Politics

President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant. The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Biden is also authorizing the Defense Department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the U.S., in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula.”

Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby says he will comply with the ethics board’s requests. “I’ve been very transparent and open and working with the process the entire time and I’ll continue to do so,” Mosby said. Mosby repeatedly denied the allegations from the ethics board that he indirectly solicited for a legal defense fund set up for he and his wife that took donations from at least two city contractors.

The Frederick County Council on Tuesday voted 4-2, along party lines, to adopt a $792 million budget for the next fiscal year. The council also agreed 4-2 to lower the income tax rate for most people in the county and to set the county’s property tax rate. The budget, proposed by County Executive Jan Gardner, D, is about 10% larger than this year’s. The council’s budget grew 8% in 2021 and 4% in 2020.

Following a record number of homicides in 2021, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr. told Bryan Nehman and Dan Joseph on Tuesday that his county is “an incredibly safe jurisdiction.” Olszewski said with violent crime on the rise nationally, it was down 16% county-wide last year and he’s “hoping for even better numbers this year.”

Baltimore’s rollout of American Rescue Plan funds has put members of City Council on the hot seat with numerous local nonprofit organizations, council members bemoaned Tuesday during a quarterly update on the money. The application process closed in December for nonprofit organizations seeking a slice of the $641 million Baltimore received from the federal government, but funding has yet to be awarded to most of the nonprofits that applied.

Sidney Kramer, a businessman and political figure who won election in 1986 to become the third person to serve as Montgomery County executive, died May 16 at his home in Rockville, Md. His death was confirmed by his son, Maryland state Sen. Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Montgomery), who said of the elder Kramer, six weeks from turning 97: “Right up till the end, he was as sharp as can be.”