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]

In miniature, March 12

• Members of elite Baltimore police task force falsified search warrants, robbed at least 10 victims “including some who had not committed crimes, officials said.” And oh, the overtime: “one hour can be eight hours.” [Washington Post]
• Advisory state panel swallows dubious health claims, urges schools to cut off wi-fi [ACSH]
• “GOP legislators offer pension reforms” [Dan Menefee, Maryland Reporter]
• Desire for retribution aside, hanging homicide rap on dealers after overdoses unlikely to solve opiate problem [Mark Sine and Kaitlyn Boecker, Baltimore Sun]
• May I caress your shoulder now? “Maryland ponders dangerous ‘affirmative consent’ proposal” for Montgomery County schools [Ashe Schow, Watchdog on MC 14-17, Kelly-Morales bill]
• Recalling Tom Perez’s unusual 2013 Maryland Chamber endorsement [Tim Carney, Sean Higgins] Critical 2011 view of CASA de Maryland [James Simpson, AIM]

In miniature, February 7

• “Maryland’s Medical Malpractice Landscape After McQuitty” [Elizabeth Hafey, Miles & Stockbridge]
• A skeptical view of state intervention on pharmaceutical pricing [Marc Kilmer/MPPI, related: Dan Menefee/Maryland Reporter]
• Bad ideas, getting closer: “DC’s Paid Family Leave Bucks the Trend—and Economics” [Ike Brannon, Cato]
• Maryland should adopt the idea of an executive agency to analyze and review regulation, along lines of federal OIRA [Randolph May, Free State Foundation]
• Yet another Maryland shaken-baby case seems awfully dependent on autopsy inferences [Washington Post, background on Washington Post series; more background]
• “Here are some easy changes. Maryland is now the only state to have both estate and inheritance taxes.” [Dee Hodges, Maryland Reporter]

In miniature, January 4

• May 2015 work slowdown by Baltimore police may have led to long-term higher crime rate [Daniel Bier/FEE, Alex Tabarrok/Marginal Revolution] “11 Incredible Findings from the Report on Baltimore PD” [Bier, FEE]
• Claim: lawmakers can “give” private employees paid parental leave and “there’s no added cost to employers” [Kate Ryan, WTOP citing views of Montgomery County, Maryland council member Tom Hucker]
• Irony alert: Get-money-out-of-politics measure passes 53-47 in Howard County after backers outspend foes 10-1 [Len Lazarick, Maryland Reporter]
• “FBI fingerprinting for Uber and Lyft in Maryland would do more harm than good” [Washington Post letter to editor from Arthur Rizer, R Street Institute]
• “Economist: Baltimore Minimum Wage Bill Punishes Small Business Growth” [Connor Wolf]
• Major overhaul of state contracting proposed, along with hundreds of changes to regulations [Maryland Reporter]

In miniature, November 13

• Gov. Hogan extends work of Maryland Redistricting Reform Commission [Danielle Gaines, Frederick News-Post; earlier, Len Lazarick/Maryland Reporter] Also, a video on gerrymandering at the Baltimore Sun;
• Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith about force’s use of dragnet of social media information about citizens: “The only people that have anything to fear about anything being monitored are those that are criminals and attempting to commit criminal acts.” Yes, that’s really what Smith said [Alison Knezevich/Baltimore Sun; in sequel, social media companies rescind access to the Geofeedia service] “Maryland’s use of facial recognition software questioned by researchers, civil liberties advocates” [Sun]
• MSEA by the sea: “Maryland students miss school for union convention” [Quinton Report]
• Why did lawyers for incoming First Lady sue in Maryland? “Plaintiff-friendly rules…won’t require her to pay the Daily Mail’s legal bill if she loses.” [Eriq Gardner, Hollywood Reporter]
• “Former Maryland prison imam was investigated over alleged Islamic State plot” [Baltimore Sun]
• “Maryland pays Marriott to stay” [Preston Cooper, Economics21]

In miniature, August 27

• Highlights/lowlights of the Justice Department’s scathing report on Baltimore police [Jonathan Blanks/Cato; C.J. Ciaramella]
• Gov. Larry Hogan has declined to board a certain ill-bound Train, and same is true of two other courageous figures, Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford and Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman [Fatimah Waseem, Howard County Times/Baltimore Sun]
• Rethink the Purple Line now [Diana Furchtgott Roth]
• Yes, the Baltimore aerial surveillance program should raise concerns [Matthew Feeney, Cato]
• “‘I want Larry Hogan gone,’ Cox told Kamenetz repeatedly.” [John Fritze, Baltimore Sun, quoting union boss J. David Cox of AFGE conversation with Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, a potential Democratic candidate for governor]
• Barry Rascovar recalls the life of Helen Bentley [Maryland Reporter]

In miniature, August 8

• MoCo Executive Leggett stifles a plan to make county dealings with labor unions more transparent [Bill Turque, Washington Post]
• “Shank: Criminal justice overhaul will lead to better outcomes in Maryland” [Herald-Mail]
• “Why in the world would the P.G. police dept. choose this particular cop to host a ride-along with a reporter?” [Radley Balko]
• Baltimore’s regulatory blockade: lawsuit challenges grip of historic preservation laws [Nick Zaiac, Market Urbanism]
• Been there. “Replacing Maryland E-ZPass transponder is not so easy” [Len Lazarick]
• It’s something [that] shouldn’t be done by either party in any state.” Larry Hogan talks gerrymandering [Danielle Gaines, Frederick News-Post]

In miniature, July 29

• “It ought to be possible to terminate cops short of criminal convictions for incidents like that involving Gray’s” [Ed Krayewski; more from Reason on police unions here, here, and here]
• Will national Dems throw away redistricting issue by installing Martin O’Malley, author of nation’s worst gerrymander, as DNC chair? [Baltimore Fishbowl, Jonathan Shurberg/Maryland Scramble] Despite discomfort in Annapolis, it’s “in Democrats’ best interests to fight gerrymandering on all fronts” [Eli Briody-Pavlik, Maryland Reporter] Gerrymandering’s effect within a party can be as powerful as its effect in contests between parties [J. Miles Coleman on District 8 Dem primary]
• 5-part series on StingRay [cell phone tracking] use in Maryland law enforcement [Courtney Mabeus, Maryland Reporter]
• Should create an opening for the local GOP, right? Montgomery County plans a massive 8.7 percent property tax hike with spending binge to match [Adam Pagnucco, The Seventh State]
• Homeowners in Cumberland, Md., resist city’s eminent domain plans [Save Rolling Mill via Institute for Justice]
• I criticized “Grace’s Law,” the Maryland statute criminalizing some online actions causing distress to minors, at the time; now a Eugene Volokh amicus challenges it on First Amendment grounds [Volokh Conspiracy]