Politics

U.S. Senate candidates Larry Hogan and Angela Alsobrooks are locked in a stalemate over when and where to debate in their high-stakes race this fall — with both sides accusing the other of dodging invitations from their preferred hosts. Hogan, a former governor with an uphill battle as he seeks to become the first Maryland Republican elected to the U.S.

The reverence for Donald Trump in and around Somerset County Precinct 08-002 is everywhere — on yard signs, bumper stickers and flags waving from porches, storefronts and boat rigging. Trump love is so pervasive in the rural precinct that it feels like an oversight that Janet Ford is not displaying the presidential candidate’s splashy campaign material inside her cozy restaurant called “From Scratch” that caters to local watermen and farmers in a county ranking last in the state in median household income.

A federal judge ruled Friday that several of Maryland’s gun carry laws are unconstitutional. They include provisions of where exactly permitted citizens can lawfully carry. The lawsuit, Novotny v. Moore, was brought by several concealed carry permit holders and gun rights groups. It sued Gov. Wes Moore and other Maryland officials over specific restrictions on where citizens could legally carry.

Annapolis Alderman Elly Tierney’s retirement from the Annapolis City Council starts Sept. 1, according to a letter of resignation provided to the Capital Monday. Tierney submitted her resignation to the city last week, according to Mitchelle Stephenson, spokesperson for the city. In May, Tierney announced that she would be retiring from politics to move to Massachusetts with her husband. Tierney, a Ward 1 Democrat, declined further comment on the announcement.

Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer has served as a member of the Baltimore City Council for more than seven years, having handily won the Democratic primary election this year and with no Republican opponents heading into the general election. He serves District 5 in Northwest Baltimore. Among council members, Schleifer is one of the least active sponsors of legislation, but he gets mostly positive reviews on constituent service requests from residents of his district who spoke with The Sun.

The US, UK and France are among several countries urging their citizens to leave Lebanon as heightened tensions in the region spark fears of a widening Middle East conflict. The US Embassy in Lebanon called on citizens to book “any ticket available to them.” Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his message for British citizens was “leave now.”

Two rallies. Two Americas. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump stood in the same arena four days apart, each looking over capacity crowds like concert stars or prizefighters. The competing events were staged three months before Election Day in the state that produced the closest margin of the 2020 race for the White House.

A national organization advocating for wider use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) is pointing to recent Maryland primaries to bolster its argument that it’s preferable to have candidates who win outright majorities rather than those who win elections with a fraction of the vote. The group FairVote issued an analysis Friday showing that so far this year, 49 candidates have won statewide congressional primaries across the country with less than 50% of the vote.

Baltimore voters will decide this November whether to downsize the City Council, bringing it more in line with other councils in medium-sized cities, but spurring debate over whether this would improve its effectiveness. The Baltimore Sun and FOX45 News examined how Baltimore compares with 10 larger and 10 smaller cities closest to its population size, ranging from Omaha, Nebraska, with 483,000 residents, to Oklahoma City, with 703,000.