Politics

State lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to an emergency regulation passed by the State Board of Education that now requires universal masking in all Maryland public schools. After a four-hour virtual public hearing, the Joint Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) Committee, which is tasked with reviewing state agency regulations, voted 10-7 to approve the emergency regulation passed by the state board in late August.

Defense attorney Roya Hanna is the first candidate to announce a run for Baltimore state’s attorney in the June Democratic primary election. An assistant state’s attorney in the city for 12 years, Hanna said Wednesday that she’s handled more than 100 jury trials, prosecuting murders, felony drug cases and juvenile crimes. In her last four years in the prosecutor’s office, before leaving in 2015, she prosecuted homicide cases. Currently, she runs a law office in downtown Baltimore.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s administration spent more than $380,000 in legal fees attempting to end expanded federal unemployment benefits in Maryland early, an invoice shows. The 17-page invoice released Friday is dated Aug. 20 and includes $381,952.50 in legal fees, as well as $696.56 in filing fees and court costs, for a total of $382,649.06. The invoice, from Venable LLP, was released in response to a public information request from Maryland Matters on Friday.

As the state begins to implement the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reforms, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John King laid out his own education plan this week, which he says “goes from cradle to career.”  It includes universal access to preschool for three and four year-olds by 2030, expanding college and career opportunities in high school, establishing a minimum starting salary of $60,000 for teachers by 2023 and shows a high understanding of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — a multi-billion-dollar education reform plan intended to close student achievement gaps and transform the state’s education system over the next decade.

Marylanders can now submit their own proposals for redistricting to the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission, state officials announced Thursday. The Maryland Department of Planning’s new submission portal allows users to map their proposals for congressional and state legislative districts, and includes instructions on how to draw districts. Members of the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission will review maps that are received by noon on Sept. 24, according to the planning department. More submissions will be accepted when that panel begins its third round of hearings in October.

Carroll County Commissioner Eric Bouchat proposed several amendments to the county’s budget preparation process and the commissioner’s organizational structure, one which would replace the county administrator position with two chief of staff positions. At Thursday’s meeting, Bouchat, a Republican representing District 4, said as a commissioner it’s easy to get “kind of cushiony” with the county administrators doing so much for them.