Del. Cheryl Glenn

Former state Delegate Cheryl Glenn was sentenced to two years in federal prison Wednesday for accepting nearly $34,000 in bribes in exchange for political favors.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake said during a virtual sentencing hearing she had to balance Glenn’s offense with her personal history of accomplishment and the need for deterrence.

Former state Del. Cheryl Glenn pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal bribery and wire fraud charges. Prosecutors say she accepted more than $33,000 in exchange for political favors. 

Gov. Larry Hogan hopes to increase the penalties for state politicians convicted of corruption. He announced the legislation Tuesday, just weeks after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment of a Baltimore lawmaker for allegedly accepting more than 33 thousand dollars in bribes.

When the General Assembly opens its annual 90-day session Wednesday, Hogan noted, it will be the latest in a string of sessions to start shortly after a House or Senate member faced criminal charges. 

Former state Del. Cheryl Glenn accepted $33,750 in bribes between March 2018 and February 2019 in exchange for supporting several bills in Annapolis, according to criminal charges filed in federal court in July and unsealed Monday.

State Del. Cheryl Glenn resigned Wednesday, effective immediately. Glenn was the chair of the Baltimore City delegation in the House of Delegates and previously led the Legislative Black Caucus in Annapolis.

House Speaker Adrienne Jones announced Glenn’s resignation Thursday morning. Jones said Glenn didn’t give a reason for stepping down.

With the state fighting to cancel its agreement with the developer of State Center, it’s not clear what will eventually replace the current 1950’s-era buildings at the 28-acre state office complex just north of downtown Baltimore. Two competing lawsuits between the state and the developer could take years to wrap up, and until they do, the project is at a standstill.

But when the fight is resolved, members of the surrounding communities want to make sure that they get a vote on what gets built.

In the last State of the State Address of his four-year term, Gov. Larry Hogan called for rising above political discord.

“Instead of becoming more like Washington, let’s send a message to Washington by putting the politics aside and coming together for all Marylanders," he said during Wednesday's speech.

But almost everything about the way the speech was received was partisan, down to the applause, which came almost exclusively from Republicans.

A state-commissioned study released Tuesday offers a list of new, alternative uses for State Center in Midtown Baltimore.

The state office complex has been slated for redevelopment for more than a decade. Community members told a state panel Tuesday afternoon that starting over with new plans disregards what they want for their neighborhoods.

After more than five years of debate in the General Assembly, a bill requiring Maryland businesses to offer paid leave to their employees is one vote away from becoming law after the House of Delegates voted Thursday to override the governor’s veto on the bill.

The bill applies to businesses with at least 15 employees.

On the floor during Thursday’s debate, several Republican women said the bill forces domestic violence victims to reveal private information when they take a day off.

But several Democrats said that’s an inaccurate interpretation of the legislation.

As the General Assembly hurdles toward Monday night’s deadline, one measure that still hangs in the balance would increase the number of business that can get licenses to grow medical marijuana. The bill aims to give more minority-owned businesses a shot at growing or processing the drug.

Maryland’s General Assembly returned to Annapolis last week with a number of issues hanging over from previous legislative sessions. Among them is fixing a medical marijuana program that remains mired in controversy more than two years after it was created and has yet to get off the ground.

Cheryl Glenn, leader of the Legislative Black Caucus and co-author of the bill that created the program, says African Americans are being cut out of that fledgling industry and has vowed changes to get things moving. After all, she says, it could have saved her mother, Natalie M. La Prade, from a lot of pain from kidney cancer in the last months of her life.