Transportation Funding, Capital Punishment, Bartlett On The "Fiscal Cliff," Sparrows Point, and Another Lawsuit Facing AA County Executive Leopold

Transportation funding was the topic of discussion in Annapolis yesterday... and what could happen in the year 2018 if more money cannot be found. That's when budget analysts say there won't be enough cash in Maryland's transportation trust fund to pay for anything but maintaining existing roads. At a summit yesterday, transportation advocates called for higher gas taxes, or for higher tolls, or for some other mechanism that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation funding. Last year, Governor Martin O'Malley proposed applying the state's sales tax to gasoline, but the idea didn't go anywhere in the legislature. Transportation funding is likely to be a focus of the 2013 General Assembly session, but O'Malley isn't yet saying what his proposals will be (via our wire service, the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post).  

Another issue that could be raised during the upcoming session is the death penalty; Governor O'Malley recently said he'll decide "soon" whether he'll push for its repeal in Maryland next year... and this morning, O'Malley's meeting with the president of the NAACP, which has launched a nationwide campaign to eliminate capital punishment (via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold is facing yet another lawsuit, this one filed by the ACLU. The Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union claims Leopold compiled a secret "enemies list" on his political opponents (via our wire service and the Baltimore Sun).

Hopes the Sparrows Point Steel Mill will ever reopen dimmed yesterday, with the news that the most newest and valuable piece of the plant has been sold to an out-of-state company (via the Baltimore Sun).

After losing the congressional seat he held for 20 years, Representative Roscoe Bartlett would have preferred to just fade off into the sunset. But, no. He's got to stick around Washington waiting for a budget deal he's pretty sure won't come on his watch. WYPR's Karen Hosler found Bartlett counting down the minutes... and filed this report.

Baltimore lawyer, political strategist and historian Larry Gibson speaks tonight at the Pratt library about the making of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. WYPR’s Senior News Analyst Fraser Smith previews the book in his weekly essay.

Baltimore's ethics board is calling for stricter oversight of the free tickets to events at First Mariner Arena that go to the office of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (via the Baltimore Sun).

The Port of Baltimore says more than a million cruise passengers have sailed from the terminal since voyages began in 2006. More than a quarter of a million people took cruises from the Port this year alone. Last year, Baltimore was ranked eleventh for cruise passengers among all U.S. ports -- and number five for cruise ports on the East Coast (via our wire service and the Baltimore Business Journal).