Friday, May 18, 2012
Ruling stems from divorce case filed by a couple married in California in 2008.
UPDATED (5:12 p.m.)—Same-sex marriages legally performed out of state must be recognized by Maryland Courts, according to a decision issued Friday by Maryland’s highest court. “Maryland courts will withhold recognition of a valid foreign marriage only if that marriage is ‘repugnant’ to State public policy,” wrote Court of Appeals Judge Glenn Harrell Jr. in the 7-0 decision. Legal experts and Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler said the decision has both immediate and long-term effects—even as the state moves toward a possible referendum on the recently passed law allowing same-sex marriage in the state. Gansler, who in 2010 issued what he called “a forecast” opinion predicting the court would ultimately recognize out-of-state same-…
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Governor calls budget package "good for all Marylanders." Republicans say burden to local governments may force county governments to increase taxes.
The Maryland House of Delegates gave final approval Wednesday to a package of three bills that increases taxes on some state residents, shifts part of teacher pensions to local governments and undoes the so-called "doomsday budget." The votes Wednesday afternoon capped the three-day special session called by Gov. Martin O'Malley in order to override more than $500 million in cuts made in a budget passed in early April. The Senate approved the same three bills Tuesday. As part of the package, legislators approved by a vote of 86-51 what amounts to a 50-50 split of teacher pension costs with local governments. The split will be phased in over the next four years beginning July 1 with the new budget year. That bill also includes a doubling of…
At the end of a Tuesday night Annapolis Housing Authority meeting, Snowden accused the newspaper of unfair and erroneous coverage.
Carl Snowden, the beleaguered civil rights director for the Maryland Attorney General's Office, implied that he would pursue legal action against The Capital at an Annapolis Housing Authority meeting Tuesday night. Snowden is also the chairman of the Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners. The Capital journalist Elisha Sauers writes that Snowden delivered an unexpected 20-minute tirade against the newspaper, which he reportedly accused of providing unfair and inaccurate coverage of him. "When I see a newspaper recklessly print information without checking the facts … I move aggressively, and I use the courts," Snowden said at the meeting, according to Sauers' article. Tom Marquardt, editor and publisher of The Capital, told Patch that …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Protestors argued that pit bulls are being unfairly targeted by the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Annapolis resident Stehle Harris is afraid she won't have a home. As the owner of a bull terrier, Harris said the recent Maryland Court of Appeals opinion that pit bulls and pit bull crossbreeds are dangerous could lead to a slippery slope. The opinion also states that landlords can prohibit the dogs from their properties. "I think pit bulls capacity to do damage is no greater than a chihuahua," she said. "I'm more apprehensive about smaller dogs." Harris was one of a group of Marylanders protesting the court's opinion at Lawyer's Mall in Annapolis on Tuesday afternoon. Erin Harty, of Baltimore, said Harris' fears aren't unfounded. As a volunteer at Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, she said the center is already being …
The schools superintendent rails against the county executive in a speech at the second budget hearing.
Hundreds of parents and teachers raised their voices in support of a fully funded school system at the Anne Arundel County budget hearing on Monday night. An estimated 800 people filled the auditorium at Old Mill High School with applause after dozens of parents, including several from Severna Park, testified before the County Council during the second hearing on the budget for fiscal year 2013. The County Council holds the purse strings for the school system, which takes up $572 million of the county's proposed $1.2 billion budget. Most who testified on Monday implored council members to fully fund the school budget, but had some additional projects in mind for their local schools. Many speakers requested that the council continue to …
Monday, May 14, 2012
Now is the chance to speak up about the county's budget for the coming year.
The second public hearing on Anne Arundel County's fiscal year 2013 budget—which includes the school system's budget—will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at Old Mill High School. Sign-ups to speak at the public hearing will begin at 6 p.m. The members of the County Council will be present to hear testimony on the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Later this month, they will be reviewing and voting on the operating budget, which weighs in at $1,243,571,900 (see attached PDF). The first public hearing, held May 7, brought out many Severna Park High School parents asking to secure funding for a new school. The second hearing is expected to draw parents from other schools that need renovated or replaced. Much of the controversy over the …
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Funding a replacement for Severna Park High School is within the proposed budget, and parents asked that it stay there.
Supporters of a new Severna Park High School (SPHS) dominated the first public hearing for the county's budget for fiscal year 2013, which starts July 1. At one point during Wednesday’s budget hearing in the Anne Arundel County Council’s chambers, a Severna Park mother asked the audience to stand if they were in favor of a new high school. Nearly everyone in the room got out of their chairs and applauded together. “Okay, so just about everyone in the room,” said Councilman Dick Ladd (R-5th District). For many, ensuring county funding for a replacement to SPHS would be the fulfillment of a promise not kept during last year’s budget season. During the final hours of budget deliberations in May 2011, funding for the project was cut out of the…
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
In an interview on ABC News, the president says he supports same-sex marriage. The issue is likely to go to referendum in Maryland this fall.
President Barack Obama picked the day after a decisive vote in North Carolina to announce that his "evolution" on the issue of same-sex marriage was complete—he now supports it. In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Obama said: I have to tell you that over the course of several years, as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage—at a …
Plan to fix "Doomsday Budget" includes $247 million in tax increases and elimination of exemptions for single filers earning $100,000 or more and joint filers earning $150,000 or more.
UPDATE (5:59 p.m.)—Some Maryland residents will pay more taxes in the coming year under a plan worked out between Gov. Martin O'Malley and legislative leaders. O'Malley, accompanied by House Speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller, announced the nearly $35.8 billion plan during a Wednesday morning news conference in Annapolis to discuss the upcoming special session. "To leave this budget incomplete, to leave this budget as it stands right now, would damage the very forward motion that all of us, together, have worked so hard to achieve for our state," O'Malley said. "Progress is a choice," O'Malley said. "Job creation is a choice. Building America's number one schools, making a college education affordable, …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The old rules allowed for an ice skating rink on open space, but not baseball fields.
The way open space in Anne Arundel County is treated will change after new rules were approved Monday night by the County Council, amid jeers from the audience. The sponsor of the open space bill, Councilman Jamie Benoit (D-4th District) of Crownsville, argued that the current rules governing open space in the county don’t make sense. After years of changes, Benoit said the rules had become a patchwork that allow for some uses but not others. Under the old rules, one could build an ice skating rink or a county wastewater treatment facility on open space—but not a baseball field. Golf was the only permitted activity on grass. "Our code as it's currently drafted creates these crazy results," Benoit said during a hearing in March. "You can …
anthrogirl
10:19 pm on Saturday, May 19, 2012
@Elizabeth. The bible is not the best document to look at for moral guidance in a literal sense. Here's a quote from Bishop Spong. "The Bible has been used for centuries by Christians as a weapon of control. To read it literally is to believe in a three-tiered universe, to condone slavery, to treat women as inferior creatures, to believe that sickness is caused by God's punishment and that mental… more ›