Same-Sex Marriage, Redistricting, Water Bill Refunds, and the Baltimore Grand Prix

Thursday, February 23, 2012

No sooner had Governor Martin O’Malley’s legislative redistricting map been made public than the complaints of gerrymandering started. Now, four state senators have come up with a plan they say will take the politics out of redrawing legislative district lines. WYPR’s Joel McCord has more.

After originally planning to debate same-sex marriage yesterday, the State Senate has opted to postpone arguments until today.Opponents of Governor Martin O'Malley's same-sex marriage bill asked for the delay, to give them time to prepare amendments to the bill. The measure's supporters hope that no amendments will be approved, so that the bill doesn't get kicked back to the House of Delegates -- where it was narrowly approved last week. Debate in the Senate's now set to start this morning... with a final vote possible as soon as tonight, and expected before Friday is over (via the Baltimore Sun, marylandreporter.com, the Daily Record, and the Gazette). 

Baltimore's Department of Public Works is sending out more than $4.2-million worth of refunds, after an audit showed that about 38-thousand homes in Baltimore City and Baltimore County had been overcharged for years at a time. DPW says that the current billing system simply can't be fixed -- and that an overhaul could take three or four years(via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

It's official: the Baltimore Grand Prix will take place again this year. Yesterday, the city's Board of Estimates approved a contract with operator Downforce Racing to handle the street race. The vote was three to two, with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her two appointees on the board voting for the deal. City Comptroller Joan Pratt and City Council President Jack Young voted against it (via our wire service, the Baltimore Sun, and the Baltimore Business Journal; our Senior News Analyst Fraser Smith examines the Grand Prix in his weekly essay). 

A new report says that median wages in Maryland are failing to keep up with the increasing costs of basic needs. The 2012 Self-Sufficiency Standard says median wages have risen about 25% since 2001, while the costs of basic needs have gone up more than twice that: nearly 54% (via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

Attorney General Doug Gansler is challenging Google's new privacy policy -- and attorneys general from 35 other states are joining him. Gansler has sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page outlining a number of concerns about the privacy changes, which take effect March 1st. Gansler believes the changes amount to an invasion of consumers' privacy... and worries that they could heighten the risk of identity theft and fraud. Google has been given a week to reply to the concerns (via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

The Baltimore County school system is revamping its student discipline code, in an effort to reduce the number of suspensions (via the Baltimore Sun).

On-street parking in downtown Ocean City is now going to set you back a little bit more... after the town council approved raising the price at street meters from 1 dollar an hour to a dollar fifty an hour. The new prices affect meters between the Inlet and 10th street. The move is expected to bring in half a million dollars a year -- the money will go to repair Ocean City's streets (via the Daily Times).