Politics

The leading Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate on Tuesday pledged to aggressively address climate change and work to protect the Chesapeake Bay. Speaking separately at a candidate forum at Goucher College, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) and U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-6th) largely agreed on prescriptions for combating the climate crisis — as well as for protecting eroding voting rights, democracy and policies to help students and recent college graduates.

Dozens of tenants and families of immigrants gathered on Lawyers Mall in front of the Maryland State House for one last rally in hopes that the Maryland Senate moves forward on bills that would protect renters from unjust evictions and unsafe living conditions. About 30 people gathered on a gray and drizzly Tuesday with umbrellas and coats to urge the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee to push two renter protection bills to a vote as soon as possible in the final days of the 2024 session.

State Senate and House budget negotiators were at an impasse Monday, the date by which the two chambers were scheduled to pass a spending plan. Democratic negotiators from each chamber are expected to continue meeting throughout the week to reach an agreement on the $63 billion budget before the 90-day session ends April 8.

The leading Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. David Trone, are scheduled to appear at a forum at Goucher College in Towson on Tuesday evening. The Maryland League of Conservation Voters Education Fund is the primary sponsor of the event. Maryland Matters is one of the cosponsors, along with the Maryland League of Women Voters, Baltimore Green Space, Blue Water Baltimore, Mid Atlantic Audubon, and Indivisible HoCoMd.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott released details of his $3.4 billion 2025 operating budget on Monday, saying he has closed a $61.9 million budget gap without raising taxes or cutting services. The mayor cited some strategic moves and good economic timing for a balanced budget proposal. “We are putting forth a budget that completely covers the gap without furloughing employees, closing fire stations or rec centers, and without cutting city services or turning our back on the priorities of Baltimore while moving forward,” Scott said.

Mail-in ballots are scheduled to be sent by election officials by April 1 for the upcoming Presidential Primary Election in Maryland, with Election Day scheduled for Tuesday, May 14. In order to provide information for voters about the candidates that are on the ballot for Maryland’s Sixth United States Congressional District, which stretches from Northern Montgomery County west to include Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties, the Herald-Mail compiled candidates responses to a question, as follows.

Maryland lawmakers are about to pass a bill they say will attack juvenile crime and improve public safety, but their top changes, which add strict penalties for 10- to 12-year-olds, may affect only a few dozen kids a year, state data shows. Some lawmakers have warned all along that the revisions aimed at young children accused of stealing cars and carrying handguns would reach a small number.

Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year would add officers to the city’s police force, put a million dollars toward upgrading and replacing sidewalks in the city, and increase the city’s efforts in sustainability and workforce development. O’Connor’s proposed $223 million fiscal 2025 budget was released Monday, including a $152 million general fund.

U.S. Rep. David Trone has a slight edge over Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in the Democratic primary race for Maryland’s open U.S. Senate seat, a closely contested matchup whose winner will advance to a similarly competitive general election, according to a new survey from Goucher College Poll and The Baltimore Banner.