Politics

Maryland’s U.S. senators are continuing their push to have the federal government pay the entire cost of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge, calling on their colleagues to pass legislation to authorize the spending. Typically in emergency response funding, the federal government will foot a significant portion of disaster relief projects, usually about 80% to 90%, with the state on the hook for the remainder.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore proposed nearly $150 million in budget cuts Wednesday, aiming to shift funds to critical health care and child care programs his administration says are key to boosting the state’s economy. The Moore-Miller administration will pitch the cuts to the state spending board for final approval next week.

A public hearing regarding the opioid epidemic, scheduled for Wednesday in Baltimore City, was cancelled, with multiple sides deflecting blame for the reason the hearing never happened. “We’re being called the overdose capital of the United States of America,” City Councilman Mark Conway, D-District 4, told 11 News. “That is unacceptable. We need to understand the problem in order to begin addressing the problem.

Political central committees in Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions are charged with filling legislative vacancies and vetting the candidates to see if they’re eligible for the offices they are seeking. Those reviews, however, do not always include scrutiny of public records — including court records. A whisper campaign against one candidate seeking to fill a House of Delegates vacancy has spotlighted the vetting procedures of state central committees charged with filling the positions.

Gov. Wes Moore on Wednesday will release a plan outlining his preference for solving Maryland’s multibillion-dollar financial shortfalls through budget cuts rather than raising taxes. The Democratic governor’s declaration will be the first time he’s specifically proposed “targeted and strategic spending cuts” — as he said in a guest commentary Wednesday in The Baltimore Sun — although his $63.1 billion state budget proposal earlier this year included trims in areas like higher education.

Maryland is counting on private child care providers to take part as the state expands its pre-K program — but many providers don’t plan on becoming involved. In a spring survey of the state’s child care providers conducted by the Local News Network, only 12.9% of respondents said they plan to or were already involved in the pre-K program created under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s expansive education reform plan.

Less than 48 hours after President Biden’s halting debate performance launched Democrats into a panic, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore was in an awkward position. Pundits and party leaders had floated his name as a possible Biden replacement atop the ticket, and Moore, a rising Democratic star and one of the party’s most persuasive speakers, had to decide what message to give a banquet hall full of anxious Black activists in this critical swing state.