Policy

House Speaker John Boehner says there is no easy way to stop the budget cuts -- known as the “sequester” -- that began taking effect Friday, and he voiced uncertainty about how Washington can solve the fiscal problems that have consumed the nation’s politics for more than two years. Sequester threatens nearly 50,000 jobs and many programs in Maryland. Andrea Seabrook, former NPR congressional correspondent and now the host of her podcast, DecodeDC, explains how this whole thing began and how it might end.

The General Assembly is considering legislation that would raise Maryland’s minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10 by 2015. President Obama wants to see the national rate at $9. But would raising the minimum have adverse effects on the nation's economy? Our guests: Sen.

The series of federal budget cuts known as sequester are set to  begin on Friday effecting millions of Americans and threatening the jobs of nearly 50-thousand Maryland residents. We discuss the scope of sequester with our guests: Melissa Deckman, chair and professor of Political Science and the Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs at Washington College and Barry Rascovar political columnist for the Gazette and a communications consultant.

Sweeping gun-control legislation faces a battle in the Maryland Senate while the House of Delegates launches hearings on an assault-rifle ban, limitations on ammunition and the licensing of handgun owners. We continue our post-Newtown discussions with Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research and one of the nation’s leading experts on firearms. He has briefed Maryland lawmakers on his research on illegal gun sales, and best ways to keep guns away from criminals and to reduce violence.

February 27, 2013

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is rolling out a ten-year plan to keep Baltimore financially solvent over the next ten years. The plan includes a trash pick-up fee, city pension reform, and a reduction in the property tax.

Following a consultant’s report that forecast a grim financial future for the city, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake rolled out a plan of bold reforms that she says will bring stability to city government and make Baltimore more attractive as a place to live and do business. The plan includes proposals for trash fees, lowering the city's property tax rate, getting city employes to contribute more to their pensions and firefighters to work longer hours. Ryan O'Doherty, the mayor's chief of communications and policy, answers listeners questions.

Analysis of the first address of President Obama's second term with Max Hilaire, associate professor and chair of political science at Morgan State University; Barry Rascovar, political columnist for The Gazette; and Heather Harris, associate professor of business communications at Stevenson University and co-editor of "The Obama Effect."

February 13, 2013

Erskine Bowles has drawn more national attention as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, otherwise known as Simpson-Bowles Commission, than he used to attract as President Clinton’s chief of staff, or before that, as head of the Small Business Administration. 

Governor O’Malley has proposed one of the most aggressive gun reform packages in the nation, prompting hundreds of protestors to turn out for a hearing on them last week in Annapolis. In another of our series on guns in the wake of the Newtown massacre, we return to the debate on the governor’s proposals with Matt Daley, lobbyist for the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association, and Casey Anderson, spokesman for Maryland Against Gun Violence.

February 12, 2013

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake delivered the annual State of the City address yesterday afternoon at City Hall. Her message was simple: "We cannot build the foundation of a growing city on the mud of a fiscal swamp. The status quo is unacceptable, and the price of inaction is clear. We must change to grow."