Politics

Ever since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, former president Donald Trump has been sour and on the defensive. His new opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, made clear in their scorching debate here Tuesday night that she will spend the next two months trying to keep him there. If debates matter, this one should. But the overriding question in such a divided country is whether it will.

When a group called PEACE began circulating petitions to impose term limits on City Hall, the idea didn’t seem too far-fetched. Other elected officials, even Mayor Brandon Scott, had previously expressed support for term limits. David Smith, the billionaire Baltimore County media mogul who finances PEACE, would later say the 2022 effort was “a test,” an opportunity to see how easy it is to change city government.

In a family-owned Salvadorian restaurant in Wheaton earlier this summer, the Democratic faithful in Montgomery County watched mostly in silence and lingered at the bar afterward as President Joe Biden stumbled through a debate that would seal his fate as the leader of his party. Just over two months later in the same local haunt, the mood had shifted into celebration, the margaritas and Coronas flowing during a rematch that was anything but quiet for a new Democratic nominee at the top of the ticket.

Kamala Harris on Tuesday night faces a task unprecedented in modern political history. On the debate stage in Philadelphia, she will deliver both an opening argument – to the millions of voters who want to know more about her – and a closing argument – for her candidacy and against Donald Trump’s – as their lightning campaign enters its final eight weeks.

Jamée Maiden, a 13-year-old eighth grader at William W. Hall Academy in Prince George’s County, said she was allowed to use her cell phone at certain times during the school day last school year. Not this school year. “I feel like they help in class for certain things like research. If some people don’t have computers, it is easier to access,” she said.

Opioid manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay Baltimore $80 million for its role in causing the city’s overdose epidemic, the latest legal win in Mayor Brandon Scott’s crusade against pharmaceutical companies, officials said Monday morning. Teva will pay $32.5 million by the end of the year and will pay the remainder of the $80 million by July 1, 2025, according to a news release. Earlier this year, Baltimore settled cases against CVS, Allergan and Cardinal Health.

Baltimore’s mayor canceled his attendance at a state conference, but the city still got stuck with the bill for a member of his security detail. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott did not attend the Maryland Association of Counties Conference in Ocean City last month, but a member of his security detail was there on the taxpayers’ dime.