Annapolis

January 20, 2015

Sound Bites: Governor-Elect Hogan’s Environmental Agenda | How Will Phosphorus Management Fare This Session? | 2015 Global Food Trends Related To Systematic Change

January 20, 2015 - Segment 3 - On our newest episode of Sound Bites, our series about our food and our world, we look to Annapolis to examine the environmental agenda of Governor-elect Larry Hogan and the fate of the Phosphorus Management Tool. We also talk to Dr. Wayne Roberts about his predictions for the global food trends of 2015, which may surprise you.
January 6, 2015

Lead Up To The Annapolis Summit: Maryland Budget & Taxes

January 5, 2015 - Segment 3 - In our Lead Up to the Annapolis Summit, our panel of guests will discuss budget and tax issues facing the 2015 Maryland General Assembly. We will talk with two members of the State Budget and Taxation Committee: Senator Roger Manno and Senator George Edwards.
April 22, 2014

Legislative Update

April 22, 2014 - Segment 2 - We have a legislative update on the recently completed Maryland General Assembly session. We begin with Sara Love, Public Policy Director of the ACLU of Maryland. Then we hear from elected officials: Delegate Dr. Dan Morhaim, who represents District 11, Baltimore County; Delegate Mary Washington, who represents Maryland's 43rd District in Baltimore City; and Delegate Kathy Szeliga, House Minority Whip who represents District 7 in Baltimore and Harford Counties.
April 3, 2014

Update On The Maryland General Assembly

April 2, 2014 - Segment 3 - We have an update on the Maryland General Assembly with Dr. John Bullock, professor of Political Science at Towson University; Bryan Sears, Government Reporter for The Daily Record; and Marta Mossburg, Visiting Fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute and syndicated columnist.
March 13, 2014

“Revenge Porn” Bill Passes the Maryland House of Delegates

March 12, 2014 - Segment 2 - We turn to the Maryland Legislature and look at a bill that would make it a crime to post sexually explicit images on the Internet without the subject's consent. The bill, known as the "revenge porn" bill, passed unanimously through the Maryland House of Delegates and is moving forward to the Senate.
February 25, 2014

Sound Bites: Food Insecurity And Seniors | “Stop Cove Point” Protest & Dominion Energy Response | Poultry Fair Share Act Dead In Maryland?

February 25, 2014 - Segment 4 - In our latest episode of Sound Bites, we talk about food insecurity among seniors, hear about why some people oppose the retrofitting of the Cove Point facility to export natural gas, and look at the controversial Poultry Fair Share Act.
January 24, 2014

Maryland Legislature: Christopher’s Law Would Improve Police Training

January 23, 2014 - Segment 4 - The Maryland Legislature is in session, and we look at a Maryland House bill that would improve police training by provisions including: requiring re-certification for life-saving skills; increasing sensitivity to cultural and gender diversity; and others. The proposed law is being called Christopher's Law in memory of Christopher Brown, a Randallstown teenager who was killed in 2012 by a Baltimore County police officer.
January 21, 2014

Will Marijuana Be Legalized This Year in Maryland?

January 21, 2014 - Segment 2 - We discuss the legalization of marijuana in Maryland. Our first panel of guests features members of the Marijuana Policy Coalition of Maryland. Then, we talk to delegates about the politics of marijuana passing this session.
January 8, 2014

Excerpt: Governor O’Malley, Senate President Miller and House Speaker Busch on Legalizing Marijuana

11th Annual Annapolis Summit - Excerpt - Listen to a ten-minute excerpt from this morning's Annapolis Summit, which takes place annually on the opening day of the Maryland Legislative Session, on marijuana. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, Maryland Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller and Maryland House Speaker Michael Busch discuss their opinions on improving medical access, legalization and decriminalization of the drug.
June 10, 2008

06/10 Marc on Larsen’s resignation from the PSC

 Steve Larsen's Resignation

I am not surprised that Steve Larsen resigned as the head of the Public Service Commission. When community activists railed against him and O’Malley as sellouts to Constellation Energy, I always defended Larsen as a man of integrity and honesty. He believed in using the tools of the government to make the public sector more responsive to the citizens. He was a quiet, diligent and intelligent crusader on the inside, whether it was health insurance or regulating energy.

I think he resigned not to go back to the public sector to make more money but out of frustration. When the state reached the deal with Constellation Energy that ensured that the PSC would have no subpoena power, it took the teeth out of the PSC. Larsen would not be able to get to the bottom of any sweetheart deals between the Constellation and its subsidiary BGE to unearth whatever potentially unscrupulous deals were made to purchase energy at the consumers’ expense.

I wondered aloud how long Steve Larsen would stay after this. He was crusader for the people who had his cape destroyed. He chose to walk away rather than plummet to the ground.

Given the price of oil, the cost and real crisis we are facing with electricity generation and looming public wars over our energy future we need more caped crusaders or this secure world of ours could be in trouble. -Marc

Related blog posts:

04/09/08 Looking back at the session

03/28/08-Marc's argument against the settlement

03/03/08 Marc on what is missing in the investigation

 

Banning Little Cigars

What would it really accomplish to ban the sale of small cigars in the city of Baltimore? What I am writing about is the Mayor and Health Commissioner wanting to ban the sale of individual little cigars that many young inner city folks use to make into blunts. Blunts are cigars stuffed with marijuana. Many young people and young adults buy the individual cigars because they can’t afford to buy a whole pack. They come in flavors that are very enticing to some such as watermelon, sour apple, and grape. Some people just like to kick back and have a smoke to relax. Much like more well off patrons who go to cigar shops and throw big bucks for a wannabe Havana cigar. I never did like them even when I smoked though I do like a Havana a few times a year.

 

Let me admit, I always have an initial visceral response to the banning of most anything. Outlawing substances that people choose on their own to ingest does nothing but increase criminalization of what is otherwise activities of individual choice. Tax products, go after unscrupulous manufacturers and distributors, and find creative ways to combat it. Don't ban it.

 

If you ban the sale of cheap cigars by corner stores in the inner city then some enterprising young hustlers will buy them up and sell them on the street. I understand what the city is trying to accomplish, it is just the wrong way to go about it.

 

As some City Council representatives said to me “What do we do about the young people on the corner who terrify the older neighbors … it really is a generational thing . .lack of respect for the elders….” The response has to be much more profound than banning little cigars.

 

Take this to the state legislature, ban the sale of individual cigarettes state wide, tax the cigars, put warning labels on them, take on big tobacco, their Annapolis lobbyists and friends in the legislature, start an education campaign about health and smoking theses little flavored cigars. Open recreation centers, work programs for youth and hit the streets with street workers to challenge the street culture.

 

Banning cigars sales… a waste of time, money, energy and it is just the wrong thing to do.

 

-Marc

 

March 28, 2008

3/28/08 Constellation Deal

So, what is up with this deal between O’Malley and Constellation? Where are the voices of dissent? Where are the voices in our state legislature, in print, on TV and in radio who are raising questions about this so-called settlement?