Politics

A city panel on Thursday approved placing video billboards at some locations downtown. By a vote of 6-2, the Baltimore Planning Commission approved the creation of a district for the digital signs, which boosters have compared to Times Square or Las Vegas. One board member abstained. The commission approved billboards at six proposed locations but tabled plans for five others, according to public notes from the meeting.

In less than five minutes, Maryland lawmakers on Thursday unanimously rejected impeaching Gov. Larry Hogan. A fellow Republican and political opponent of Hogan had accused the governor of wide-ranging misdeeds including: overstepping his authority with pandemic restrictions, inappropriately welcoming refugees, denying access to controversial covid-19 treatments and flouting state law by using disappearing-message apps. Del. Daniel L. Cox (R-Frederick), a Donald Trump-aligned candidate for governor, had four minutes to make his case. Without debate, the House Rules and Executive Nominations Committee summarily dismissed it.

The daughter of Maryland’s governor, a veteran prosecutor, launched a bid Wednesday to become St. Mary’s County’s top prosecutor. Jaymi Sterling announced that she will run for state’s attorney in the Southern Maryland county she calls home, WMAR-TV reported. The Republican, who is an assistant state’s attorney in Anne Arundel County, vowed to “prioritize efforts to fight violent crime, corruption, drug dealing, drunk driving, domestic violence, sex offenders, and repeat offenders.”

Maryland’s congressional delegation on Thursday announced a $1.7 billion federal loan to advance the construction of the Purple Line light-rail project in Washington’s inner suburbs. The project will connect New Carrollton in Prince George’s County to Bethesda in Montgomery County with a 16-mile East-West light rail line that will have 21 stations. It will join all three MARC lines and connect multiple metro stations.

A coalition of Baltimore County groups is calling for a referendum to be tacked onto November’s ballot that, if passed, would add four seats to the seven-member county council beginning with the 2026 election. Organizers say expanding the council makes sense given the county’s growth. Between 2010 and 2020 the county grew about 6%, so each council member represents about 122,000 constituents — far more than when the body was established by county charter in the 1950s.

The Democrat-controlled Maryland General Assembly isn’t exactly packed with fans of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. But lawmakers needed only a couple of brief minutes, and nary a word of debate, to unanimously reject a Trump-backed delegate’s attempt to impeach Hogan. Del. Dan Cox, a Frederick County Republican who’s running for governor with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, accused Hogan in his impeachment resolution of a litany of crimes and misconduct, primarily in the governor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Cox had previously unsuccessfully sued to overturn Hogan’s restrictions and use of emergency powers.

Legislation legalizing recreational marijuana in Maryland on July 1 — a year faster than a leading House measure — attracted significant support Thursday during a state Senate hearing. The bill sponsored by Sen. Jill Carter, a Baltimore Democrat, would create a legal recreational marijuana market without first asking voters to approve a state constitutional amendment in the November general election.

Parents at a Thursday congressional hearing about missing and murdered women of color detailed their frustrating attempts to get the attention of law enforcement and adequate media coverage. “This is a crisis that is hiding in plain sight,” said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat and chair of the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Advocates told lawmakers about the struggle of not having complete and accurate data to fully understand the scope of missing women of color because the federal government does not collect that data. In 2020, 40% of women and girls reported missing were of color, despite making up 16% of the population, according to the U.S. Census.

A General Assembly ethics committee found that Sen. Ed Reilly broke with the standards of the body when he told a constituent he was planning to pull a bill on which they both had worked because she donated to his opponent’s campaign. The constituent, Pam Jeter, received word of the decision Tuesday in a letter from the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics. The committee sent “a letter of education and advice” to the senator, then dismissed the complaint after deciding further proceedings were not necessary.