Politics

The Anne Arundel County Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to approve nearly $7 million in additional overtime pay and special pay including signing bonuses for the Anne Arundel County Police Department this fiscal year. During budget deliberations for the current fiscal year, the council only approved about $16 million for those expenditures. Additional unplanned compensation expenses required the council to approve a supplemental budget appropriation of $6.6 million.

Governor Wes Moore’s announcement on June 15 that the Red Line would be returning to Baltimore was a cathartic moment for local politicians, community leaders, and transit activists. Many of them have spent years championing the project and grieved in 2015 when former Republican Governor Larry Hogan unceremoniously canceled the east-west transit line.

Municipal officials are expected to discuss the potential sale of a portion of Heron Park next week. Mayor Zack Tyndall confirmed this week that he and the council would be discussing Heron Park at the meeting scheduled for June 26. “It will be a discussion item between the mayor and council,” Tyndall said. Last year, the town entered into negotiations with Palmer Gillis’s Coastal Ventures Properties LLC — one of two entities that submitted a proposal for the Heron Park property.

Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr. told C4 and Bryan Nehman on Tuesday that he is excited about the revival of the Red Line. The project will connect communities in Baltimore from east to west, and Olszewski said discussions will continue, but there will be positive impacts for the entire area. “If this is done right, this will be transformational for Baltimore and for our region,” Olszewski said.

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin thinks it’s time to expand the U.S. Supreme Court. A constitutional law scholar and Montgomery County Democrat who is considering joining the race for U.S. Senate in Maryland, Raskin said Tuesday he believes the court has lost its legitimacy through a series of conservative appointments, decisions and scandals — and that the only way to fix it is by adding more members to its ranks.

At an annual State of the City address this spring, Mayor Brandon Scott touted the ground his administration has covered on what he calls his “top priority”: reducing Baltimore’s shootings and homicides, in part through a $50 million investment in preventive approaches to violent crime. Among the achievements featured in Scott’s speech this April was the launch of an ambitious new initiative known as “Returning Citizens Behind the Wall,” designed to connect incarcerated people with jobs doing manual labor for the city at $15 an hour.

The quick, sharp sound of paddles striking plastic balls filled the pickleball courts at Monocacy Village Park on a recent warm June morning. Mike Smith was focused on a volley, his feet shuffling back and forth as he and his teammate took turns hitting a bright yellow ball across the net to their opponents.

Three Maryland U.S. Congressmen have missed at least 11 votes so far in 2023, an 11 News I-Team review found. The I-Team looked at the number of roll call votes each of Maryland’s two U.S. senators and eight U.S. representatives were eligible for from January through the end of May 2023. The Senate held 129 votes, and the House held 244 votes during that time frame.