Politics

When Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rushern Baker III launched his first television ad of Maryland’s 2022 campaign, he chose to focus on murders in Baltimore, telling viewers “nobody in power gives a damn” about the carnage because the victims are Black and vowing to “stop the slaughter of young Black men.” And it’s not just Baker, a former Prince George’s County executive, who’s been talking about crime and policing on the campaign trail.

A state lawmaker wants Gov. Larry Hogan to declare a state of emergency ahead of next month’s primary election. Montgomery County Democratic Sen. Cheryl Kagan is asking Hogan to declare a state of emergency to allow the canvassing but not counting of mail-in ballots to begin eight days before early voting starts. That was the exact language in one of two bills sponsored by Kagan that Hogan vetoed last week.

Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) has asked the head of the county school board, Dr. Juanita D. Miller, to step down, “effective immediately,” Maryland Matters has learned. Miller, a former state delegate and water utility commission board member, has been at the center of multiple controversies since her appointment 16 months ago. Ethics complaints have been filed against her and she supported a separate set of disputed complaints that was filed against a faction of the board with whom she has clashed.

The House is swiftly working to put its stamp on gun legislation in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York by 18-year-old assailants who used semi-automatic rifles to kill 31 people, including 19 children. Debate on the legislation came as the White House announced that President Joe Biden would give a primetime speech about the shootings and his plans to press Congress “to pass commonsense laws to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is taking lives every day.”

The Baltimore City Council mounted a veritable filibuster in protest of the city’s pandemic-disrupted recycling collection Wednesday evening, prolonging what was scheduled to be a four-hour discussion of the Department of Public Works’ budget until nearly midnight. At issue was the current biweekly collection schedule, which was implemented in January when officials said a COVID-fueled staffing shortage made the move necessary.

Berke Attila is returning to lead the Department of General Services after spending the last six years as the vice president of an educational nonprofit, Mayor Brandon Scott said. Attila spent five years as the agency’s CFO before leaving to be the Chief Human Resources Officer for Montgomery County. He replaces Chichi Nyagah-Nash, who is now serving as the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer in the Scott administration.