Politics

The Montgomery County Council will be holding multiple public hearings and forums in April to gather residents’ input on County Executive Marc Elrich’s (D) proposed $7.1 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2025, which begins July 1. The council, which is tasked with reviewing and finalizing the budget proposal, will hold four public hearings during both regular daytime council meetings and at night to hear from the public on all aspects of the proposed budget.

Two Democratic state senators are trying to secure funding for reproductive health clinics that provide abortion services before time runs out in the 2024 legislative session. And the success of one bill may help with the financial support of the other. The landscape for abortion access has changed drastically across the United States following the overturning of federal abortion protections in 2022.

Two Maryland state lawmakers and a county executive picked up the official and potentially consequential endorsement Tuesday of the National Education Association for their congressional bids, based on a recommendation from the Maryland State Education Association.

The Maryland Department of Health is about to enter its last month of Medicaid redeterminations, a 12-month process that has resulted in thousands of Marylanders losing health care coverage — while many others retained coverage in a process called “unwinding.”

The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed unlikely to limit access to mifepristone, a key medication that is used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions and has emerged as the next front in the battle over how and whether women can terminate their pregnancies.

Mayor Brandon Scott delivered an election-year last State of the City on Monday night, spending more time touting victories within the past three years and pitching residents on political stability in City Hall than announcing new policies. Before a crowd of officials and supporters at Baltimore Center Stage in Mount Vernon, Scott used his last State of the City address of this current term to tell residents to stay the course with his administration, which has overseen a reduction in homicides and nonfatal gun violence, “while maintaining integrity.”

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.Dist. 8) announced his long-awaited endorsement of Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) in the race for U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin’s (D-Md.) seat, ending months of speculation about who he would support. Raskin announced his endorsement in a video posted to Alsobrooks’ campaign social media pages on Monday. “She’s going to deliver for the people of Maryland every day … at the same time as she’s defending democracy and freedom from Donald Trump and the MAGA right,” Raskin said in the video.