General Assembly

The Maryland GOP elected a new chair last weekend. We ask Diana Waterman of the Eastern Shore about her plans for the party after a General Assembly session that was tough for Republicans.

Then, on the eve of Baltimore Civic Work’s 20th anniversary, we speak with co-founders Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Dana Stein about the service organization's past and future.

April 17, 2013

April 9, 2013

Lawmakers are heading home after three months in Annapolis.  While there, they created a gas tax, banned the death penalty, and created new gun laws. We talk with two reporters about the 2013 legislative session.

We visit the oldest continually operating blacksmith shop in the country, G. Krug and Son, located in downtown Baltimore.

Melinda O'Neal has been directing Baltimore's Handel Choir since 2004.  Now, as she finishes up her final season, we talk about her tenure as conductor.

A sweeping gun reform legislation that received national attention, repeal of the death penalty, a significant increase in the gasoline tax and billion-dollar funding for Baltimore City school construction were the big pieces of legislation in the 2013 General Assembly session. We wrap up with Herb Smith, political science professor McDaniel College; Barry Rascovar, communications consultant and political writer whose column appears in the Community Times; Karen Hosler, WYPR Statehouse reporter; and Sen.

This morning the House of Delegates begins debating Governor O'Malley's gun control bill.  As it stands, the measure would ban assault-style weapons and strengthen the requirements to buy a handgun in Maryland.  We talk with two of the delegates involved in the debate:  Luiz Simmons, Democrat of central Montgomery County, and Mike Smigiel, Republican of the Upper Shore.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts and State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein are Baltimore's highest ranking law enforcement officials. They’re here to tell us their strategies for reducing crime in the city, including a new system for witnesses to identify suspects.

It's Julia Marciari-Alexander's first day as director of the Walters Art Museum. She’ll give Tom Hall her impressions of Baltimore’s art scene.

A performance from Deerbeard, the Baltimore band behind next Monday night's world premiere of "General Assembly: The Musical."

UPDATE: April Fool's! Deerbeard--some of you who contacted us will be extremely happy to know--does not exist. It is the folly of Maryland Morning producers Lawrence Lanahan, Matt Purdy, and Jamyla Kay.

February 27, 2013

The full interview

Should big, rural counties get more early voting centers?

Governor O'Malley's proposed 2013 budget is due on Friday.  Revenue forecasts are higher this year, but the state transportation fund is in need of money for new projects.  We talk with UMBC political science professor Roy Meyers about what will get funded--and what might get ignored.

The 433rd Maryland General Assembly gets underway today. Last year, lawmakers wrestled with some hot-button issues: same-sex marriage, gambling expansion; lawmakers had to come back for two special sessions to settle everything. Will this year prove calmer than the last?

Web Extra: John Wagner on whether there's the will to make it more difficult to bring issues to referendum

Web Extra: Wood and Wagner on how much influence O'Malley will have on this legislative session