Politics

Roy McGrath, who was once chief of staff to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, remains missing on Tuesday, one day after he skipped out on his federal criminal trial.

With recreational marijuana use becoming legal in Maryland, the General Assembly must now preclude police officers from relying on cannabis odor alone as a pretext for stops and searches, Michele D. Hall, an assistant Maryland public defender, says.

The Maryland General Assembly in 2021 passed a bill that removed the governor from the regular parole process for those who are serving life sentences.

Of cars sold to Maryland dealers in model year 2027 — or just three years from now — 43% must be zero emissions. That share steadily increases every year until the 100% requirement goes into effect in model year 2035.

A Baltimore City Council committee voted unanimously Monday afternoon to confirm Faith Leach as city administrator, effectively rescinding their previous decision to reject Mayor Brandon Scott’s nominee.

McGrath, who now lives in Florida, was due in U.S. District Court in Baltimore at 9 a.m.

The first-in-the-nation law required all Maryland jails to have opioid treatment programs in place by January.

Many of federal and state charges center around the severance payment and how McGrath secured it — specifically whether he misled the Maryland Environmental Service Board of Directors into approving the payment.

Baltimore finance officials told members of the City Council they have cashed the first $14 million payment from a controversial agreement with BGE.

Three of the four bills Gov. Wes Moore has promised to sign are one step closer to his desk.

In a phone interview Friday, Gov. Wes Moore emphasized his belief that the Maryland Stadium Authority and Orioles will come to an agreement over a new long-term lease at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He underscored his passion to develop the stadium complex at Camden Yards into a year-round destination.

In voting against Faith Leach’s nomination for city administrator, some City Council members said outright that they believed Leach was an effective public servant but that they did not support the concept of her position.

The bill to set up a recreational cannabis marketplace is one step closer to becoming law.

A state bill cleared a key Senate committee Friday to give more survivors of child sexual abuse the legal right to sue the church and other institutions complicit in the crimes.

Prosecution of children in adult court, which expanded as some Black and brown youths were being singled out as “super predators,” must end in Maryland and elsewhere, Adnan Syed and defense attorney Melissa Miller say.

Replacing gas appliances with electric ones make sense, but it can be costly. Maryland lawmakers are exploring ways to expand rebates for electrification.

The baseball team’s lease at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is set to expire at the end of the year.

A council committee voted against confirming acting City Administrator Faith Leach, a clear rebuke to Mayor Brandon Scott at an explosive hearing where most council members aired grievances directed toward the Democrat rather than his nominee.

In a March 6 letter, the public defender’s office said Baltimore County’s detention center is violating federal laws protecting juveniles and people with disabilities. The office is pressing state officials and the Circuit Court to immediately transfer detained minors to a state facility.