Politics

Gov Wes Moore (D) is standing by his recent appointments to a powerful state commission that regulates hospital costs — despite questions about whether they are legally eligible to serve. The issue was raised when Moore named two high-profile appointees to the Health Services Cost Review Commission: Nicki McCann, vice president of provider/payer transformation for the Johns Hopkins Health System, and former Maryland Health Secretary Joshua Sharfstein, who currently serves as vice dean at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The portraits of a recent former governor and his wife will soon take their places among their peers. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and his wife, retired District Court Judge Catherine Curran O’Malley, haven’t lived in the governor’s mansion since 2015. Their portraits are absent from both the State House and the mansion.

Anne Arundel County has rebranded its equity and diversity office and named a new leader, County Executive Steuart Pittman announced at a news conference Tuesday. The Office of Equity and Human Rights — formerly the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Department — will be led by Asha Smith, who has served as equal opportunity and human relations officer for the last two years. Smith’s responsibilities will be largely unchanged after the promotion.

A retroactive 6% earnings rate will be applied for Maryland account holders participating in the 529 Prepaid College Savings Trust plan, the state treasurer announced Monday. Earlier this year, Maryland 529 plan participants said they had trouble accessing their accounts and paying tuition. Parents said the value of their prepaid accounts decreased by as much as 50% because of a new method of calculating interest in the fund.

The region’s U.S. Senate delegation is standing united in opposition to a Congressional proposal to add dozens of daily flights to Reagan National Airport. Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia, along with Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, made a joint appearance at the airport’s Terminal 2, where they criticized the proposal.

Just days after recreational marijuana became legal for adult use, local lawmakers moved to restrict where shops that sell it can operate in Prince George’s County — a first in the state that elicited criticism from county business owners. The bill, proposed by four county council members, would restrict cannabis businesses to industrial zones, mandate that they be 2,500 feet away from land for day care or school uses and require building-mounted signs.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has promised more arrests following the mass shooting in Brooklyn that took the lives of two people and injured 28 others. Scott told reporters in east Baltimore on Monday that while he expects more arrests and charges, there won’t be any public comments that might tip off suspects.

Days after a high-profile potential candidate bowed out of the Maryland race for U.S. Senate, Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) unleashed several dozen endorsements Tuesday, bolstering his own candidacy in what his campaign called a “wide open” contest. Trone’s campaign announcement of 40 local and state government leaders, primarily from his Western Maryland congressional district, follows his colleague Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-Md.) much-watched decision late Friday to stay out of the highly contested race.