Politics

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.

Gov. Wes Moore said he has been attacked over his military service record, including recent revelations that he claimed a military honor for which he had been recommended but never received. Moore’s comments came during an hour-long interview Friday at the Texas Tribune Festival with NPR host Michele Martin. Moore said he was “recently attacked because, 20 years ago, on an application” he claimed he was awarded a Bronze Star — a medal he ultimately did not receive.

Maryland has a chance to become the first state to elect a Black governor, attorney general and U.S. senator concurrently, transforming the state into the nation’s center of Black political power in just two election cycles. Two years ago, state voters broke barriers, making Gov. Wes Moore and Attorney General Anthony Brown the first Black candidates to be independently elected to statewide offices (two Black men had previously been elected lieutenant governor as part of a ticket).

Gov. Wes Moore, waging a “war” on behalf of Democrat Angela Alsobrooks’ U.S. Senate bid, is raising funds for a new super PAC focused on defeating her opponent, Republican Larry Hogan, whom Moore succeeded as governor. Moore’s involvement with the PAC underscores the significant extent to which he has tied himself to the campaign of Alsobrooks, 53, the Prince George’s County executive.

Maryland’s 6th Congressional District has been a Democratic stronghold for more than a decade, a section of the state stretching east from Cumberland to more urban Montgomery County that former congressman John Delaney flipped blue in 2012. But, with two months left before the November general election, that may change, according to a poll released this week.

Congress returns to Washington on Monday with limited time to prevent a government shutdown and November’s elections already clouding conversations over federal financing. Funding for the federal government expires Sept. 30, when the 2024 fiscal year ends. Without new legislation, the government would shut down while millions of voters, including in some battleground states, are already able to cast their votes.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are veering sharply in how they gear up for Tuesday’s presidential debate, setting up a showdown that reflects not just two separate visions for the country but two politicians who approach big moments very differently. The vice president is cloistered in a historic hotel in downtown Pittsburgh where she can focus on honing crisp two-minute answers, per the debate’s rules.