State government

“A threat to any history is a threat to all history,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told graduates of Morehouse College in Atlanta on Sunday, stepping into the national debate over conservative attempts to restrict teaching of race, sexuality and other issues.

As thoroughbred horses thundered around Pimlico Race Course at Preakness 2023, politicians considered what could — or should — be done about the future of the track and the racing industry.

Merchants in the business corridor surrounding Pimlico Race Course want to expand business and community development opportunities on Preakness day and beyond, Yeshiyah Israel, president of the Pimlico Merchants Association, says.

From dispensing graduation advice to raising funds, here’s this week’s look at what Maryland politicians are up to.

Maryland’s state school board will decide in the coming months whether to give Mohammed Choudhury a new, four-year contract as superintendent when his ends on June 30, 2024.

A 20-year-old man has been walking in his Anne Arundel County neighborhood with a fully loaded assault-style weapon to protest a new Maryland gun law. It’s terrifying kids and parents

Law enforcement will no longer be able to stop a vehicle or person in Maryland solely based on the smell of cannabis, under a bill that will become law without Gov. Wes Moore’s signature.

We dumped “Maryland, My Maryland” with good reason in 2021. It was a dumb, racist song written by a traitor and irredeemably associated by everyone with Christmas. It was long overdue for the dustbin. Do we require a new state song? Well, no. But do we need one? Hell, yes.

The Georgia-based vendor has low federal quality ratings and abuse allegations in other facilities it runs.

Gov. Wes Moore signed bills into law that restrict who can apply for concealed carry handgun permits and where handguns can be carried. A short time later, the NRA filed a lawsuit saying the new regulations are unconstitutional.

A 2020 plan to redevelop Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park fell apart due to a variety of factors. Now racing industry stakeholders are negotiating a new plan, and they’re considering boosting Pimlico as the year-round home of thoroughbred racing.

Decriminalizing drug paraphernalia is one step Maryland can take toward ending policies that have failed to curb an epidemic of drug-related deaths, says Jessie Dunleavy, an advocate for drug policy reform.

Gov. Wes Moore and Paul Monteiro, the newly appointed secretary of service and civic innovation, cite examples of how service to one another can improve the lives of Marylanders.

The Moores will be featured as a couple who successfully found their match. A two-minute video clip shows the Moores on a couch in the governor’s mansion, holding hands and giving advice about finding a lifetime partner.

With a Maryland Air National Guard A-10 combat aircraft as a backdrop, the governor and legislative leaders made measures official that cut military retirement taxes and help military families.

Current Maryland law says unmarried domestic partners are not entitled to each others’ assets when they die unless they have a will, and the assets are still subject to a 10% inheritance tax.

The money from the tax is earmarked to pay for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, an ambitious and expensive plan to improve public schools. Tech companies argued the tax is punitive and violates the First Amendment and laws governing e-commerce and interstate commerce.

Maryland students should graduate with knowledge about handling their personal finances, Julie Weaver, executive director of the Maryland Council on Economic Education, says.

Exactly how many people have it and where, no one knows. Real-time data is becoming scarce.

Black residents of the Deal Island peninsula endure hardships to cling to the land where their enslaved ancestors once lived, says Rona Kobell, a Banner contributor and co-founder of the Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative, which produced the film “Eroding History.”