Politics

A landmark federal climate and health bill making its way to the finish line includes everything from a cap on Medicare patients’ costs for insulin to tax credits for manufacturing solar panels and support for offshore wind power. The U.S. House of Representatives is poised to pass the $740 billion package Friday, after the Senate approved it along party lines earlier this week. “It’s been a long and winding road, but the Inflation Reduction Act is almost at the White House door,” U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Thursday in Baltimore.

A video of a UPS driver collapsing on the job in Arizona went viral last month. After a brief pause, the employee rises and goes back to work. Millions of workers are toiling under similar conditions as heat waves ravage the country this summer. In Maryland, backers of legislation to protect workers against heat stress are frustrated by what they call the Hogan administration’s “lack of urgency” and transparency in creating regulations to implement the bill, nearly two years after it became law. The recent heat wave highlights the importance of heat regulations as the Maryland Department of Labor continues work on carrying out House Bill 722, which passed the General Assembly in 2020.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman has proposed the county lease the land at Greenbury Point in Annapolis to stave off plans by the U.S. Navy for the development there of an 18-hole golf course .On Wednesday, Pittman sent a letter to Capt. Homer R. Denius, commanding officer of Naval Support Activity Annapolis, requesting a long-term lease of the 240-acre Greenbury Point parcel for management by the county’s Department of Recreation and Parks as a conservation area with public walking trails. Pittman said he is prepared to spend county money to develop a concept design and collect public input.

The Carroll Board of County Commissioners moved one step closer to setting aside another 109 acres of county farmland for land preservation, this time in Westminster. On Aug. 3, commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of an easement on property at 2525 Salem Bottom Road in Westminster, which is being bought by Douglas and Sandra Zepp. The property is being sold by the Estate of Lillian G. Muller.

When Tom McMillen discusses college sports and legalized gambling, he’s straightforward about his concern. He fears a game-fixing scandal that would shake the confidence of fans across the country. “I would say 99% of the sports-betting scandals that have occurred had been in the college market,” said McMillen, a former U.S. congressman and basketball All-American at the University of Maryland. Two of the most high-profile betting scandals in sports history have happened at the college level. Boston College’s basketball program was ensnared in point-shaving controversy in the 1978-79 season.

Howard County officials are working to develop a long-range, visionary plan called HoCo by Design that will detail development and conservation in the county through the year 2040. Once each decade, Howard County updates its general plan that guides land-use decisions. The current plan, PlanHoward2030, was adopted in 2012. The document establishes an overall plan and recommended actions relevant to current and future needs of the county. “Howard County is reaching a critical inflection point,” said Mark Miller, administrator with Howard County’s public information office.