking any Marylander to validate their humanity. We should not be asking any Marylander to try to justify their humanness,” Moore told state lawmakers in a newly formed LGBTQ+ Caucus during a cocktail hour Thursday at the governor’s residence.

As the County Council continues its deliberations over County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposed operating and capital budgets, county officials said remaining federal assistance should continue to be spent on social services, business assistance and similar areas. That federal assistance is coming in two forms—reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for COVID-19-related expenses such as for personal protective equipment, and money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law by President Joe Biden in March 2021 to provide economic relief due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.