In miniature, June 5

• Washington Post editorial board applauds Gov. Hogan’s veto of a shameless power grab by the state’s teachers’ unions;
• Montgomery County might elect a decades-long socialist as its next county executive. Does that matter much? [The Seventh State: Adam Pagnucco, Marc Elrich response, David Lublin, Marc Elrich response]
• Becomes law without governor’s signature: bad measure guaranteeing to union fruits of previous contract even after it expires [Glynis Kazanjian, Maryland Reporter]
• Bill in last assembly session would have required colleges to implement “hate-bias” prevention programs, adopt mandatory training of 1st-years [Aryssa Damron, College Fix; met with unfavorable report from Appropriations]
• Budget-busting disability mandate: “Annapolis should keep hands off local pensions” [Ken Decker, Maryland Reporter]
• MoCo: “Co-Owner of Closing Restaurant Blasts Liquor Monopoly” [Adam Pagnucco, The Seventh State]

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In miniature, May 10

• Baltimore city schools, which say they can’t afford to heat buildings adequately in winter, have 44 employees who earn more than Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan [Chris Papst, WBFF] “School bus driver in fatal 2016 crash was involved in at least a dozen collisions or medical emergencies in the five years prior.” [Scott Dance, Baltimore Sun]
• Good question: “Why did Republicans Oppose Free Market Alcohol Reforms?” [Brian Griffiths, Red Maryland]
• Metro’s misery: “ATU Local 689 has fought against firing track inspectors who falsified inspection reports and put public safety at risk.” [David Lublin]
• “Free Speech Index: Grading the 50 States on Political Giving Freedom” Alas, Maryland ranks 46th and gets an F. [Institute for Free Speech]
• College Park, Hyattsville prepare to let non-citizens vote. Illegals too? [Sapna Rampersaud, NRO]
• “Opinion: A tipped server from Seattle says Madaleno’s $15 minimum wage bill cuts incomes” [Simone Barron, Maryland Reporter] “The unintended victims of a $15 minimum wage are small businesses and their employees” [Mike O’Halloran, NFIB]

In miniature, February 18

• Should landlords be legally obliged to provide voter registration materials to their tenants? [HB5, Del. J. Lewis; companion bill HB55, which would impose similar requirements on real estate agents and brokers, was reported unfavorably by Economic Matters]
• Noteworthy Twitter thread on theft of rental cars has Maryland State Police angle [Noah Lehmann-Haupt]
• An unwarranted curtailment of individual choice: bill sponsored by Del. Vanessa Atterbeary (D-Howard) would ban marriage by persons under 18 even with parent/guardian consent [HB 191]
• “Dollar home” programs show mostly sparse results in urban revitalization, especially when regulatory strings come attached [Jared Alves, Greater Greater Washington on lessons for Baltimore]
• Why Baltimore’s Civilian Review Board hasn’t done much to fix its police crisis [J.F. Meils, Maryland Reporter]
• “Maryland Delegate Proposes Regional Pact To Keep Taxpayer Money from Financing Redskins’ Stadium” [Andrew Metcalf, Bethesda Magazine on Del. David Moon (D-Takoma Park) bill]

In miniature, January 21

• “Another Winner From Tax Reform: State Governments,” including Maryland’s [Eric Boehm, Reason]
• Epic Twitter thread on Maryland’s outlandish gerrymander, marvel at the maps [@EsotericCD]
• “Maryland Is Undergoing Meaningful Regulatory Reform” [Randolph May and Michael Horney, Free State Foundation]
• Neighborhood police checkpoints employed in West Baltimore for several days in November, yet in 2009 DC Circuit, via conservative Judge Sentelle, found them unconstitutional [Colin Campbell and Talia Richman, Baltimore Sun; Elizabeth Janney, Patch; cross-posted from Overlawyered]
• Because $peeding is un$afe: Baltimore to expand red light and speed camera program [Luke Broadwater, Sun]
• Dept. of perfectly terrible ideas: “Should there be rent control near the Purple Line?” [Seventh State]

In miniature, December 9

• Last session, entrenched interests shut out craft brewers in Annapolis. Comptroller Peter Franchot vows to do something about that next session and good for him [Danielle Gaines, Frederick News-Post; FNP editorial on Flying Dog] Counterpoint from head of public health group: Maryland should be persecuting the alcohol business, making life easier for beer producers and consumers would do the opposite [Raimee Eck, Baltimore Sun]
• Yikes: “in half the high schools in Baltimore City, 3804 students took the state test, 14 were proficient in math.” [Fox Baltimore]
• Will Annapolis do his bidding again? Peter Angelos wants another special law for his asbestos lawsuits [Daniel Fisher, Legal NewsLine/Forbes]
• Videos of Oct. 10 Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission hearing in Rockville with Steve Spaulding of Common Cause and others [Jason Boisvert on YouTube]
• U.S. Supreme Court won’t review challenge to Maryland gun law, but I’m glad my own Cato Institute tried to get the case heard [blog, brief and description]
• Prince George’s County is considering a return to the practice of letting county council second-guess development approvals. Bad policy and corruption risk alike [David Whitehead and Bradley Heard, Greater Greater Washington]

In miniature, November 19

• General Assembly piles absurd new continuing education mandates on licensed cosmetologists [Anastasia Boden, Washington Post/PLF]
• “Maryland Universities’ Mixed Commitment to Free Speech” [David Lublin, The Seventh State]
• My WSJ piece on Maryland’s botched bail reform now available ungated at Cato;
• Anne Arundel councilman Michael Peroutka onstage with Roy Moore at Alabama primary win [Chase Cook, Capital Gazette, more, earlier]
• “Census Bureau enlists local governments to help prepare for 2020 census” [Nancy Lavin, Frederick News Post, I’m quoted]
• Let’s make life harder for take-out food places in Baltimore, why don’t we? City has too much business already [Luke Broadwater, Baltimore Sun on councilmembers’ renewed efforts to ban Styrofoam]

In miniature, October 12

• Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission held a lively hearing in Rockville Oct. 10 [Douglas Tallman, MCMedia] U.S. Supreme Court declines to speed up review of Maryland gerrymander — Lyle Denniston on what that could mean for wider issue [Constitution Center; more on Gill v. Whitford from Amy Howe, SCOTUSBlog]
• We still need heroes: Lauren Weiner on statues and state songs [Law and Liberty, my earlier on Taney statue]
• Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh — a Republican — signs up with trial lawyers to sue opioid makers. Not a good look [Capital Gazette, my other blog on law firm Motley Rice, which helped orchestrate the tobacco caper]
• Also to Frederick County, Maryland: “Montgomery County Wage Hike Will Drive Business to Virginia” [Emily Top, Economics 21]
• “Hundreds Of Cases Dismissed Thanks To Baltimore Police Department Misconduct” [Tim Cushing, TechDirt]
• Why Columbia has so many peculiar street names: it couldn’t re-use any that had been used in Baltimore City/County or Anne Arundel [Christina Tkacik, Baltimore Sun]

In miniature, July 2

• As more states repeal estate taxes, being among the holdouts becomes less tenable. Hello Annapolis? [Laura Saunders, WSJ]
• “Let’s face it: Washington, DC’s Metro is the worst in the world” [Jason Russell, Washington Examiner]
• Search engine takedown scams: “Maryland Circuit Courts Have Been a Venue of Choice for Fake Consent Orders” [Paul Alan Levy]
• “Hogan’s Commonsense Improvements to I-270 Will Help Some, But More Work Is Needed” [Peter Samuel, MPPI]
• Shots fired! David Lublin, Seventh State vs. David Alpert, Greater Greater Washington on anti-Bethesda snark;
• Encouraging to see this on the Evergreen State College craziness from an active Maryland College Democrat [Matt Teitelbaum, Huffington Post]

In miniature, May 7

• Governor should keep the redistricting issue in play: “Hogan has backing — from the general public, from all those sick of gerrymandering and interested in responsible government and from a long-term national trend.” [Capital Gazette] “U.S. judge: Miller, Busch must testify, turn over documents in redistricting case” [Washington Post]
• Also on the redistricting topic, I was a guest on the Kojo Nnamdi show on the topic during session, with former Del. Aisha Braveboy and Maryland Republican chair Dirk Haire [listen]
• No thanks, let’s keep the farebox recovery rule, in which Maryland shows itself more fiscally prudent than many states with mass transit systems [Brian O’Malley, Greater Greater Washington]
• Two liability-expanding decisions from the Maryland Court of Appeals, May v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp. (duty to warn of asbestos in other companies’ products) and Spangler v. McQuitty (wrongful death action can be filed notwithstanding earlier assertion of personal injury action) made it into American Tort Reform Association’s Judicial Hellholes report last year;
• The Slants, band whose name is the subject of a trademark case before the U.S. Supreme Court, play Frederick [Ronald K. L. Collins, Concurring Opinions]
• “Maryland Decriminalizes Unlicensed Barbering; Jacks Up Fines for Unlicensed Barbering” [Eric Boehm/Reason]

In miniature, April 12

• Courageous and realistic: Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh vetoes city council bill that would have raised minimum wage to $15 [Eric Boehm]
• Kept in dark, fed manure: how insiders gulled delegates into approving terrible anti-craft-beer bill [Naptown Pint; bill later was amended after crossing to Senate, softening only some of its bad features before approval]
• Frederick county and city kicked in $10K each to lobby for state assistance to downtown hotel project;
• Bad prosecutorial behavior: “Judge rules again for Freddie Gray cops in suit against Mosby” [Baltimore City Paper, Marshall Project]
• The Slants, of Lee v. Tam SCOTUS trademark fame, coming to Frederick’s First Amendment Society at Flying Dog April 16 [First Amendment News] Case was the occasion for Cato to file possibly the most NSFW amicus brief in Supreme Court history;
• Maryland rescinds its four previous calls for an Article V constitutional convention [Danielle Gaines, Frederick News-Post, and thanks for mention; earlier from me]