State government

For hundreds of skinny, 220-foot rods to form the foundation of a new Francis Scott Key Bridge, contractors are deploying a huge hydraulic hammer that attaches to a crane barge.

After nearly 40 years of pushing for progressive change on environmental and educational policy, Maryland Energy Administration leader Paul Pinsky is retiring from public service.

“My commitment has been clear from day one — we will explore every avenue possible to make sure Maryland has fair and representative maps,” Moore said in a statement Tuesday.

As Maryland lawmakers push for additional in-state power sources, Constellation Energy is providing them a range of options. Among them: generating natural gas, creating battery storage and more.

More than 680,000 Marylanders — nearly 40% of them children — receive SNAP benefits each month to help keep food on the table. The average benefit is $180.

According to the state senator, the consultant she’s been charged with extorting was a “disgruntled woman” whom she fired from her first campaign in 2018 “for cause.” Attar does not state why.

Maryland families who depend on SNAP benefits are unsure what November will bring as they potentially face a month without food aid.

Analyzing blackmail allegations against Maryland state Sen. Dalya Attar.

The waitlist has grown to more than 2,700 Maryland kids since May.

Attar, a Democrat, represents Northwest Baltimore in the Maryland Senate.

In a 34-page opinion issued on Wednesday, Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff wrote that the issues in the appeal normally wouldn’t warrant issuing a decision that sets legal precedent.

Maryland state lawmakers pressed Gov. Wes Moore and his administration to keep food benefits intact during the federal government shutdown — even if that means tapping the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Food banks and pantries say they already are seeing unprecedented demand for help. They expect demand to increase with the loss of federal food aid.

Here’s how changes to federal food assistance amid the government shutdown will affect Marylanders who rely on SNAP.

Gov. Wes Moore said Wednesday that he was confident in Maryland Human Services Secretary Rafael López, despite the many challenges the embattled state agency has faced.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson wrote of redistricting: “The legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is too dangerous, the downside risk to Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our existing map would be undermined.”

Maryland has more than $2 billion in a Rainy Day Fund that’s been tapped before for emergencies like the Key Bridge collapse and the coronavirus pandemic.

On Oct. 22, Human Services Secretary Rafael López issued a policy directing social services providers to “immediately stop facilitating stays in unlicensed settings.”

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is asking the federal government to cover SNAP benefits with money already set aside by Congress.

With federal food assistance set to dry up at the end of the month, Maryland lawmakers are convening a hearing to see what, if anything, they can do to help.