Politics

Amid fretting and high hopes that their children will succeed in the academic year, concerns that students could be exposed to toxic pesticides might not be the first thought on parents’ minds. But ensuring that Maryland schools reduce pesticide-exposure has been an ongoing concern for groups like the Maryland Pesticide Education Network and the Children’s Environmental Health Network, who have been advocating for clear policies on pesticide use in schools for years.

When Jennie Burke’s 13-year-old daughter needed hernia surgery six years ago, it wasn’t the operation Burke feared — it was her daughter’s recovery from it, and whether she’d need opioids to keep the pain at bay. At the time, Burke’s brother was “hitting rock bottom” from a heroin addiction that would later kill him. Like many Americans in the early 2000s, he became addicted to opioids after being prescribed OxyContin following an appendectomy. In 2020, the year he died, 68,630 people died from opioid overdoses.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th) enjoys his annual bull roast in Prince George’s County because he gets to hug, shake hands and nibble on hot food alongside fellow Democrats and other friends. The event celebrates various accomplishments made during the year and coincides with his birthday in June, but was postponed due the poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires. It resumed Friday as orange, red and white balloons were stationed at various places at Newton White Mansion as hundreds came to pay homage to Maryland’s longest-serving member of the House of Representatives.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott spoke on Saturday about the police response into the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting. Two people were killed and 28 others injured in the July 2 mass shooting in Brooklyn. Scott spoke with former Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes on WBAL NewsRadio about the response that night.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott rallied with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in South Baltimore Saturday morning on the last leg of a nationwide tour encouraging people to fill open positions in local government. “Everybody needs to have an opportunity to be involved, everybody needs to have an opportunity to participate, everybody needs to feel secure,” Moore said.

As Sheila Dixon begins her third run for Baltimore City mayor since she resigned from office in 2010, the landscape looks markedly different than it did in the past two cycles. For now, she and Mayor Brandon Scott are the sole major candidates in the Democratic primary, which is tantamount to winning the general election. Other viable candidates have declined to throw their names in the ring, unlike the crowded primary of 2020.

Frederick should expand the size of its legislative body, according to early recommendations before a committee considering changes to the city’s charter. But how that body is structured between districts and at-large members could be left up to voters. A subgroup of members of the city’s Ad Hoc Charter Review Committee presented potential recommendations for changes to the city’s governing structure to the full committee at a meeting Thursday.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has made a request to the Baltimore Board of Ethics for guidance on how to keep his campaign separate from city business as the race for mayor begins to heat up. The request was made via a letter to the board Wednesday. Scott, a Democrat who is seeking a second term in office, asked for written guidance and an in-person meeting between city ethics officials and Scott’s senior staff.