Maryland
Maryland politicians decry anti-Semitism, embrace Jewish group’s policy agenda – WTOP News
![Maryland politicians decry anti-Semitism, embrace Jewish group’s policy agenda – WTOP News Maryland politicians decry anti-Semitism, embrace Jewish group’s policy agenda – WTOP News](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/GettyImages-643915106-scaled-1024x683-1.jpg)
With reported acts of anti-Semitism on the rise in Maryland and throughout the nation, dozens of main state politicians gathered at a synagogue in Potomac Friday morning, expressing their solidarity with the Jewish group.
This content material was republished with permission from WTOP’s information companions at Maryland Issues. Join Maryland Issues’ free e-mail subscription at present.
With reported acts of anti-Semitism on the rise in Maryland and throughout the nation, dozens of main state politicians gathered at a synagogue in Potomac Friday morning, expressing their solidarity with the Jewish group and embracing the expansive coverage agenda of a Jewish advocacy group.
The annual legislative breakfast of the Jewish Neighborhood Relations Council of Better Washington (JCRC), billed as a possibility to “schmooze and nosh,” is historically a preferred occasion with elected officers. However resulting from COVID-19, Friday was the primary in-person JCRC political breakfast in three years. And the rising incidents of anti-Semitic rhetoric and vandalism added a heightened sense of urgency and gravity to the gathering, though there have been loads of humorous moments.
The A-list lineup of audio system included the state’s two U.S. senators, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D), Gov.-elect Wes Moore (D), Lt. Gov.-elect Aruna Miller (D), Comptroller-elect Brooke Lierman (D), Prince George’s County Government Angela Alsobrooks (D), Montgomery County Government Marc Elrich (D), and diverse different native officers. The official talking program lasted properly over two hours, and that was on high of 45 minutes price of pregame schmoozing. The group of over 200 thinned significantly as this system wore on.
“Good morning! Is it nonetheless morning?” Lierman stated as she started her speech.
On the one hand, there have been loads of light-hearted moments, like when U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D) talked about how blissful he was to have a bagel and lox breakfast “with our mishpocha” once more and teased Raskin about being “the trainer” within the state’s congressional delegation.
However however, a number of audio system talked concerning the rising tide of anti-Semitism and racism within the nation. It was misplaced on nobody that Congregation Har Shalom, the place the breakfast passed off, was surrounded by police automobiles all morning and that a number of cops have been standing at strategic locations within the synagogue’s massive corridor.
Deborah Miller, the JCRC’s director of Maryland authorities and group relations, stated that 85% of faith-based hate crimes in Montgomery County are directed at Jews, though Jews solely make up 10% of the county’s inhabitants.
“Many people are on edge and afraid,” stated Rabbi Adam Raskin — no relation to the congressman — of Congregation Har Shalom. “The spike of anti-Semitism on this state and on this nation is terrifying.”
Moore, who will grow to be the state’s first Black governor, sought to attract hyperlinks between Jews and the Black group — and he wasn’t alone.
“Once we speak concerning the twin evils of anti-Semitism and racism, let’s not strive to consider them as two separate issues,” he stated.
Cardin stated the U.S. wants “a nationwide unified technique to struggle the rise of anti-Semitism.”
The JCRC is a potent political drive within the State Home and the Washington, D.C., area, and Friday’s breakfast was a reminder of each the group’s political affect and its prolonged and substantive coverage agenda. The JCRC doesn’t simply advocate for Jewish pursuits, but in addition for an array of social service packages, legal justice reforms and different good works.
“On the JCRC, we all know we will depend on our elected officers to implement insurance policies that mirror our values, our Jewish values,” Deborah Miller stated.
Throughout his speech, Cardin waved this system, with three pages’ price of coverage priorities, and stated, “We’re all for this.”
For some members of the viewers, it was a primary alternative to take heed to and take inventory of Moore, who takes workplace on Jan. 18. Moore stated he felt like he was amongst household in a room full of individuals of religion.
“I’m a toddler of God,” he stated. “I do know the place my energy comes from.”
Moore instructed the gang about his grandfather fleeing the U.S. for Jamaica along with his household after being menaced by the Ku Klux Klan. He later returned to the U.S., saying “this nation shall be incomplete with out me,” and went on to grow to be the primary Black minister within the historical past of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Moore vowed to implement and strengthen state hate crime legal guidelines, and likewise praised Deborah Miller and Ronald Halber, the director of the JCRC.
“Bless you on your management,” he stated. “It’s not simply that we have now a stronger group on your management. We’ve a stronger state on your management.”
Moore was rewarded with a standing ovation, the second of the morning — the primary went to Jamie Raskin, who recounted being at a food-free White Home reception earlier this week and considering that the nation wants a Jewish president.
Friday’s breakfast was additionally a possibility for outreach for Alsobrooks, who could also be a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024. Alsobrooks instructed a hushed room about her household’s resolution to flee South Carolina in 1954 after her great-grandfather was shot to loss of life by a sheriff’s deputy. She famous that her grandparents and oldsters grew to become civil rights activists, and infrequently labored aspect by aspect with Jewish allies.
“Rising up, it was conveyed to me in no unsure phrases that the Jewish group was with us each step of the best way,” he stated. “…All the things the Jewish folks wished for his or her youngsters, they confirmed as much as work alongside my dad and mom to guarantee that I’d have these rights.”
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Maryland
Maryland Senate race poll shows Democrat Alsobrooks leading GOP's Hogan, despite 1 in 3 not knowing who she is
![Maryland Senate race poll shows Democrat Alsobrooks leading GOP's Hogan, despite 1 in 3 not knowing who she is Maryland Senate race poll shows Democrat Alsobrooks leading GOP's Hogan, despite 1 in 3 not knowing who she is](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/05/LARRY-HOGAN-ANGELA-ALSOBROOKS.jpg)
The Democratic candidate for senate in Maryland is leading her GOP rival despite more than a third of eligible voters not recognizing her name.
A poll published by Gonzales Research & Media Services this week found that Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks has pulled ahead of Republican former Governor Larry Hogan by five points — 46% to 41%.
Alsobrooks’ current success in the polls comes as a surprise, given the Democratic candidate’s continued struggles with low name recognition among voters.
The Gonzales poll found that approximately 34% of registered voters do not recognize Alsobrooks by name. This includes approximately 33% of independents who do not recognize Alsobrooks, as well as 17% of eligible voters registered with the Democratic Party.
NEW POLL REVEALS REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE DEADLOCKED WITH DEM IN CRUCIAL DEEP BLUE STATE
Maryland Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks speaks at a campaign event on Gun Violence Awareness Day at Kentland Community Center in Landover, Maryland. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Notably, 72% of total eligible voters told the pollster that they did not recognize the Democratic candidate.
MARYLAND DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE SAYS THERE SHOULD BE NO LIMIT ON ABORTION
The winner of the November election will succeed Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, who is retiring this year after serving nearly two decades in the Senate and nearly six decades as a state and then federal lawmaker.
With Democrats trying to protect their fragile Senate majority, Hogan’s late entry into the race in February gave them an unexpected headache in a state previously considered safe territory.
![Larry Hogan wins GOP Senate nomination in Maryland](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/05/1200/675/Larry-Hogan-primary-night-victory-Annapolis-MD-May-14-2024-scaled.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Former two-term Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland celebrates his victory in the 2024 Maryland Republican Senate primary, in Annapolis, Maryland. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Hogan left the governor’s office at the beginning of 2023 with very positive approval and favorable ratings.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A vocal Republican critic of former President Trump who previously flirted with a 2024 White House run, Hogan has repeatedly said that he will not vote for the former president in November’s election. In the spring, he stood out from most other Republicans for publicly calling for the guilty verdicts in Trump’s criminal trial to be respected.
The Gonzales Research & Media Services poll was conducted from Aug. 24 to Aug. 30 and surveyed 820 self-described likely voters via phone interviews.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Maryland
Guns flood the nation’s capital. Maryland, D.C. attorneys general point at top sellers.
![Guns flood the nation’s capital. Maryland, D.C. attorneys general point at top sellers. Guns flood the nation’s capital. Maryland, D.C. attorneys general point at top sellers.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/09/03/USAT/75064386007-53969346285-3-e-86-bcd-864-b.jpg?auto=webp&crop=1023,576,x0,y53&format=pjpg&width=1200)
The lawsuit announced on Tuesday claims three stores sold one person 34 guns over six months and ignored the buyer’s red flags.
Gun trafficking: How guns travel illegally on the iron pipeline
Here’s how guns legally bought in one state are smuggled illegally into another on the iron pipeline.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The nation’s capital is grappling with a deadly flood of weapons. Prosecutors are pointing fingers at three federally licensed gun stores in Maryland.
Attorneys general of Maryland and Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit Tuesday against three gun shops for selling firearms to a straw purchaser – the same stores identified as the top retailers of recovered crime guns in Maryland between August 2020 and July 2021, according to a report commissioned by the state attorney general’s office.
According to the lawsuit, the three stores in Montgomery County, Maryland, roughly 25 miles northwest of Washington D.C., collectively sold 34 semiautomatic pistols to one person in six months. Only two remained with the purchaser, while the rest are presumed to be trafficked, prosecutors said.
Some have been recovered from people accused of assault, a stabbing, and drug distribution, the lawsuit added, while most remain unaccounted for.
“Federally licensed gun dealers know the law and they know what to look for to spot possibleillegal trafficking. As this lawsuit demonstrates, gun dealers cannot just choose to ignore these warning signs and guardrails,” said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown. “Let this be a warning to other dealers who put public safety at risk to make a profit: We are watching, and we will hold you accountable for illegal conduct that fuels gun violence across our region.”
The lawsuit comes as public health experts and gun safety advocates warn about an alarming level of gun violence across the nation — guns are the leading killer of children in the U.S. and kill nearly 50,000 people a year. Lawsuits in other states have also targeted sellers and traffickers as culprits in gun crimes, including New Jersey, Michigan, and Philadelphia.
Lawsuit: Man bought 34 guns in 6 months
Three federally licensed gun stores – Engage Armament, United Gun Shop and Atlantic Guns – collectively sold Demetrius Minor, an “obvious straw purchaser,” 34 guns between April 6 and October 5, 2021, according to the lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
According to Engage Armament’s records cited in the lawsuit, Minor spent more than $31,000 at the one store for at least 25 guns. In July 2021 alone, he came to the store at least four times and bought five guns, prosecutors said.
Minor gave many of the weapons to a relative, Donald Willis, a Washington D.C. resident with a record of violent felonies, the lawsuit said, and Willis then spread the guns to other “dangerous individuals.” Minor has been convicted for his role in the straw sales. But Tuesday’s lawsuit said the stores “who chose profits over safety” have faced no consequences for their “critical role in fueling gun violence” in the D.C. metro region.
At least nine of the weapons, which the lawsuit contends were “illegally sold,” were found at crime scenes in Washington D.C. and surrounding Maryland suburbs. “Many more are likely in the hands of other individuals legally barred from possessing firearms and will be used in future crimes,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit cites a federally required form to buy a gun — the ATF firearms transaction record — which is used to determine whether a gun sale is legal. The form notes that straw purchases are illegal, meaning the firearm must go to the person who legally bought it. It also states that the seller is responsible for ensuring the sale is legal, and simply conducting a background check does not fulfill obligations.
The lawsuit notes that just as straw purchases are illegal, it is also against the law for a firearm dealer to help advance illegal sales, and federal law requires licensed dealers to report when an unlicensed buyer purchases two or more handguns within five days.
Atlantic Guns denied the straw sales allegations in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday.
“Atlantic Guns, Inc. has never and will never knowingly sell to someone who we have reason to believe is committing a straw purchase,” the store said, declining to comment further before review of the lawsuit.
Engage Armament and United Gun Shop didn’t immediately return USA TODAY’s requests for comment.
Cities and states across U.S. go after sellers to battle gun violence
The lawsuit Tuesday is the latest to sweep the nation as cities and victims of shootings target firearm stores and traffickers to battle gun violence.
Last July, Philadelphia announced a lawsuit against three vendors that the city said were the source of more than 1,300 crime guns between 2015 and 2019. The weapons were used in shootings, a home invasion, drug crimes, vehicle theft, and more, according to the city.
Three Missouri men were charged earlier this year for illegally selling guns to the people who fired shots into the Super Bowl victory parade that killed a mother and injured over 20 people earlier this year.
In Michigan, the parents of a 14-year-old Oxford High School student who was severely injured in a 2021 mass killing, named a gun store as one of the defendants in a lawsuit, alleging Acme Shooting Goods negligently and illegally sold the firearm used in the school assault that killed four people and wounded seven others. Acme sold the gun to the shooter’s father while ignoring signs it was a straw purchase, the lawsuit alleged.
In July 2023, a northern Indiana gun shop that police called a key supplier of Chicago’s criminal firearms market announced it was closing its doors after Chicago sued Westforth Sports in 2021 over what it said was a pattern of illegal gun sales.
A USA TODAY investigation earlier this year found the majority of guns used in crimes are sold by a small fraction of the nation’s gun shops. Two of the Maryland gun shops named in Tuesday’s lawsuit – United and Atlantic – were on a list by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of stores that sold at least 25 guns traced to a crime over a year that were purchased within the past three years.
Contributing: Nick Penzenstadler and Grace Hauck, USA TODAY
Maryland
Declines in revenue, federal aid drive cuts in proposed transportation projects – Maryland Matters
![Declines in revenue, federal aid drive cuts in proposed transportation projects – Maryland Matters Declines in revenue, federal aid drive cuts in proposed transportation projects – Maryland Matters](https://marylandmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC_0311-scaled.jpeg)
Transportation projects around the state will be put on hold as officials grapple with ongoing budget constraints and a growing list of expensive projects.
A combination of budget pressures has created a $1.3 billion funding gap over a six year period, which Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said forced his department to defer projects across the state.
“We just don’t have enough dollars to do what we have to do within our means. So that’s what we’ve had to do,” he said.
The agency Tuesday released a draft of its latest Consolidated Transportation Program, a six-year budget that contains $19 billion in projects around the state. Wiedefeld said the draft required tough choices to address the budget gap, a “historical issue” that continues.
Wiedefeld said the state’s transportation funding shortfall is driven, in part, by an end to federal COVID-19 aid. Other factors include inflation, increased construction costs, less than expected revenue from the state’s gas tax, and reduced federal funding.
“The biggest one we do is we take a look at our financial forecast and all the ups and downs that may occur in the financial forecast,” Wiedefeld told reporters during a briefing Friday. “And so, in doing that, what we learned was that some of the projections that we had in terms of the growth of some of our sources were not growing at that rate, particularly our largest source of revenue, the motor fuel tax. There were some others that were either not growing or remaining flat again, not growing to the level that we’d hoped for.”
Wiedefeld said that resulted in roughly a $350 million decline in projected revenues over the six-year period of fiscal 2025-2030.
“At the same time, our operating costs continue to grow at a rate a little bit more significant that we have projected,” said Wiedefeld, adding $300 million in projected costs over the six-year period.
Counties scramble for answers, options as state signals deferral of transportation requests
Additionally, lawmakers earlier this year restored proposed cuts in state aid to local governments as part of Highway User Revenues as well as proposed cuts to transit systems run by 23 counties and Baltimore City. Restoration of those proposed cuts added another $400 million over six years, Wiedefeld said.
“So those three things basically are our realities that put pressure on the financial forecast,” he said.
Finally, Wiedefeld said the amount of federal aid is falling short of expectations.
“We were pushing all the modes to really buckle down and see where else we could get federal dollars for delivering projects,” he said. “We were shooting for roughly 80% federal, 20% local match, overall for the program. Basically, we were not able to achieve that, and we’re probably not going to be able to achieve that into the future.”
Instead, Wiedefeld said the state now expects a 75-25 split. “That 5%, although it sounds small, is significant, obviously, when you think of the amount of federal dollars that would bring down,” he said.
The resulting lack of revenue means counties will see priority projects not already underway slowed down or paused
“In effect, projects that are into the future — larger projects that we want to construct — we have to slow those down in terms of the process to get them to construction, until we have available dollars to pick that back up,” Wiedefeld said.
One large project that could suffer is the proposed widening of the American Legion Bridge.
“So, on the American Legion bridge, obviously, we have the record of decision for this, you know, larger improvement there,” said Wiedefeld. “But given the stress that we’re under, we’re going to have the state highway particularly focus on the pure state of good repair issues around the American Legion bridge.”
The state applied for a federal grant to help pay for the costs of repairing “structural issues with the bridge,” he said. “So that’s where we’ll be focusing,” Wiedefeld said.
News of the delays was delivered to county leaders by Wiedefeld and transportation officials during the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference last month.
The transportation secretary said he will also seek to slow down the purchase of zero-emissions buses in the coming years, as some major bus manufacturers are having issues with the performance of electric buses, as well as availability.
Moore warns of difficult fiscal decisions ahead
A new clean diesel bus costs the state $750,000. A hybrid bus costs about $1 million each. A new electric bus costs $1.4 million each.
“So, as you play that over the program period, if you defer that, it actually saves a lot of dollars,” Wiedefeld said. “It allows us not to dig deeper into operating cuts, that we would have to do, or system preservation cuts.”
Wiedefeld said he will not request cuts to his department’s operating budget as he did last year when he cut 8% across the board. He will also not request cuts to county aid or local transit networks.
“What we’ve done is we’ve gone through all those projects, and we’re going to defer those projects at a logical deferred point,” Wiedefeld said. “So basically, some of those projects were in different levels of study. We want to make sure that they stop at a point where we don’t lose any of the effort that we had done, but we don’t have the available funds right now to continue those projects. What you’ll see in the capital program is basically those projects that will be deferred.”
A year ago, Wiedefeld proposed cuts to county shares of highway user revenues and to local transportation networks.
Highway user revenues — decimated in cuts more than a decade ago — had yet to be restored to previous levels. Proposed cuts, nixed this spring by the General Assembly, would have eliminated planned increases in future years.
“Even so, the fiscal 2025 funding for HUR (highway user revenues) falls significantly short of Maryland’s appropriate and historic funding levels, even without adjusting for inflation,” the association of county governments said in a post on its website. “This gap becomes even more pronounced when accounting for rising road maintenance and materials costs.”
The association said it would continue to seek restoration of state highway aid.
“MACo and county leaders will continue urging Maryland policymakers to advance a sustainable plan to address critical infrastructure needs across the state,” the group said in its statement. “Proper restoration of the HUR formula should be a priority in advancing solutions that create sensible and reliable support for all locally maintained roadways.”
-
Politics1 week ago
Why won't Pennsylvania voters have results on Election Night?
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump sets intense pace with campaign events as questions swirl about Harris' policy positions
-
World1 week ago
Portugal coast hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake
-
News1 week ago
Former national security adviser McMaster says he won’t work for Trump again
-
World1 week ago
Who is Telegram CEO Pavel Durov? What to know about his arrest in France
-
Science1 week ago
How much more water and power does AI computing demand? Tech firms don't want you to know
-
World1 week ago
Commission mandarin flags convergence of digital with industry
-
World1 week ago
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 915