Politics

President Joe Biden excoriated “MAGA Republicans” and the extreme right on Monday, pitching personal Labor Day appeals to union members in two key swing states that he hopes will turn out in force for his party in November. “The middle class built America,” Biden told a workers’ gathering at park grounds in Milwaukee. “Everybody knows that. But unions built the middle class.”

Del. Ken Kerr is running for his second term on the Maryland House of Delegates to continue pushing to make health insurance more accessible, teaching more affordable, and government services more understandable. Kerr, previously a member of the Frederick County Board of Education, was elected to serve District 3B in 2018. He won his primary race this year with 5,628, more than any of his six Democratic challengers.

Christopher Eric Bouchat, a Carroll County commissioner who, for years, has been refining his plan to end partisan gerrymandering in Maryland, will likely soon have a bigger platform to advocate for his idea. Bouchat has an almost certain path to the State House after winning one of three Republican nominations for three seats in District 5 in the House of Delegates. There are no Democrats opposing Bouchat or his fellow Republican nominees, April Rose and Chris Tomlinson.

Maryland is one of 20 states that signed on to a brief this week supporting the federal government’s efforts to regulate “ghost guns,” untraceable weapons that are often made at home and purchased without background checks. The new federal rule to regulate ghost guns, issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, took effect last week. It requires federally licensed firearms dealers that sell or distribute the partially completed weapons to conduct background checks before selling or transferring those parts.

A long-standing cap on Baltimore County Council members’ pensions could be lifted under legislation set for a vote Tuesday. Current county rules cap council pensions at 60% of a member’s salary. If the measure is passed, a council member could retire with a pension equal to their full salary after serving 20 years.

For the third time in a couple of months, the mayor is at odds with some council members over the role of the town’s planning commission on certain issues and steps in the approval process. The Mayor and Council’s agenda on Tuesday included recommendations to approve two code amendments. One would modify pyramidal zoning, or zoning in which different mixed-uses would be allowed in certain zoning districts. The second would address garage parking for multi-family residential areas.

Ballot questions in Baltimore almost never fail. Over the past two decades, more than 100 questions have been put to city voters, probing their thoughts on issues ranging from borrowing money to making it easier for the City Council to oust a mayor. During that time, voters have rejected only one question, a 2004 effort to lower the minimum age to become a council member.