Politics

During evening rush hour one day after a ban on squeegeeing went into effect in certain areas of Baltimore, several young men appeared on President Street, spray bottles and squeegees in hand, weaving their way through cars, cleaning windshields and collecting cash from some drivers. But not for long. Soon, a police officer ushered the group to the side of the road. Under a new enforcement plan; they were no longer able to work there. “There’s no future in squeegeeing,” he told them. “We want you to be successful. We want you to think of your future.” He shook the boys’ hands, and they walked away.

Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Darryl L. Williams announced in an email Monday that he will not seek a new contract for another four years after his current one expires this summer. Williams’ statement was released hours after multiple area organizations shared letters they sent to Baltimore County Public Schools Board of Education members asking them to select an interim superintendent and launch a nationwide search for a new school system leader.

Leaning into his pledge to shake things up in Maryland’s capital city, Gov. Wes Moore said Monday that he’ll be making a bit of an unusual request for the specialty menu item named after him at Annapolis institution Chick & Ruth’s Delly. “The Wes Moore,” he said, should be an order of crab cakes and waffles.

The Maryland state Senate is likely to take up a bill that will fund the 988 suicide and crisis prevention hotline by $12 million in 2025. While the federal government doled out more than $280 million nationwide, state officials have been overwhelmed by the need for such services. In Maryland, one state senator who represents a part of Prince George’s County wants to convince other lawmakers and eventually Gov. Wes Moore that spending $12 million more in Maryland from state coffers is worth it for taxpayers.

With lawmakers facing a July 1 deadline to provide a framework for the legal use, possession, and sale of cannabis after voters approved full legalization in November, it’s clear, just a week into the General Assembly session, that the task won’t be straightforward. While the public is generally enthusiastic about legalization, which passed with 67% support and received more votes than new governor Wes Moore, legislators have a lot of work to do to build a legal market that fulfills their commitments on issues like equity, public safety, and taxation and revenue. “The people of this state have spoken and they have spoken loudly,” said Moore at a press conference Thursday. “We cannot, we will not, repeat the mistakes that the state has made when medical cannabis was legalized…we have to get this right from day one.”

As expected, the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee selected Del. Alonzo Washington on Saturday to fill a vacant seat in the Maryland Senate. The committee will forward Washington’s name to Gov. Wes Moore (D), who will have up to 15 days to make the appointment official. Washington, 39, was the only person who came before the committee to seek the vacant seat. He will serve the remaining four-year term after all 188 legislator seats in both chambers were up in the November election. “I just want to thank everybody that came her today. I look forward to really working with all of you,” Washington, joined by his wife and their one-month daughter, said to dozens of supporters at the Glenarden Municipal Center.

Citing a judge’s ruling that Annapolis does not have enough police officers for its population, the Annapolis Police Department and the city’s Office of Law say they will no longer sign off on major construction projects in Maryland’s capital. The policy change has indefinitely stalled all in-process major construction projects that had not yet received what’s called an adequate public facilities certificate. Since 2005, those certificates have been required to affirm that Annapolis has sufficient public services to support the new construction, including sewer systems, stormwater management facilities and police officers. The city’s adequate public facilities ordinance mandates that a minimum of 3.2 police officers be employed for every 1,000 residents.