Maryland repealed the death penalty in 2012, the fate of prisoners on Death Row was not changed.
Martin O’Malley has now commuted all the remaining death sentences in Maryland to life without parole.
Thankfully this chapter of the Maryland penal system is now closed.
We just finished watching the Catonsville fireworks show, and before that, we did a cookout at Patapsco State Park.
The weather was glorious, clear and with a high in the 70s.
It actually got a bit nippy while we were watching the fireworks.
It’s the coolest Independence Day I can remember since moving to Maryland.
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Yesterday, I suggested that Gary Larson had encapsulated the id of Baltimore.
On further examination, I realized that I neglected to mention B. Kliban, who penned this cartoon.
He’s best known for his cat cartoons, but he was seriously bent artist.
His cartoon is just one step removed from Attila the Hon.
I just heard about this on the radio, and confirmed this on the Prince George’s County Police Department Facebook page:
PGPD Issues BOLO for Bunny
The PGPD is asking for our community’s help in finding the burglar who snatched a bunny costume. Please keep your eyes peeled for a 6′ gray and white furry bunny with pink ears and a pink nose.
Unfortunately, we aren’t joking. On June 6, 2014, patrol officers were called to the 4600 block of Calvert Road in College Park for a burglary. Employees discovered a storage shed had been broken into overnight. The only item taken was the costume.
Last week, we told you about how our officers helped a tortoise (http://tinyurl.com/p2wpojj ). Please help us rescue the hare now too.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Regional Investigation Division – Northern Region at (301) 699–2601. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers at 1–866–411–TIPS (8477), text “PGPD plus your crime tip” to CRIMES (274637) on your cell phone or go to www.pgcrimesolvers.com and submit a tip online.
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Natalie and Charlie participated into the 2014 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race as members of the Lansdowne High School team.
Charlie and Natalie part of the support crew, and learned to ride a bike as a result (Natalie has still not mastered this skill).
It covers 14 miles over 8 hours, an obstacle course, and a short jaunt into Baltimore harbor.
The team won an award for most “epic” water entry (about 3:30 into the attached video, assuming that it is ever done processing on Youtube).
Much fun was had by all, though I think that Charlie might be a bit sore in the morning.
Apologies for the poor camera work, both on the vid, and the attached slide show.
Clip Image for Slide Show
Normally, I would not write about this, but a city block of street in Baltimore just slid into a rivine:
A nearly 120-year-old retaining wall that has troubled Charles Village residents for decades collapsed Wednesday amid a month’s worth of rain, dumping street lights, sidewalks and half a dozen cars onto the CSX rail tracks below.
No injuries were reported. City officials evacuated 19 adjacent homes along East 26th Street and urged residents to avoid the area in case of lingering instability.
The landslide halted CSX rail traffic through what is a main artery to the port of Baltimore. The track carries cargo containers handled by rail at the state’s Seagirt Marine Terminal, a substantial economic engine for the region.
I think that I also saw animals pairing up 2 by 2.
The Maryland legislative session has ended and they passed bills hiking the minimum wate to $10.10 and decriminalizing marijuana:
By the time confetti fell in Annapolis on Monday night, state lawmakers had loosened marijuana laws, made Maryland the second state in the country to raise its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and whittled their way through more than 2,600 bills considered during the 434th legislative session.
The two major votes on marijuana decriminalization and increasing the minimum wage closed out the annual 90-day frenzy of lawmaking. Measures to create stricter penalties for drivers who cause fatal accidents while texting and to revamp Maryland’s stalled medical marijuana program also received final passage.
Martin O’Malley will sign both bills into law, though he did issue a veto threat over a recreational marijuana legalization proposal.
As a Free Stater, I am happy.
In terms of both the Democratic 2016 primaries, and the Veepstakes to follow, the minimum wage bill is probably a bigger deal.
The Annapolis police chief testified about the 37 people who died of marijuana overdoses on the first day of legalization in Colorado.
There is a small problem with this testimony, it never happened. In fact the source of the story was the satirical website the Daily Current:
Testifying against bills proposed in Maryland to legalize and decriminalize marijuana, Annapolis Police Chief Michael Pristoop cited a hoax story that claimed 37 people died the first day marijuana was legalized in Colorado.
“The first day of legalization, that’s when Colorado experienced 37 deaths that day from overdose on marijuana,” Pristoop said in testimony at Tuesday’s Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing. “I remember the first day it was decriminalized there were 37 deaths.”
But Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, who has proposed a bill that would legalize, regulate and tax the drug, immediately fact-checked Pristoop.
“Unless you have some other source for this, I’m afraid I’ve got to spoil the party here,” Raskin said. “Your assertion that 37 people died of a marijuana overdose in Colorado was a hoax on the DailyCurrant and the Comedy Central website.”
Our drug penal/enforcement industry is a waste of resources, and people like Michael Pristoop should find honest productive work.
The Free State is expand an existing plan of price controls for healthcare:
The Obama administration is set to announce Friday an ambitious health-care experiment that will make Maryland a test case for whether aggressive government regulation of medical prices can dramatically cut health spending.
Under the experiment, Maryland will cap hospital spending and set prices — and, if all goes as planned, cut $330 million in federal spending. The new plan, which has been under negotiation for more than a year, could leave Maryland looking more like Germany and Switzerland, which aggressively regulate prices, than its neighboring states. And it could serve as a model – or cautionary tale – for other states looking to follow in its footsteps.
“You can put Maryland in the company of Massachusetts and perhaps Vermont as the three states furthest out in trying to invent a new future for cost accountability in health care spending,” added Harvard University’s John McDonough. “Success creates a model that other states will want to look at emulating. And failure means it’s an option more likely to be crossed off the list.”
For Maryland, the new rules build on past success. Since the mid-1970s, it has been the only state to set the prices that hospitals charge patients. Typically, hospitals negotiate with each health insurer individually, leading to disparate rates. In Maryland, all customers — whether a private insurance plan, public program or uninsured patient — pay the same price. Researchers estimate the system has saved $45 billion for consumers over four decades and prices have grown more slowly in the state.
What they are adding is changing the billing to reduce incentives to provide unnecessary services:
Under the old system, prices in Maryland couldn’t grow faster than the prices set by the Medicare program. But as the cost of health care rose rapidly in recent years, the state struggled to hit that target.
State officials also worried about the old system creating perverse incentives: The best way for a hospital to make money was to provide the highest volume of services, regardless of whether that care made patients healthier. That meant payers would simply sign checks for as many treatments as the hospitals recommended. The new system intends to end that revenue strategy by capping total spending.
“It’s essentially moving away from a system that is focused on volume to one that is focused on value,” says John M. Colmers, executive director of Maryland’s Health Services Cost Review Commission, which will oversee the effort.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Friday Maryland’s proposal to continue setting hospital prices while adding in a cap on all hospital spending. The state will limit hospital spending growth to 3.58 percent for the next five years, largely by giving each of the state’s 46 hospitals a firm budget to work within. That level of growth would be tied to the projected, overall growth of the state economy.
I’m not particularly excited about this second part. I just do not know enough about the healthcare market to know if it works, but if it provides an incentive for other states to implement price controls, this would be a good thing.
The free market is not, and will never be, the salvation of our healthcare system. That is what the past 60 years has shown.
Because Maryland’s insurance exchange is completely f%$#ed up:
More than a year before Maryland launched its health insurance exchange, senior state officials failed to heed warnings that no one was ultimately accountable for the $170 million project and that the state lacked a plausible plan for how it would be ready by Oct. 1.
Over the following months, as political leaders continued to proclaim that the state’s exchange would be a national model, the system went through three different project managers, the feuding between contractors hired to build the online exchange devolved into lawsuits, and key people quit, including a top information technology official because, as he would later say, the project “was a disaster waiting to happen.”
The repeated warnings culminated days before the launch, with one from contractors testing the Web site that said it was “extremely unstable” and another from an outside consultant that urged state officials not to let residents enroll in health plans because there was “no clear picture” of what would happen when the exchange would turn on.
Within moments of its launch at noon Oct. 1, the Web site crashed in a calamitous debut that was supposed to be a crowning moment for Maryland officials who had embraced President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and pledged to build a state-run exchange that would be unparalleled.
Instead, by the next morning only four people had signed up using the Web site — and amazed that anyone had gotten through the system successfully, state officials contacted each of them to make sure they were real. The site’s problems continue to prevent Marylanders from signing up for health insurance. As of Friday, 20,358 people had selected private plans, and state officials have said they do not expect to come close to their initial goal of 150,000 by the end of March.
This report is based on a Washington Post review of thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents, including e-mails, internal reports, audits and court records, along with interviews with dozens of current and former contractors, state officials and others. The review shows that the creation of the exchange was dysfunctional from the start and that there were repeated missteps at almost every level.
I had to do something, MHIP was going away in June, as a result of the implementation of the PPACA, but the web site is a horror show.
It pushed me to take a serious look at the plan offered by the job shop that cuts my paycheck, and it turned out that an HSA offered through my employer, with the attendant tax advantages of pretax contributions, was the best deal.
The death penalty is no more in Maryland:
The General Assembly voted to repeal the death penalty Friday, calling for an end to Maryland’s 375-year history of capital punishment and joining a growing number of states outlawing the practice.
After nearly two hours of impassioned debate, the House of Delegates approved Gov. Martin O’Malley’s repeal legislation, 82-56, sending the measure to the governor for his signature. The state Senate voted 27-20 for repeal last week.
“We’re a better state for ending it,” said Del. Sandy Rosenberg, a Democrat from Baltimore who has long pushed for repeal.
Absolutely.
So it’s over.
Dems hold onto the Senate, and Tammy Baldwin beat Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin.
In Maryland, the Dems picked up a seat in Congress, and the octogenarian neanderthal Roscoe Bartlett was defeated.
In the initiatives, the MD Dream Act passed, and gay marriage and gambling are still too close to call.
This has to be one of the best slams of the Presidential election so far:
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley introduced a new line of attack on Gov. Mitt Romney today, saying the public should be suspicious of him because in 2008 Sen. John McCain considered the now-presumptive Republican nominee to be his running mate…but picked Sarah Palin instead.
“What about running for the office of the presidency this year makes it less important than the job that he didn’t get over Palin the last time around?” O’Malley asked BuzzFeed, referencing the 23 years of returns Romney allowed McCain to examine while he was being vetted but hasn’t released to the public.
Pressed in an interview at the National Governors Association meeting here whether there would be anything in those returns that would disqualify Romney from the presidency, O’Malley said he doesn’t know — and that’s why Democrats want to see them.
“But why would you pick somebody — why would you pick Palin over Romney?” he asked.
(emphasis mine)
Sweet!
For those who are not up on Maryland politics, Sam Arora was considered to be a politico with a great future, but he campaigned on a promise to support, and co-sponsor, a bill supporting gay marriage, and then he opposed it.
The bill passed the House of Delegates by virtue of a Republican vote delivered by the lobbying of Dick Cheney.
For once, it appears that there will be consequences of his action.
I’m sure he’s feeling courageous, but he’s a coward. If he had any guts, he would not have pretended to support marriage equality when he thought that there was no chance of it passing.
He campaigned on gay marriage, and when it looked like it would pass, he voted against it.
This is why members of the Democratic establishment in both Maryland and nationwide are currently determining the best way to ensure that he won’t work in Democratic Party politics ever again.
I would note that it’s likely that he’s going to have some staffing problems in the immediate future, as his his legislative director quit once he knew that he was going to vote against HB 348.
My guess is that this is the first of many departures, because if anyone on his a staff wants to have a future in politics, having Sam Arora on your resume after January 2012 will be toxic.
The Maryland House has just approved gay marriage in Maryland:
A bill that would legalize same-sex marriage squeaked through the House of Delegates Friday night with one more vote than the minimum needed for passage, putting Maryland on the cusp of being the eighth state to allow such unions.
Cheers erupted when the gavel dropped on the final 72-67 tally. Within minutes, Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat who sponsored the bill, walked from his second-floor office to the door of the House chamber, embraced House Speaker Michael E. Busch and said, “Good job, man.”
“We are a good people. We all want the same things for our kids,” O’Malley said. Then he extended credit to delegates and activists, many of whom had been skeptical about his commitment to the issue. “These guys did it,” he said.
The measure now goes to the Senate, which passed a similar bill last year and is expected do so again. The chamber will likely take up the measure next week.
Should the bill pass in both chambers, activists on both sides believe it would be petitioned to referendum in November. If voters approve the measure, the earliest a gay couple would be able to wed is January 2013, when the law would go into effect.
The victory is significant for O’Malley, who threw the weight of his office behind the measure after a similar bill fell a few votes short in the House last year. The governor had been working the halls of the House office building at all hours to persuade wavering delegates.
In national terms, the Maryland vote caps a week in which proponents of same-sex marriage have scored significant victories with the signing of a similar law in Washington state and the Legislature’s approval of a marriage bill in New Jersey, though Gov. Chris Christie vetoed it Friday.
This is very good news, because it passed the state Senate last year, so it looks like it will make it to the Governor’s desk.
One weird bit: One of the people that we have to thank for this is Dick Cheney:
By far the biggest boost came in the morning when Republican Del. Wade Kach, who was considered a sure-fire no vote, threw his support behind O’Malley’s bill. Kach had voted against the bill two days earlier in committee.
The Baltimore County delegate said he reached his decision after mulling the testimony he’d heard during a nearly 11-hour hearing on the bill last week and watching how same-sex couples supported one another. “I thought to myself, if my constituents were here, they’d have a different perspective on the issue,” Kach said. “I’m sure of it.”
He also became the target of a last-minute lobby effort, and said his voice mail was full of messages from important people, including Mehlman, Bloomberg and an offer to talk with former Vice President Dick Cheney, whom Kach regards as a “great man.” All three are recognized for their support of gay rights issues.
But you know, I’ll take it.
That being said, there are still enough bigots in Maryland to put this on the ballot, and it’s probably gonna be close.
On the Congressional side.
First, in Maryland’s 4th district, Donna Edwards will be running unopposed in the primary, former PG County States Attorney (DA) Glenn Ivey declined to run, which basically means that she will be reelected.
The primary was actually a matter of some concern, because the redistricting moved a lot of Montgomery County was moved out, and a lot Anne Arundel county moved in.
Because AA county is more Republican, it meant that PG County, and the (largely corrupt) PG County machine had a lot more influence over any primary contest, and Edwards is not a their friend, having taken down their golden boy, the then-incumbent Al Wynn in 2008.
Not only is she honest, but she is an unabashed liberal, so 2 snaps up.
Additionally, in the Massachusetts Senate race, Elizabeth Warren out-raised Scott Brown in 2011, $8.9 million for the year and $5.7 million for the quarter as versus $8.7 million and $3.2 million, though Brown still has about twice her cash on hand, $12.8 million versus $6 million.
Considering the fact that Brown is Wall Street’s favorite Senate candidate, this is surprising, and welcome, news.
I am not sure if this is a function of my blogging, or of my work for Democracy for America 2004-2009, but I just got an email from the Maryland Democratic Party asking me to apply to be a pledged delegate for Barack Obama at the 2012 convention.
It appears that they don’t read my blog.
Needless to say, I will not be applying. Even if I were to be accepted (as in, how much can you bundle in donations for the party, Mr. Saroff), I could not in good faith be a pledged delegate, because I don’t want to be in a position to where I promised to vote for him.
From: David Sloan
Subject: I want to see you in Charlotte
Reply-To: mdconvention2012@gmail.com
To: msaroff@xxxxxx.xxxMatthew-
You only have one week left to submit an online application to become a delegate for President Obama in Charlotte. There is so much grassroots interest in the Convention, so I want to make sure you apply to join us before the deadline next Saturday.The President has called the 2012 Convention the “People’s Convention” because it is really about you. Yes, we will make history again as we renominate Barack Obama – but the Convention will also embody and celebrate the ideals, values and vision we share as Democrats. That is why I want you to take part in the delegate selection process.
Remember, in order to qualify to become a Maryland Delegate you must complete an online application by December 10, and file at the State Board of Elections between January 3 and January 11, 2012.
If you have any questions, make sure to sign-up for my last informational conference call on Sunday, December 4th at 6:00 PM. You can also check out our website or email me.
The Convention in Charlotte will be a special event for the thousands who attend and the millions who will be watching. That’s why the Party is committed to running an open process that will give as many people the opportunity to participate as possible.
Thanks so much,
David
David Sloan
Executive Director
Maryland Democratic Party
If any of you want to apply, feel free to click through for the links. I promise that they don’t lead to Goatse or Lemon Party.*
*If you do not know what Goatse or Lemon Party are, for all that is holy, don’t Google it. Seriously. You are better off not knowing. If you see them, it will change you. Forever.
It looks like the Owings Mall is going to be torn down.
Not surprising. The mall has been in slow decline for some time, with at least one wing on the top floor shut down for the past two years.
Some of the anchor stores, as well as the theater, will remain, but it’s not going to be a classic mall anymore.
I’m not sure exactly why it failed, it’s located at the terminus of the Metro, and there is a rather large mixed used development in the area reaching completion.
Of note is that the operator of the mall, GGP, is in Bankruptcy, and is is owned by the Bucksbaum family, and Ann Bucksbaum Friedman is the wife of New York Times columnist (Who I would never call a schmuck because a schmuck has a head) Thomas Friedman.
I can’t avoid negative effects of this guy even if I never read his incoherent crap.
Two of former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich’s aides have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to violate Maryland election laws and obstruction of justice relating to robocalls, sent out before polls closed, that suggested that people stay home, because “Governor O’Malley and President Obama have been successful”.
It would be interesting to see what happens if one of them is flipped by prosecutors.
While I don’t think that Bad Hair Bob was involved, he’s really too stupid to be involved in such a plan, I can see his wife, Kendel, giving some sort of assent to the plan.
The people who switched their votes on this once they thought that it was going to pass need to be targeted to ensure that they never hold elective office ever again.
I’m with Jonathan Capehart. This reveals the, “cowards and civil rights myopia in the statehouse.
Damn.
