Salisbury News: 04/11/17

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

AUTHORS ON DELMARVA BOOK TALK SERIES RETURNS

Westside Historical Society is proud to announce the return of the popular series of talks by local authors on books they have written about Delmarva! The first of the 2017 Series will be held on April 21, starting at 5pm with a chance to meet and greet the author, at Laytons Chance Winery near Vienna.

This initial gathering promises to be a special one, with the featured author being Dr. Clara Small, retired History Prof from Salisbury University and now Chair of Social Sciences at UMES. Dr. Small is well known locally and regionally for her groundbreaking research on the role played by local African-American men as combatants in the Civil War. Her first book, Men of Color: To Arms! Manumitted Slaves and Free Blacks from the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland Who Served in the Civil War, primarily with Worcester and Somerset County enlisted men. Continuing the line of research, her newest work, “hot off the presses” investigates those men from Dorchester County and is entitled They Wore Blue and Their Hearts Were Loyal, the United States Colored Troops of Dorchester County, Maryland: Slaves and Free Blacks who Served in the Civil War. This will be Dr Small’s first public discussion of it. In addition, a third work not yet released is entitled Compass Points: Profiles and Biographies of African Americans from the Delmarva Peninsula, Vol. I and she promises to reveal some of the finds from that one as well.

This first talk in Westside’s book talk series will start with a chance to meet and greet Dr. Small from 5 pm to about 5:45, followed by her talk and then questions and answers. She promises to bring copies of her books (the ones now available) for sale! Refreshments will be available. Registration is not required, but for more information you can phone Westside Historical Society at 410-726-8047, or email westsidehistorical@gmail.com or phone Layton’s Chance Vineyards and Winery at (410) 228-1205, and for directions to the Winery go to their web site at www.laytonschance.com .

Riccio Golf Foundation Tournament

WICOMICO PUBLIC LIBRARIES ANNOUNCES FIRST ANNUAL SALISBURY BOOK FESTIVAL

Wicomico Public Libraries is excited to announce their first annual Salisbury Book Festival, a 2-month series of fun, family friendly events, inspiring children and adults to read.

The Salisbury Book Festival includes the April 20, 2017 – 8:00 am - Light of Literacy Awards Breakfast, to be held at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center. This event recognizes those in the community who advance the cause of literacy. The Keynote speaker will be Mr. Peter Franchot, Maryland Comptroller. Tickets are $20.00 and can be purchased at any Library branch or online at www.lightofliteracy.org

Other events for the Salisbury Book Festival include:

April 20 – May 20, 2017 - Ernie Bond Memorial Book Drive. Drop off boxes will be available in multiple locations throughout Wicomico County. The Library will be collecting new & gently used books and donations. Books will be distributed to children through local non-profits and the public schools. Monetary donations will be accepted at Wicomico Public Libraries.

Pensions Crisis Is Unavoidable and Here

There is a really big crisis coming.

Think about it this way. After 8 years and a 230% stock market advance the pension funds of Dallas, Chicago, and Houston are in severe trouble.

But it isn’t just these municipalities that are in trouble, but also most of the public and private pensions that still operate in the country today.

Currently, many pension funds, like the one in Houston, are scrambling to slightly lower return rates, issue debt, raise taxes or increase contribution limits to fill some of the gaping holes of underfunded liabilities in their plans. The hope is such measures combined with an ongoing bull market, and increased participant contributions, will heal the plans in the future.

This is not likely to be the case.

This problem is not something born of the last “financial crisis,” but rather the culmination of 20-plus years of financial mismanagement.

An April 2016 Moody’s analysis pegged the total 75-year unfunded liability for all state and local pension plans at $3.5 trillion.

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Fruitland Chamber Easter Parade 2017

Toyota Makes Largest Investment in History At Kentucky Plant

Podcast: How Maryland's offshore wind industry is developing

Liz Burdock believes that offshore wind turbines are majestic. From the surface of the ocean, they stand as tall as the Washington Monument, and their massive blades are longer than a football field.

Burdock, executive director of the Business Network for Offshore Wind, said the turbines in Europe draw thousands of tourists to visitor sites there every year. It's one way building offshore wind turbines in Maryland could contribute to the state's economic development, and something Burdock hopes to see come online in the next several years.

Of course, it all depends on if the Maryland Public Service Commission approves one, or both, of the two offshore wind farm projects that are currently under review. And on this week's episode of the BaltBizCast, she describes what both of those plans include.

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Believe It or Not, Syria Could Be In Even Worse Shape

Almost 10 years ago, the Israelis took out Bashar Assad's secret nuclear facility.

Syria is a bloody mess. Its cities lie in ruins. Its antiquities have been destroyed. And the Syrian leader continues to kill his own people. The death toll may be as high as a half million people. Some 10 million Syrians have been displaced. Reporters working there have described it as "hell on earth" and the images they've provided support their portrayal.

It's hard to imagine how things could be ghastlier. And yet, if not for a stealth nighttime attack a decade ago, the situation today would almost certainly have been worse. Syria might well have been a young nuclear power.

On Sept. 6, 2007, Israeli fighter jets screamed through the skies of western Syria to drop their payloads on the al-Kibar nuclear facility and end, at least temporarily, the secret nuclear program of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The buildings that housed Syria's budding nuclear efforts, unknown to the world, had been the focus of a mad, behind-the-scenes diplomatic scramble for several months, as the Israelis tried to enlist U.S. support for the pre-emptive strike.

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Lawmakers Wrap Up Session Passing Hogan Tax Credit; No Deal On Marijuana & Immigration

The 90 day session of the Maryland General Assembly ended at midnight.

In the final hour of the session, lawmakers gave final approval to a version of a manufacturing tax credit that had been proposed by Governor Larry Hogan.

The bill provides a 10-year income tax credit for companies that builds factories in parts of Allegany, Dorchester, Garrett, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties and Baltimore City.

The bill passed the House of Delegates Unanimously and was approved in the Senate 46-1.

Hogan praised lawmakers’ work when he spoke to reporters just after midnight.

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The State Department Knew a Year Ago That Syria Likely Still Had Chemical Weapons

And yet the Obama administration repeatedly touted its diplomatic success.

Despite repeated public pronouncements from President Obama, Susan Rice, and others in the Obama administration that a 2013 deal with Russia and Syria had "eliminated Syria's declared chemical weapons program," the evidence from continued attacks increasingly and overwhelmingly contradicts this assertion. As recently as Jan. 16, former national security advisor Susan Rice told NPR in an interview, "We were able to get the Syrian government to voluntarily and verifiably give up its chemical weapons stockpile."

Rice's statement is being roundly mocked in light of last week's chemical attack in Idlib province. But a year-old report released by the Obama administration's own State Department, which received little attention at the time, also undermines the claims regarding the success of the 2013 deal. The April 2016 report, titled "Compliance With the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction Condition 10(C) Report," was not limited to Syria, but also covered Iran, Iraq, and Russia, which may explain why it was underreported. The report's section on Syria specifically, however, is fairly devastating to the Obama administration's case. The report states [emphasis added]:

The United States cannot certify that the Syrian Arab Republic is in compliance with its obligations under the CWC. The United States assesses that Syria has used chlorine as a chemical weapon systematically and repeatedly against the Syrian people every year since acceding to the Convention, and therefore is in violation of its obligations under Article I of the CWC. In addition, the United States assesses that Syria did not declare all the elements of its chemical weapons program, required by Article III of the CWC and that Syria may retain chemical weapons as defined by the CWC. The process for verifying the accuracy and completeness of the Syrian declaration and the resolution of these matters are ongoing.

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MSP: Five People Die Each Day In Maryland From Heroin Abuse

Those who use heroin in Maryland are going into Baltimore City almost daily to get the drugs they need. That from the head of the State Police Criminal Investigation Bureau.

Lt. Jeff Kloiber tells WBAL News Radio 1090's Anne Kramer many of those addicts are using fentanyl which is coming from China. Lt. Kloiber says dealers are "cutting" the fentanyl with heroin.

"When you cut fentanyl with heroin it keeps the purity levels the same," says Kloiber. Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and is highly dangerous when you mix fentanyl with heroin. He says the users don't know the purity level of the heroin laced with fentanyl and they are dying.

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Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Frets Tomahawk Missile Might Offend Native Americans

The editor-in-chief of liberal magazine Mother Jones voiced concern Saturday that the name of the Tomahawk missile might offend Native Americans.

"That the missiles are callled [sic] tomahawks must enrage a lot of Native Americans," tweeted Clara Jeffery, days after the United States launched said missiles at a Syrian airfield used to launch chemical weapons attacks.

Jeffery's tweet earned her some grief from others on Twitter, who accused her of looking for something to be offended by.

The tomahawk was created by Algonquian Indians and widely used by Native Americans and European colonialists alike. The iconic "pipe tomahawk" design of the colonial era was made using metal heads provided to tribes as gifts and goods from the British Navy.

WENTZVILLE, Mo. -- Police say two men from Maryland traveled to Missouri to abduct a girl they met on the internet.

Phones across Missouri started buzzing Sunday morning, asking everyone to look out for these two men -- 22 year old William Dela-Cruz and his brother, 25 year old Jason, after police say they abducted a 12 year old from the Kansas City area.

"I was in the shower and saw the alert go off," says Eric Hodson.

Several people in the Wentzville area saw the Amber Alert and called 911 after seeing a young girl and a man who matched the description.

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Eric Conn pleads guilty to Social Security disability fraud

A ringleader in one of the biggest Social Security disability fraud cases in U.S. history has pleaded guilty to filing more than 1,700 bogus applications, bilking the government out of potentially a half-billion dollars.

But the administration is struggling to figure out how to handle the applicants, many of whom say that even though their applications were falsified, their cases are real and they shouldn’t be punished for having been ensnared by the massive fraud.

Eric C. Conn, a prominent lawyer in eastern Kentucky, signed a guilty plea late last month acknowledging the scam, in which he recruited and filed at least 1,748 fraudulent applications, complete with fake IQ tests or medical exams. He had a team of doctors and psychologists sign off on them, then had a Social Security judge rubber-stamp them.

All told, his scam left the government on the hook for more than $550 million in lifetime benefits, with more than $46 million doled out as of October, Conn admitted in his plea deal.

Cases are pending against Administrative Law Judge David Black Daugherty, who rubber-stamped the applications, and against Alfred Bradley Adkins, a psychologist who made up mental health evaluations to support hundreds of the bogus applications.

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Breaking News: The White House accused Russia of trying to cover up the Syrian government's culpability in last week's chemical weapons attack

The White House on Tuesday accused the Russian government of engaging in a cover-up of the chemical weapons attack last week by Syrian forces that prompted American airstrikes, saying that United States intelligence and numerous contemporaneous reports confirmed that the Syrians used sarin gas on their own people.

In a declassified four-page report that details United States intelligence on the chemical weapons attack, the White House asserted that the Syrian and Russian governments have sought to confuse the world community about the assault through disinformation and “false narratives.”

Jewish community reacts to spike in religious hate crimes

WASHINGTON — When it comes to hate crimes, Montgomery County differs from the rest of the country. Instead of race-based crimes, the county sees more religious hate crimes than anything. And in 2016, most of those were anti-Semitic.

“Our community is concerned. We’re aware of it and we’re concerned,” said Rabbi Mendel Bluming, of Chabad of Potomac, reacting to the findings of a report on Montgomery County’s bias-motivated crimes in 2016.

The annual report shows of the 94 hate crimes that year, 38 were religious in nature, while race was the factor in 34, ethnicity in 12, sexual orientation in six and gender in four.

All but six of the victims of the religion-based crimes were anti-Jewish. That makes 84 percent, “despite Jewish persons making up only 3.1 percent of the population,” the report said.

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Single-Payer Health Care: America Already Has It

The Minority Report 2017 Sine Die Edition

The Minority Report
2017 Sine Die Edition

Greetings from the 437th Legislative Session! We want to connect with you to keep you informed on caucus initiatives and the latest in Annapolis. Please feel free to share this with friends, family, and colleagues, and on your own social media sites.

2017 Session Comes to an End

That's a wrap! The 2017 Session of the Maryland General Assembly ended at midnight on April 10.

While the session was occasionally marred with Washington DC politics, overall we see the 2017 Session as a very successful one with some very positive results for the citizens of Maryland!

Session Successes

A Fiscally Responsible Budget!

Thanks to Governor Hogan's fiscal stewardship, the General Assembly passed a fiscally responsible budget that included NO TAX INCREASES! The budget put spending in line with revenues and reduced Maryland's deficit by $400 million.

Tax Relief!
The General Assembly passed a bill similar to the Governor's Hometown Heroes Act, that gives tax relief to first responders and other emergency response personnel. The first $15,000 of retirement income for first responders and emergency personnel who are at least 55 years old will not be subject to state income tax.

Road Kill Repeal!
One of Governor Hogan's top legislative priorities was the repeal of last year's Road Kill Bill - the repeal of this bill means that all of the top-priority transportation projects across Maryland will now move forward.

Sanctuary State Bill DEFEATED!
A bill that would have made Maryland a Sanctuary State passed the House earlier this session. Thanks to an effort led by the members of our Caucus, a tremendous amount of grassroots pressure was brought to bear on the leadership of the Maryland Senate and the committee hearing the bill. As a result, the bill did NOT pass.

House Republican Caucus 2017

Facebook Launches Resource to Flag 'Misleading News'

Facebook is launching a resource to help you spot false news and misleading information that spreads on its service.

The resource, similar to previous efforts around privacy and security, is basically a notification that pops up for a few days. Clicking on it takes you to tips and other information on how to spot false news and what to do about it.

Tips to spot false news include looking closely at website addresses to see if they are trying to spoof real news sites, and checking websites' "about" sections for more information. Some sites might look like real news at first glance, but their "about" sections inform the visitor that they are in fact satire.

Adam Mosseri, vice president of News Feed at Facebook, said he hopes people will become "more discerning consumers" of news.

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A Maryland State Trooper Makes a Criminal Arrest on I-95

(Laurel, MD) Two Baltimore City men were arrested and charged yesterday evening after a Maryland state trooper stopped to assist what appeared to be a disabled vehicle.

The suspects were identified as Jose Reyes Benegas, 18 and Christhyan Ramirez David, 20, both of Baltimore City, MD. Both suspects were arrested for malicious destruction of property and theft. Both were taken to be seen by a Prince George’s County District Court Commissioner and awaiting disposition.

On April 10, 2017 just before 11:00 p.m. yesterday evening, a Maryland state trooper from the Maryland State Police College Park Barrack was patrolling in the area of northbound I-95 at MD 200(Intercounty Connector), Prince George’s County, MD. Trooper First Class Aaron Williams observed what appeared to be a disabled vehicle and stopped to assist. As Tfc. Williams exited his vehicle he further observed there were two vehicles, a black Toyota Matrix and a Honda Civic passenger vehicle with broken glass damage. Upon approaching the vehicles, he initiated conversation with two identified suspects. Through investigative, Tfc. Williams learned that Reyes Benegas and Ramirez David had caused the damage to the Honda Civic and removed property from the vehicle. Further investigation revealed several car parts and other items inside the suspect’s vehicle.

The Maryland State Police would like to remind motorist to please remove their vehicle from the highways as soon as possible should they become disabled. Removing disabled vehicle from the highways reduces traffic collisions, criminal activity and permits emergency vehicle to respond to emergencies promptly.

State Police investigators are asking anyone with additional information come forward. Callers may remain anonymous. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Maryland State Police College Park Barrack at (301) 345-3101.

Man Accused Of Child Abuse Involving Pliers, Needles, Dog Shock Collar Facing Charges

LOWER PROVIDENCE Twp., Pa. (CBS) — A Montgomery County man is facing a long list of charges on allegations he beat and abused his children for years.

According to charging documents, 44-year-old Joseph Myhre, of Greensway Circle in Lower Providence Township, home schooled his two children.

In the documents, police said his 11-year-old daughter told them going back to when she was 4-or-5 years old, her father would hit her on the head with sticks or PVC pipes. He would strangle her and beat her head on the ground until she entered into a “dream state.” The girl said her father would squeeze her fingers with pliers, stick needles in her fingers and toes, and use a dog shock collar that she said would leave burn marks.

The 13-year-old son told investigators that Myhre would kick him the stomach, or hit him on his feet with a stick that would cause him to bleed. According to the documents, the boy also told police Myhre would put the dog shock collar on the back of his leg or on his stomach, then walk around the room acting normal while the boy was being shocked and yelling in pain.

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Report: Mulvaney Will Inform Federal Agencies to Plan on Major Cuts

Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will this week inform federal agencies to plan on major cuts, Axios reports.

President Donald Trump in mid-March unveiled his first budget blueprint, proposing $54 billion in cuts that would slash many domestic programs, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, foreign aid, medical research, help for homeless veterans and community development grants to finance a significant increase in the military and make a down payment on the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

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DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.

Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, 37, of Edgewood, Maryland, died April 8 in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations.

De Alencar was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

For more information regarding Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, media may contact the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Public Affairs Office, 910-432-3383.

Google Expands 'Fact Checking' in News Searches

Google will expand the use of "fact check" tags in its search results — the tech industry's latest effort to combat false and misleading news stories.

People who search for a topic in Google's main search engine or the Google News section will see a conclusion such as "mostly true" or "false" next to stories that have been fact checked.

Google has been working with more than 100 news organizations and fact-checking groups , including The Associated Press, the BBC and NPR. Their conclusions will appear in search results as long as they meet certain formatting criteria for automation.

Google said it expects the ranks of 'compliant' organizations to grow following Friday's announcement.

More here

Obama Official: 'We Always Knew' Assad Still Had Chemical Weapons

An official in the administration of former President Barack Obama admits they "always knew" Syrian President Bashar al Assad still had chemical weapons, despite a 2013 agreement that indicated otherwise, reported The New York Times.

"We always knew we had not gotten everything, that the Syrians had not been fully forthcoming in their declaration," Tony Blinken, a former deputy secretary of state and former deputy national security adviser under Barack Obama, told the Times.

The Obama administration put together the agreement with Russia and Syria, touting the pact as a success at the time. Former Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the agreement in 2014, saying it had resulted in Syria destroying "100 percent" of its chemical agents.

More here

Arson of immigrant-owned store by ‘White America’ leads to black suspect

A black North Carolina man was charged Sunday for allegedly setting a fire at an immigrant-owned grocery store and leaving behind a pro-President Trump note signed “White America.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police arrested Curtis Flournoy, 32, after reviewing surveillance footage from outside the Central Market, a Nepali Indian store, in east Charlotte, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Mr. Flournoy is accused of breaking a window in the front door of the store and throwing a flaming object inside.

“A note was also left at the scene near the door that stated the suspect did not want any refugee business owners and that they would torture the owner if they did not leave and go back to where they came from,” the police department said, a local CBS News affiliate reported. “The suspect signed the letter ‘White America.’”

The note also called President Trump “our nation builder for white America.”

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Rep. Adam Schiff’s Congressional Career Aided by Soros-Financed Groups

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was previously financially aided by the George Soros-financed MoveOn.org to win his Congressional seat.

Schiff was also awarded the Toll Fellowship, which is sponsored by the Council of State Governments, a nonprofit that monitors federal government activities and is heavily financed by Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

The Open Society and Soros-funded groups have additionally supported a number of Schiff’s legislative efforts.

Schiff has been helping to lead the Democrats’ unsubstantiated charges of alleged collusion between President Donald Trump and Moscow.

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Maryland opens registration for medical pot program

WASHINGTON — Maryland’s medical cannabis program took a big step forward Monday as the state opened its registry, allowing the first round of patients to begin submitting applications to potentially receive marijuana from state-licensed dispensaries.

The program’s registry opened Monday morning for patients with last names that begin with the letters A through L.

“We’re doing a phased rollout,” said Shannon Moore, one of the members of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission. “The system is all online.”

Next week, the registry will open only for patients with last names that begin with the letters M through Z. Registration will open for all patients the following week.

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UCLA religion professor attacks Trump and Pence as ‘arrogant Christians in the White House’

A professor who specializes in religious studies at University of California, Los Angeles says President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence represent “troubling trends in American Christianity.”

Professor Carla Pestana of UCLA published “Arrogant Christians In The White House” over the weekend for The Huffington Post, which warns of a future America shaped by the “fundamentalist Christian” views of Mr. Pence and Mr. Trump’s “self-indulgence.”

“Pence adheres to biblical literalism. Put simply, this view asserts that the Bible is a transparent document, one that prescribes specific behavioral guidelines,” Ms. Pestana wrote Saturday. “Its arrogance lies in the hubris of those who believe that only their chosen answers are correct. Its potential to harm others comes when adherents gain political power and force their mandates on nonbelievers. One of the many dangers emanating out of the Trump White House is the power of Pence to impose not his religion but the behaviors his religion dictates onto the rest of us.”

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Be Sure To Hurry On In For These Tremendous Savings!

Welcome to the Big Lots Store In Salisbury.

Wind Farm Prospect Offers To Move Turbines Back Five Miles, Reducing Visibility By 35%

OCEAN CITY — Just one week after Ocean City officials voiced serious concerns about the potential visual impact of a offshore wind farm off the coast, the company that has proposed one of the two projects currently on the table has already agreed in principle to move the first line of turbines back five miles from the resort’s coastline.

Last week, the Mayor and Council voted to send a letter in opposition to US Wind Inc.’s proposal to develop its offshore wind farm with the first line of what could be 187 turbines each measuring over 480 feet tall just 12 miles off the coast of Ocean City. While resort officials did not oppose the project in general, they voiced grave concerns about the relatively close proximity of the first line of turbines and its visual effect on the pristine sightlines along the shoreline and its potential impact on tourism and property values.

With a quick response, US Wind Project Development Director Paul Rich on Monday fired off a letter in response to the Mayor and Council, essentially offering to move the front line of turbines off the resort’s coast back five miles to reduce or perhaps eliminate the potential views of the offshore wind farm from the beach in Ocean City.

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BIPARTISANSHIP ALERT: Public Integrity Act Of 2017

Both Chambers of Maryland General Assembly Vote Unanimously to Approve Most Transformative Ethics Reform Legislation in Nearly Two Decades

“Today is a great day in our historic state capital. I commend Senate President Mike Miller, House Speaker Mike Busch, and the Maryland General Assembly for working with our administration in a bipartisan fashion to unanimously pass the most important and transformative ethics reform legislation in over a decade. Together, we have made major progress in fulfilling our shared obligation to preserve the honor and the foundation of public trust that our proud institutions of government should always command.” - Governor Larry Hogan, April 8, 2017

Governor Hogan Proposed The Public Integrity Act Of 2017 As Part Of His Robust 2017 Legislative Agenda

The Public Integrity Act Of 2017 Bars Members Of The General Assembly And State Officials From Lobbying For One Year After Leaving State Service. “...A former member of the General Assembly may not assist or represent another party for compensation in a matter that is the subject of legislative action for 1 calendar year after the member leaves office; and a former Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, or State Treasurer may not assist or represent another party for compensation in a matter that is the subject of legislative action for 1 calendar year after the official leaves State office.” (“House Bill 879,” Maryland General Assembly, 3/20/17)

Seattle’s Gay Mayor Accused of Sexually Molesting Teens in the 1980s

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, famed as a staunch gay rights advocate and a champion of progressive causes, has been accused of sexually molesting several teenaged boys 30 years ago, reports have revealed.

A trio of men came forward to allege that Murray had sex with them decades ago when they were underage. At least one said he was 15 when the mayor molested him back in the 1980s,according to the Seattle Times.

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More Jobs For Marylanders Act Of 2017

Both Chambers of Maryland General Assembly Vote Overwhelmingly to Approve Legislation to Ensure a Continued, Strong, Thriving Workforce, Without Leaving Any Jurisdiction Behind

“We still have Marylanders who are struggling in parts of our state like Baltimore City, Western Maryland, and the Lower Eastern Shore, where, unfortunately, unemployment is still higher than it is in the rest of the state. Which is why we must come together to enact the Maryland Jobs Initiative, an innovative, bipartisan proposal, which will provide incentives for the creation of thousands of jobs in the places that need them the most.” - Governor Larry Hogan, February 2, 2017

Governor Hogan Proposed The More Jobs For Marylanders Act Of 2017 As Part Of His Robust 2017 Legislative Agenda

The More Jobs For Marylanders Act Of 2017 Provides Tax Credits For Specified Business Entities That Locate Their Businesses In Qualified Target Areas Across The State; Eligible Existing Business Entities In These Target Areas Are Eligible For Tax Credits For New Jobs They Create. “An existing business entity may apply to be certified as a qualified business entity if the existing business entity increases the number of qualified positions as required under subsection (a) of this subsection for an eligible project in a Tier I or Tier II county...”Subject to subsections (d) and (e) of this section, the Department may issue a tax credit certificate to a qualified business entity in an amount not to exceed the amount determined under section (b) (2) of this section. In determining the allocation of the aggregate tax credit amounts available in a fiscal year as provided under subsection (d) of this section, the Department shall give priority to applications for eligible projects in a Tier 1 county, as defined under §6-801 of the Economic Development Article.” (“Senate Bill 317,”Maryland General Assembly, 4/10/17)

Governor Larry Hogan’s Top Legislative Priorities Passed by Maryland General Assembly

Major Jobs Bill, Ethics Reform, and Road Kill Bill Repeal Achieve Final Passage

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Larry Hogan’s top legislative priorities have achieved final passage by the Maryland General Assembly, ensuring that the governor’s proposals to create thousands of new jobs, restore integrity to state government, and move forward with dozens of critical transportation projects across the state will become law. These priority items included the More Jobs for Marylanders Act, the Public Integrity Act, and the Road Kill Bill Repeal.

“Today is a great day for the legislative process and a win for bipartisanship – but most importantly, it is a win for the people of Maryland, who deserve more jobs, improved roads, and the highest level of integrity from their elected officials,” said Governor Hogan. “Creating jobs, building roads, and ensuring ethical and transparent government will always be top priorities of our administration. I want to thank Senate President Mike Miller, Speaker of the House Mike Busch, and all of the members of the Maryland General Assembly who worked with us to achieve these tremendous results for the citizens of our great state.”

The governor’s More Jobs for Marylanders Act continues the administration’s focus on creating jobs and improving the state’s economy. While over 105,000 jobs have been created and employment reduced to 4.2% - the lowest in nearly a decade - since Governor Hogan took office, some regions of the state continue to experience higher unemployment. This legislation will target job creation to the areas that need it the most – such as Western Maryland, Baltimore City, and the Lower Eastern Shore – by incentivizing manufacturers to relocate and expand in these areas. The legislation provides major tax incentives for new manufacturing companies that move into these areas, as well as tax credits for any new jobs created by existing manufacturers.

Attention

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The Minority Report2017 Sine Die EditionGreetings from the 437th Legislative Session! We want to connect with you to keep you informed on caucus initiatives and the latest in Annapolis. Please feel free to share this with friends, family, and colleagues, and on your own social media sites.

2017 Session Comes to an End

Session Successes

House Republican Caucus 2017

The Minority Report
2017 Sine Die Edition

Greetings from the 437th Legislative Session! We want to connect with you to keep you informed on caucus initiatives and the latest in Annapolis. Please feel free to share this with friends, family, and colleagues, and on your own social media sites.