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YOUNG, MOSBY LOBBY ANNAPOLIS FOR COOPERATION: Baltimore Mayor Jack Young and State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, appearing Friday before a joint legislative committee in Annapolis considering how best to reduce violent crime in Baltimore, said they are bringing a Chicago-style crime-fighting strategy to the city, Luke Broadwater of the Sun reports.
STATE FAIRGROUNDS' FUTURE: Baltimore County lawmakers praised a proposed plan to rebuild the Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park tracks during a briefing Friday but raised questions about funding and the impact on future improvements at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, Holden Wilen of the Baltimore Business Journal writes.
STRENGTHENING PUBLIC RECORDS LAW: Democratic lawmakers in Annapolis have filed three separate bills aimed at strengthening the state's public records law, which is used by journalists, attorneys, inmates and other members of the public to access government documents at the state and local levels, Kevin Rector of the Sun reports.
CUT SOUGHT IN TOLL LATE FEES: A group of Maryland lawmakers say they've heard from drivers who complain about getting tagged with hundreds - sometimes even thousands - of dollars in late fees connected to Maryland's video tolling system, reports WTOP-AM. Maryland's $50 late fees on video toll fines are too high, state Del. Alfred C. Carr Jr. (D-Montgomery) said last week. He called them predatory and said he is working to pass House Bill 38, which would drop the fines to $5.
ABOUT THE SPECIAL PRIMARY: Do you live in Maryland's 7th Congressional District and totally forget there's a special primary this week? If you haven't exactly been paying attention to the more than two dozen candidates vying to replace U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who died Oct. 17, fear not. Emily Opilio of the Sun offers information that you need to know about Tuesday's special primary to help decide who will fill the remainder of Cummings' two-year term.
DOWN TO THE WIRE IN THE 7th: Democratic candidates in Maryland's 7th congressional district special election spent Saturday preparing for Tuesday's primary vote in strikingly different ways. Former Rep. Kweisi Mfume found himself surrounded by a circle of African American women in a Baltimore City church at a special prayer service held in his honor to ward off last-minute "enemy" attacks, which his campaign believes are imminent. Sixteen miles away in Howard County, eight candidates participated in a Democratic forum, with a largely white audience, before most hit the streets to knock on doors, seeking last-minute votes, Glynis Kazanjian writes for Maryland Matters.
YOUNG, MOSBY LOBBY ANNAPOLIS FOR COOPERATION: Baltimore Mayor Jack Young and State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, appearing Friday before a joint legislative committee in Annapolis considering how best to reduce violent crime in Baltimore, said they are bringing a Chicago-style crime-fighting strategy to the city, Luke Broadwater of the Sun reports.
- Young, Mosby and Police Commissioner Michael Harrison advocated Friday for collaborative, inter-agency initiatives to stop the city's high rate of crime, Hannah Gaskill reports for Maryland Matters. "I'm big on collaboration," said Young, "not only with our partners in government, but also our community stakeholders who insist we find solutions to the violence that plagues our city."
STATE FAIRGROUNDS' FUTURE: Baltimore County lawmakers praised a proposed plan to rebuild the Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park tracks during a briefing Friday but raised questions about funding and the impact on future improvements at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, Holden Wilen of the Baltimore Business Journal writes.
STRENGTHENING PUBLIC RECORDS LAW: Democratic lawmakers in Annapolis have filed three separate bills aimed at strengthening the state's public records law, which is used by journalists, attorneys, inmates and other members of the public to access government documents at the state and local levels, Kevin Rector of the Sun reports.
CUT SOUGHT IN TOLL LATE FEES: A group of Maryland lawmakers say they've heard from drivers who complain about getting tagged with hundreds - sometimes even thousands - of dollars in late fees connected to Maryland's video tolling system, reports WTOP-AM. Maryland's $50 late fees on video toll fines are too high, state Del. Alfred C. Carr Jr. (D-Montgomery) said last week. He called them predatory and said he is working to pass House Bill 38, which would drop the fines to $5.
ABOUT THE SPECIAL PRIMARY: Do you live in Maryland's 7th Congressional District and totally forget there's a special primary this week? If you haven't exactly been paying attention to the more than two dozen candidates vying to replace U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who died Oct. 17, fear not. Emily Opilio of the Sun offers information that you need to know about Tuesday's special primary to help decide who will fill the remainder of Cummings' two-year term.
DOWN TO THE WIRE IN THE 7th: Democratic candidates in Maryland's 7th congressional district special election spent Saturday preparing for Tuesday's primary vote in strikingly different ways. Former Rep. Kweisi Mfume found himself surrounded by a circle of African American women in a Baltimore City church at a special prayer service held in his honor to ward off last-minute "enemy" attacks, which his campaign believes are imminent. Sixteen miles away in Howard County, eight candidates participated in a Democratic forum, with a largely white audience, before most hit the streets to knock on doors, seeking last-minute votes, Glynis Kazanjian writes for Maryland Matters.
- Jeff Barker of the Sun reports women seeking the vacant 7th Congressional District seat talked personally at a candidates' forum about sexual violence and harassment, with one - Maya Rockeymoore Cummings - saying her experience years ago as a victim of such violence helped shape her professional and political priorities.