Politics

The Maryland League of Conservation Voters (LCV) was the first environmental organization to endorse Gov. Wes Moore during the 2022 Democratic primary campaign, and now it’s the first to release an evaluation of his first six months in office. The group’s overall analysis of the Moore administration’s performance on climate change, environmental justice and environmental stewardship in general was, unsurprisingly, positive.

Energy industry veteran Frederick H. Hoover was sworn as chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) July 5, taking the reins of the state’s utility regulator for a five-year term. Hoover was appointed to the post by Gov. Wes Moore and was confirmed by the Maryland Senate in April 2023.

Now let’s get to the budget and taxes.  Here is more from my panel with Council Members Andrew Friedson and Kate Stewart at the Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce’s real estate update on June 27. This question is for both of you. In this last budget, the county executive proposed a ten percent property tax hike. The council ultimately passed a 4.7 percent property tax hike which both of you voted against actually for different reasons.

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) raised $1.73 million in her first seven weeks as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. That’s according to a memo on the “State of the Maryland Senate Race” that her campaign manager, Dave Chase, began circulating to “interested parties” on Wednesday. Maryland Matters obtained a copy of the memo on Wednesday evening.

State officials have awarded $2.9 million to a Harford County man who spent 32 years behind bars for a wrongful conviction in an infamous 1981 double murder. The amount set for John Norman Huffington, who was released a decade ago and pardoned by Gov. Larry Hogan earlier this year, is one of the largest such awards in Maryland in recent years.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) and other state officials expressed anger and frustration Wednesday following the death of an Eastern Shore teen during the second mass shooting incident in the state in three days. “We all have to do more,” the governor told reporters following Wednesday’s Board of Public Works meeting. “This is not sustainable.

Big change came to the state Saturday — not only with the legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis, but also with shifting criminal justice policies that have disproportionately impacted communities of color and low-income Marylanders. In the spirit of ending the prohibition equitably, Maryland lawmakers put new laws in place over the past two years to aid people with the process of expunging cannabis charges and convictions from their records, and limited the circumstances for police to execute traffic stops based on the odor of cannabis.