general assembly

Our eighth monthly roundup of candidates for General Assembly is hopefully complete through the June 24 primary. The filing deadline has passed, as has the withdrawal deadline, and the deadline for the major parties to fill open ballot positions. There are more than 540 candidates for 188 seats, yet seven incumbent senators have no opposition at all. Another 43 incumbents are giving up their seats, either retiring or running for other offices.

As legislatures around the country have renewed efforts to restrict abortions, an Anne Arundel County Republican has proposed a Maryland law that would impose a deadline on when a woman could receive an abortion during the course of her pregnancy. But even he doesn’t think the proposal will make it out of committee.

It’s the classic tug of war between emotion and logic, a crusade by legislators in Annapolis to enact punishment on a corporate Holocaust collaborator versus the cold reality that such a move would cost Maryland a new mass-transit line in suburban Washington.

Maryland residents are split on whether or not to support the legalization of marijuana, but do support decriminalizing marijuana, a Goucher poll released Wednesday finds.

Two senators are championing a bill that would allow individuals to petition that their convictions for an array of nonviolent misdemeanor charges eligible be shielded from public scrutiny. Dubbed the Maryland Second Chance Act of 2014, the bill says that following a period of three to five years, depending on the crime, an individual could submit a petition to a court.