Big News: Capital Heights Talks Suicide Prevention Month/ACLU Files Suit Against UMD/Alsobrooks Still Leads In Polls Despite Bad News About Taxes
Big News: Capital Heights Talks Suicide Prevention Month/ACLU Files Suit Against UMD/Alsobrooks Still Leads In Polls Despite Bad News About Taxes
The county and state biggest news stories
Prince George’s County News
Activists Moved Local Municipalities To Pass Resolutions For A Ceasefire In Gaza
Excerpt: Prince George’s County activists have pushed several North County municipalities – Cheverly, Colmar Manor, College Park, Brentwood, Riverdale, Mt. Rainier, and New Carrollton – to pass resolutions that call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“We’ve been working diligently with local community members and elected officials across the county, who recognize that genocide is wrong – and embrace their power in standing up against it,” said Raaheela Ahmed, activist, and former county school board council member. “Thankfully, that’s led to seven municipalities (thus far) in the county passing resolutions supporting an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine.”
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ACLU backs Students for Justice in Palestine chapter’s lawsuit against UMD, USM
Excerpt: The ACLU and other free speech organizations are backing the University of Maryland’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter’s lawsuit against this university, president Darryll Pines and the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Maryland, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed an amicus brief Wednesday night supporting the lawsuit, which argues the university violated students’ free speech and First Amendment rights by restricting campus events on Oct. 7.
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Bomb Scare Leads To Evacuation Of Iverson Mall, Suitcase And Clock Deemed Not A Threat
Excerpt: HILLCREST HEIGHTS, MD — A suspicious package left Wednesday outside Iverson Mall was investigated by Prince George's Fire Department's bomb team and determined to not be a threat to the public.
The mall was evacuated less than an hour before opening. Police cars and fire trucks could be seen positioned around the Iverson Mall shops on Branch Avenue and Iverson Street around 9 a.m. The suspicious package was left near the Bank of America building. Police officers first thought the item was a suitcase sitting near a counter with a small clock beside it. But couldn't determine if there were wires attached, Prince George's Assistant Fire Chief Carroll Spriggs said during a news conference.
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Larry Hogan Dealt Fresh Polling Blow Despite Angela Alsobrooks Tax Scandal
Excerpt: Former Maryland Republican governor Larry Hogan's chances of flipping the state's Senate seat are narrowing, with Democrat Angela Alsobrooks holding a double-digit lead among likely voters despite his higher favorability rating, according to a poll.
Despite recent allegations that Alsobrooks benefited from tax breaks that she didn't qualify for on her two properties in Washington D.C. and Maryland, which allegedly saved her thousands of dollars, she is still leading in the latest Washington Post/University of Maryland poll.
‘I’m sick of these special elections’: Prince George’s Co. Council working to revamp the process
Excerpt: The Prince George’s County Council in Maryland has been a member short since at-large member Mel Franklin abruptly left in June, a couple of weeks before he was indicted for campaign finance violations.
After District 5 Council member Jolene Ivey won the special primary for that at-large seat, a vacancy figures to extend well into 2025 if she wins the general election in November. That would open up the seat she currently represents.
At the same time, the county could also be looking at a special election for county executive, depending on how the current executive, Angela Alsobrooks, fares in the race for an open U.S. Senate seat this November. If she wins and resigns by Dec. 2, that would trigger another special election in the county, which, depending on the results, could lead to yet another special election after that.
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Why the worst roads in Prince George's County aren't repaved first
Excerpt: Every time Mary Stewart leaves her driveway, she’s reminded of a problem she says hasn’t been fixed for years.
“They sound awful, like ‘Ooop!’” she recently told the I-Team, trying to mimic the sound her car makes as she navigates potholes on the street outside her home in Capitol Heights.
Stewart said she and neighbors have complained about the street for years.
“They won’t fix it,” Stewart said.
A neighbor showed the I-Team a December 2022 letter from the Office of the County Executive telling them, “Staff is investigating your street to identify the potholes you describe," adding they will “address immediate pothole issues.”
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County Hosts Suicide Prevention Symposium, Health & Wellness Expo
Excerpt: Last weekend was all about wellness throughout Prince George’s County.
Councilmember Wala Blegay hosted a symposium focusing on suicide prevention and mental health awareness at Glenn Dale’s Reid Temple and District Heights Commissioner Anthony Tilghman hosted a health, wellness, and opportunity expo in Capitol Heights’ Trinidad Baptist Church on Sep. 21.
The “Black People Die By Suicide Too” podcast hosted a table during Blegay’s symposium, and attendees were guided through deep breathing exercises.
State Politics
‘Modest’ budget projections are cause for cautious optimism
Excerpt: Maryland’s revenue forecast for the coming year will remain statistically flat, according to a new forecast released Thursday by the Board of Revenue Estimates.
The forecast, which included a modest upward revision for the current budget year, is the first look at fiscal 2026 revenues.
State Budget Secretary Helene Grady, one of three members on the board, said the “modest positive adjustment” to revenue forecasts “obviously is helpful as we navigate fiscal ’25 and we work to build a responsible budget for fiscal ’26, but it doesn’t materially alter in any way the challenges that we face with the general fund budget for fiscal ’26.”
Excerpt:The Maryland Department of Health has agreed to renew Kaiser Permanente’s contract as a Medicaid provider, averting an outcome that one prominent health care advocate said would have amounted to a blow to public health.
Gene Ransom, CEO of the independent Maryland State Medical Society, said Tuesday that a tentative decision made by the state health department last week to remove the health care giant from its list of managed care organizations (MCOs) that provide care through Medicaid would have left about 110,000 Marylanders without health care coverage and seeking new doctors with little time to adjust their status.
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King Abdullah II of Jordan visits Maryland Gov. Moore
Excerpt: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore welcomed King Abdullah II of Jordan to the state’s Capitol on Wednesday for a roundtable discussion with business and education leaders from around the state.
It was the first time a foreign head of state has visited the Maryland State House on official business, Moore said in opening remarks.
“This is a way to come together to talk about common goals, to talk about common interests and to talk about cooperation that we think is going to be so important, and we have brought leaders from across the state to engage in this historic visit, as we look to have this very vibrant discussion about our people and our economies and our opportunities and also are futures,” Moore said.
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Environment/Health
Cardin expresses concerns about data centers in Md., power line project
Excerpt: U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D), a leading Maryland environmentalist for decades, is weighing in on two related high-profile controversies over energy supply and the environment.
In a letter Tuesday to Gov. Wes Moore (D), Cardin urges the state to proceed cautiously as it seeks to become a major hub of data centers for the tech industry. In a separate letter Tuesday to the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), the senator expresses concerns about a proposed high-voltage transmission line project that would run through the state en route to data centers in Northern Virginia.
The two issues are interrelated.
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With abortion question on the ballot, Maryland voters debate reproductive rights
Excerpt: As Maryland questions whether reproductive rights should appear in the state constitution, advocates for and against the referendum work to sway voters.
The referendum will appear as Question 1 on the 2024 ballot asking voters to decide whether a right to reproductive freedom should be constitutionally guaranteed in the state of Maryland.
Those in support of the referendum say it would more permanently enshrine protections for reproductive freedom in Maryland. Current protections are under state law, which can change by action of the state legislature.
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Maryland’s Cannabis Tax Revenues Surge: Big State Gains, Tiny Local Share
Excerpt: According to the latest Cannabis Quarterly Update from Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Maryland collected $22.4 million in cannabis taxes from April to June 2024, marking a 52 percent increase compared with revenue collected in Q1 of 2024. Despite this surge, local governments still receive only a tiny portion of the revenue.
Why it matters: Adult-use cannabis in Maryland carries a 9 percent sales tax, which supports several State funds. Local governments, however, receive just 5 percent of that revenue, among the lowest shares
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Why reducing farm pollution in the Chesapeake Bay region is a complex problem
Excerpt: The rural roads of eastern Rockingham County wind over hills, through wooded patches, along fields and cattle farms, all flanked by the forested wall of Massanutten Mountain to the east.
Cory Guilliams, who’s been driving these roads for nearly two decades, knows every twist and turn.
“The second channel over this is Dry Fork,” Guilliams said as his white U.S. Department of Agriculture SUV rose over a hill. “And it’s likely going to live up to its name. There’ll be some puddles here and there.”
Moments later he was proven right. There was Dry Fork — dry — with a few scattered puddles, several covered with algae.
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Millions of Americans have Long COVID. Will Kamala Harris acknowledge them?
Excerpt: In early August, the newly minted Kamala Harris campaign posted a job opportunity: disability engagement director. The director would meet with disability communities across the United States, build relationships with disability advocates, and help people participate in campaign events.
Some Long COVID advocates expressed excitement for the role on social media, and hoped that it would be filled by someone familiar with their disease. For these advocates, the disability engagement director is part of a broader opportunity presented by Harris’ move to the top of the ticket: to make their case for national recognition. For others disillusioned by the Biden administration’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, however, the campaign has a higher bar to clear before they will support Harris.