Politics

The Senate passed a massive $1.7 trillion spending bill Thursday that finances federal agencies through September and provides another significant round of military and economic aid to Ukraine one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic address to a joint meeting of Congress. The bill, which runs for 4,155 pages, includes about $772.5 billion for domestic programs and $858 billion for defense and would finance federal agencies through the fiscal year at the end of September.

Maryland’s hospital emergency rooms have the longest wait times in the country, according to a Dec. 21 investigation by Meredith Cohn in the Baltimore Banner. That’s a bad distinction for our state to have at any time, and especially when multiple winter viruses are slamming ERs nationwide. Cohn cites data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finding that Maryland’s average wait time has reached an astounding 228 minutes. Nearly four hours before you can get seen in the emergency room? Better hope it’s not an emergency!

Citing state and federal rules that protect grand jury materials, a Baltimore judge ordered proceedings to remain secret in the legal effort to release an investigation into the history of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church of Baltimore. Circuit Judge Anthony Vittoria on Thursday denied two appeals from survivors of priest sexual abuse who sought to have the proceedings opened up.

After Middle River resident Lydia Moore lost her job at a Baltimore County medical cannabis company in March 2021, she joined the droves of Marylanders in need of food assistance during the pandemic. The state’s prompt and easy delivery of those monthly benefits, “was a huge help,” Moore said of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. “I was comfortable, and I was not worried about food,” the 25-year-old recalled.

Gov.-elect Wes Moore (D) announced Tuesday that he has selected state Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Prince George’s) to head the Maryland Energy Administration, creating a dramatic change at that little-known state agency and a cascading set of dominoes that should shake up the leadership teams in both houses of the General Assembly. Moore also announced that Mollie Byron, a seasoned government hand in the state, will serve as director of Intergovernmental Affairs for his administration.

Prince George’s County schools CEO Monica Goldson was the first of four witnesses to testify Tuesday during a virtual hearing on whether to remove embattled school board chair Juanita Miller. Board member Pamela Boozer-Strother, former board vice chair Sonya Williams and Suzann King, former executive director of the county’s school board also testified at the hearing, which began around 9:30 a.m.

Maryland Gov.-elect Wes Moore (D) said Tuesday that relocating the FBI’s headquarters to Prince George’s County is a “personal priority” and called on the U.S. General Services Administration to make a decision that aligns with President Biden’s equity goals. “In Maryland, we know that underinvestment in communities like Prince George’s County has held families back,” Moore said in a statement. Moore’s comments come a day after House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer and U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, all Democrats from Maryland, negotiated at least a three-month delay in a decision on the relocation by inserting language about the headquarters into an omnibus federal spending package.