Politics

A Ukrainian-born Maryland lawmaker wants more action to aid Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion. Del. Kirill Reznik, of District 39, was born in Kyiv in 1974. Although his family left the country when he was 4, he still feels the pain of losing a piece of his past when he sees the devastation of the war. “They are places that are part of family heritage, family stories,” said Reznik. “We’re lucky we’re not having to make the decisions people in Ukraine are: their livelihood or their life, or their family or their life, or — you know, everything they’ve known or their life.”

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby unveiled a new prosecutorial data dashboard Tuesday, touting her office’s successes over her seven-year tenure while refusing to commit to a bid for reelection. The interactive portal underscores what the two-term Democrat described as a commitment to transparency. She said the data reflects determination from her staff during a period encompassing the prosecution of police officers after the death of Freddie Gray, the ramifications from the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal and a coronavirus pandemic that upended the courts.

The Maryland Senate passed an extensive climate change bill Monday night that would set the state on track to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2045, partly by requiring large buildings to reduce their energy usage. The Senate passed the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 in a 32-15 party-line vote, with Republicans opposed. The bill is now headed to the House of Delegates, where lawmakers have introduced their own set of companion bills instead of a single sweeping measure.

Gov. Larry Hogan says Maryland would like to keep the Washington Commanders in the state, but it will not “get in a bidding war” to build a new stadium for the NFL franchise. Hogan made the comments Tuesday in Annapolis in response to a reporter’s question at a press conference on a new workforce development initiative for state jobs. “I think [the Commanders are] using everyone back and forth as they have been for eight years. They’re negotiating, pitting everyone against each other,” said Hogan, suggesting the Commanders are setting Maryland, D.C. and Virginia against one another to get a better stadium deal.

Primary elections are awkward enough for candidates who, more often than not, share mostly similar politics, a political party and a history of working together. But when you’re running against the spouse of someone you shared a gubernatorial ticket with? “This one probably has to be the most awkward, and I’ll leave it at that,” U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown said in an interview with the Maryland State Bar Association when asked about his primary opponent.

Led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the head of Transurban North America, Northern Virginia leaders celebrated the extension of privately-owned toll lanes along the Capital Beltway on Monday — an expansion that is expected to bring the firm’s signature lanes to within a few yards of the Commonwealth’s border with Maryland. Construction of an additional 2.5 miles of “Express” lanes, which will carry traffic between the Dulles Toll Road and the American Legion Bridge, will begin in the coming weeks, with an expected completion date of 2025. Transurban already owns and operates 53 miles of toll lanes in Northern Virginia, with more planned along Interstate 95 south of Springfield.