Politics

The Maryland Department of Transportation is expected to give $1.4 million in funding for road improvement projects aimed at unclogging sections of three high-traffic state highways in Anne Arundel County. A project to add a lane to Ritchie Highway — a section of Route 2 in Arnold running between U.S. Route 50 and Arnold Road — is scheduled to receive $800,000 from MDOT and $200,000 from the county in 2023, the second installment of the design cost. Earlier this year, the department contributed $800,000 and the county devoted $200,000 to the project, which includes a new sidewalk and a connection to the B&A Trail.

As part of the county’s transition to a combination fire and emergency medical services system, the Department of Fire and EMS is beginning to combine purchasing efforts as well, starting with medical supplies. On Thursday, the Board of Carroll County Commissioners unanimously approved a $350,000 contract with Bound Tree Medical of Fairfax, Virginia, for the purchase of medical supplies for all 14 county fire and EMS companies. Currently, medical supplies are purchased by each of the volunteer fire and EMS companies separately. “As we transition over, a lot of things that the volunteers have purchased on their own, we’re trying to make it seamless,” said Michael Robinson Sr., director of Carroll County’s Fire and Emergency Medical Department.

On Election Day, voters in Maryland are set to decide on a new governor, a ballot measure to legalize marijuana and a slew of local races including some county executive contests in the D.C. area that could be close. After eight years in office, Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is blocked by term limits from running again. That has set up a showdown between Democrat Wes Moore and one-term Republican Del. Dan Cox, who knocked off Hogan’s hand-picked successor in the general election. In addition, voters are weighing in on the state’s next attorney general, comptroller, eight U.S. House races and a U.S. Senate seat.

State Sen. Bob Cassilly has raised concerns with Harford County Public Schools after he heard about a middle school student who felt uncomfortable changing in a school locker room with a student of a different biological gender. In response, school system leaders say the policies on gender-nonconforming students’ access to school facilities follow state guidelines. They add that they encourage students and parents to let them know when they feel uncomfortable. In an email sent from his Maryland Senate account on Tuesday, Cassilly says the parents of a county middle student reached out to him several weeks ago about an incident in a school locker room.

The Baltimore County Board of Elections will begin counting mail-in ballots ahead of the Nov. 8 election, officials announced Wednesday, reversing a previous decision to wait. Ruie Lavoie, county elections director, said canvassing of mail-in ballots will start Nov. 5. On Wednesday, after The Baltimore Sun’s initial story, Lavoie said space has been located to move the training. Baltimore County would have been the state’s most populous jurisdiction to hold off on counting ballots. Montgomery County, which has more than 670,000 eligible active voters, plans to begin counting mail-in ballots on Saturday. Prince George’s County, which has almost 509,000 eligible active voters, will begin next week.

A coalition of cycling groups has fallen short in their efforts to block the state from dismantling the old Nice-Middleton Bridge in Charles County. A federal judge in Baltimore said late Tuesday that the organizations failed to meet the high legal threshold for blocking demolition, which lawyers for the state said will begin later this week. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and other dignitaries are scheduled to open the new span Wednesday morning. During a three-hour court hearing, the lawyer hired by the cycling coalition said leaving the original Nice-Middleton Bridge in place would preserve the opportunity to use it for recreation. When Hogan announced plans to replace the 1940s-era bridge, he pledged to include a dedicated bike/pedestrian lane on the new span. Those plans were later dropped in a cost-cutting move.