Maryland officers pledged a one-time $25 million contribution to the Susquehanna River Basin Fee, novel Pay-for-Efficiency Mannequin to be examined.
Debates relating to air pollution and vitamins within the Chesapeake Bay have been ongoing for many years. Probably the most in depth motion thus far has been the implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Cleanwater Blueprint, a multijurisdiction plan geared toward lowering air pollution within the bay watershed. Way more work stays if the watershed is to satisfy the 2025 discount objectives. When the Blueprint was developed, it was believed that the reservoir behind the Conowingo Dam wouldn’t be close to capability till 2025 or later. Calculations of air pollution discount totals particularly factored in better storage capability behind the dam, which means lowered targets for affected states. In 2012, researchers discovered that the reservoir was already close to capability, and much fewer vitamins had been being blocked from getting into the bay. To keep away from new discount targets from the EPA, stakeholders negotiated a separate settlement to deal with the dam. The brand new plan would require $53 million yearly and be administered by the interstate Susquehanna River Basin Fee. Through the 2022 legislative session, Maryland pledged a one-time $25 million funding into the plan, the catch being that the funds would have to be distributed utilizing a pay-for-performance mannequin. Up to now, no different jurisdiction has pledged any funds, stakeholders are persuing attainable sources of funding.
What’s Pay-for-Efficiency?
Pay-for-Efficiency is a cost mannequin typically used to realize greater ranges of productiveness from staff. In accordance with Certainly:
Pay-for-performance, additionally known as performance-related pay, refers to firm packages that pay staff based mostly on how they carry out their job. Corporations utilizing pay-for-performance initiatives sometimes present tips that designate what behaviors or efficiency analysis outcomes result in elevated pay.
The mannequin may also be used to raised incentivize fascinating undertaking outcomes. Many federal and state authorities packages search to attain sure objectives via the usage of grants, contracts or cost-share packages. In distinction to those fashions, pay-for-performance requires actors to develop, construct, and function tasks earlier than they obtain any public funding. Solely after tasks are proven to have outcomes will the federal government reimburse builders.
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What does it imply for Maryland?
Pay-for-performance is a novel coverage device that can be utilized by each state and native jurisdictions to try to attain higher coverage outcomes. One of many main drawbacks of this mannequin is that it restricts governments from investing in novel schemes that may doubtless not obtain funding from personal markets.
The $25 million funding from Maryland represents first step in tackling the Conowingo Dam difficulty. Maryland can’t and shouldn’t be pressured to behave alone with regards to restoring the bay. Different jurisdictions must do their half and discover funding for his or her share of the annual $53 million price ticket. If Maryland’s experiment with pay-for-performance proves profitable, then it could characterize a novel methodology to fund future packages. If the experiment ought to fail, we’re nonetheless left with the query of learn how to finest meet the Blueprint’s 2025 objectives and handle the Conowingo Dam reservoir.
A plan to scale back air pollution streaming into the Chesapeake Bay via the Conowingo Dam is in place, although it isn’t absolutely funded and won’t obtain its pollution-reduction objectives by the 2025 Bay cleanup deadline. https://t.co/WLC2yT0VIP
Proud Montgomery County, MD resident Gavriella Kaufmann (Potomac) won her episode of FOX’s game show “Name that Tune”, which aired last week.
Kaufmann, who was born and raised in Potomac and graduated from Churchill High School in 2015, stated in an interview with FOX 5, that she has always been into music and referred to herself as a music and game show savant. When she saw an ad on LinkedIn about being on season 4 of the game show, she immediately knew she had to do it.
“I’ve loved game shows for as long as I can remember, and music has always been a huge part of my life. Being on Name That Tune was the perfect combination of both passions—it was like a dream come true.” Kaufmann told us.
The episode had a happy ending, with Kaufmann winning a whopping $85,000! She added, “When I was on Name That Tune, I was so focused on doing my best and naming as many songs as possible that I completely lost track of the score. It wasn’t until Jane, the host, told me my total. I was in complete shock, but it was such an incredible moment!”
Who’s ready for Big Ten play to begin? In all honesty, I am not. I really wish Michigan State football had more tune-up games after seeing them struggle against Florida Atlantic and only win 16-10. But unfortunately, that is not how the schedule unfolds for Michigan State this season.
The Spartans will hit the road for an early Big Ten game as they face Maryland on Saturday at 3:30 pm. Going into the season I thought Michigan State and the Terps were on a pretty level playing field, but after seeing both teams play week one that doesn’t appear to be the case.
And Vegas agrees.
Michigan State opens as a 7.5-point underdog next week at Maryland. My guess is that grows to 8, 8.5.
As you all know, Michigan State only beat Florida Atlantic by six and did not look very impressive, especially on the offensive side of the ball. So it’s no surprise that MSU will be the underdog next week. But 7.5 points feels like a lot, and according to the Lansing State Journal’s Graham Couch, it likely will only go up from there.
So does Vegas have it right or are they underrating Michigan State?
Looking at Maryland’s week one game against UConn it appears Vegas has this line right. The Terps were up 23-0 at halftime and never looked back and went on to win in dominant fashion 50-7. UConn and FAU are very similar in terms of what level they’re at in college football, so that drastic of a difference in the final score is very scary.
So Vegas probably could’ve gotten away with Maryland being even bigger favorites in this one.
But maybe Vegas saw what I did and thinks a lot of Michigan State’s mistakes on Friday are easy to fix. Maybe they think Aidan Chiles will be much better next week. The Spartan’s defense was also fairly dominant so there isn’t much of a chance Maryland scores 50 points next week either.
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I tend to not bet on Michigan State games, but even if I did this would be a line that I would avoid because who knows how much Jonathan Smith’s squad will improve by next week, and who knows how much Maryland might struggle against a Power Four opponent.
The University of Maryland on Sunday reversed its decision to allow an anti-Israel protest on the first anniversary of the October 7 Massacre, following backlash from local Jewish groups.
UMD Students for Justice in Palestine and UMD Jewish Voice for Peace had been set to hold their October 7 vigil for Gazans killed in the Israel-Hamas War at the campus’s Mckeldin Mall, but the University System of Maryland (USM) said in a statement that on the day of the Hamas-led pogrom it would limit campus events requiring permits or approval to those supporting “a university-sponsored Day of Dialogue.”
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“From the beginning of the war, we have come together as a University System to urge that we use this moment to encourage conversation, compassion, and civility; to engage with one another across our differences and draw on our shared humanity and our shared values to bridge what divides us,” said USM. “These dialogues aren’t new. Many of our universities have been hosting this kind of programming for several months. Reserving Oct. 7 gives us a chance to continue these urgent conversations and to mark this solemn anniversary in a way that gives students—all students—the time and space to share and to be heard.”
USM said that its intent was not to infringe of the free expression and speech of students, but to be sensitive to the needs of students as October 7 was a “day of enormous suffering and grief for many in our campus communities.”
UMD Jewish Student Union, Maryland Hillel, Terps for Israel, and Israeli American Council Mishelanu at Maryland welcomed the USM decision and thanked UMD leadership in a joint social media statement on Sunday.
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The campus of the University of Maryland in College Park. (credit: Courtesy)
“October 7, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, is a day of mourning for the Jewish and Israeli community,” said the UMD JSU. “We are relieved that SJP will no longer to be able to appropriate the suffering of our family and friends to fit their false and dangerous narrative.”
The Jewish groups said that it was distraught that the decision to only hold university-sponsored event had to be made at all, and wished to used the campus space to “grieve together as a community” to promote unity at the university. The unideal situation was necessary, according to the Jewish groups, to ensure the physical and psychological safety of students on the day of mourning.
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UMD JVP and SJP attacked the decision to cancel the event, claiming that the vigil for Palestinians killed since the October 7 Massacre was attacked without familiarity of the content. The anti-Israel groups said that the discourse was “the continuation inherently racist, Islamophobic, and dehumanizing rhetoric surrounding Palestinians.” JVP and SJP said that the actions against their event were an attempt to paint “Muslim, Arab, and anti-Zionist Jewish students as barbaric.”
The anti-Israel groups asserted that their vigil for Palestinians who died in the war was no threat to the campus’s Jewish community, but conflation of Zionism and Judaism did threaten UMD and the Jewish community.
“To claim that Palestinians cannot hold a day of remembrance in mourning one year of genocide, or lay claim to that date is an insult to every life lost in the Zionist entity’s genocidal campaign,” UMD SJP and JVP said on Instagram on Sunday. “The disproportionate scale of suffering experienced by the Palestinians over the past year necessitates their remembrance and our solidarity on this day. The suffering of all innocents killed must not be monopolized and necessitates a fair and just representation.”
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SJP and JVP demanded the right to organize and exercise their right to free speech, accusing Zionists of attempting to stifle Palestinian voices.
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The organizations indicated on their Sunday Instagram post that they still planned to hold their all-day event at Mckeldin Mall, and on Monday a link to register still active and listing the campus building as the rally location.
UMD Jewish groups said that they would be holding their own event to memorialize the victims of the October 7 pogrom at the Maryland Hillel.