Politics

Former adviser to President Donald Trump and conservative pundit Kellyanne Conway will headline an annual fundraising event for the Maryland Republican Party next week, the party announced Thursday. She will replace South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, as keynote speaker because Noem recently underwent back surgery.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaking Thursday at the IRS New Carrollton Federal Building, laid out her vision for a modernized, responsive, tech-savvy tax collection agency equipped to manage 21st century challenges. Yellen said the agency plans to hire 5,000 new customer service representatives to vastly improve taxpayer service before the next filing season, using part of the money from a recent $80 billion infusion of funds from the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.

Democrats are punting a vote to protect same-sex and interracial marriages until after the November midterm elections, pulling back just days after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to put the Senate on the record on the issue “in the coming weeks.” The delay was requested by key senators who have been negotiating changes to the legislation and comes at a time when many Republicans have been signaling opposition.

The Mayor’s Squeegee Collaborative held its first community conversation on Tuesday night. The group has been meeting since mid-July to try and resolve issues involving squeegee workers in Baltimore. There was no clear solution presented at the meeting, rather it was about hearing from the public about possible solutions to the longstanding challenge of city youth who squeegee.

Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Harris abruptly switched gears on Wednesday, pulling out of an October debate with Democratic challenger Heather Mizeur over his insistence that the Libertarian Party candidate be included. The campaign of Harris, a conservative seeking a seventh term in the 1st Congressional District, had released a statement earlier in the day to The Baltimore Sun, saying he “won’t pull out if a third-party candidate can’t attend, but he will nonetheless insist on them being invited to debates.”

U.S. District Court Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ordered a postponement Wednesday of Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s upcoming perjury and mortgage fraud trial in part because of Mosby’s delayed disclosure of expert testimony. Mosby, who will leave office in January, was scheduled to begin trial Monday and the postponement comes after the defense failed to disclose the details of its expert witness testimony by Griggsby’s mandated July 1 deadline. Mosby’s defense sent its last disclosure, at Griggsby’s direction, to prosecutors late Friday night.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore laid out his vision for Anne Arundel County and Maryland over the next four years Tuesday night at the Caucus of African American Leaders’ monthly meeting. Moore, an author and nonprofit leader, greeted a full house at the Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center in Annapolis where he promised to make education more accessible, and create more pathways to well-paying jobs. When discussing his plans to bolster mental health resources in schools, Moore praised Anne Arundel County for its efforts to create a consolidated 911 center that will integrate more kinds of expertise in responding to emergencies.

Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford spoke on multiple issues on the C4 and Bryan Nehman Show on Wednesday morning. California just passed a bill that would end the sale of all petroleum-based cars by the year 2035. But under the federal Clean Air Act, not only does California set car emissions recommendations for itself, but their proposals also apply to several other states including Maryland.