Tag: maryland

Maryland Democrats Pass “Sleep Tax” – Is A Thinking Tax Next?

Maryland lawmakers are scrambling to address a staggering $3.3 billion budget shortfall.

To close the gap, far-left Governor Wes Moore and activist Democrats have proposed a wave of tax hikes that would hit Marylanders’ wallets the hardest amid a deepening affordability crisis. 

With power bills already skyrocketing to record highs for many folks due to backfiring and disastrous green energy policies, these same progressive lawmakers are creating even more nightmares for taxpayers—this time by proposing a tax that effectively targets sleep.

A small but vocal group of conservative Republicans in the Maryland House of Delegates were stunned on Friday when far-left Democrats pushed through HB 858—a bill that establishes a mattress stewardship program under the guise of promoting safe disposal and recycling. This is another tax on Marylanders as the state sinks into financial turmoil and elevated credit downgrade risks. The new 6% tax on mattresses is on top of the existing 6% sales tax. 

Del. Mark N. Fisher (R-Calvert), one of the leaders of the Maryland House Freedom Caucus, blasted the “Sleep Tax” and asked if there would be a “snoring surcharge.”

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Disney’s Kermit the Frog Invited as Commencement Speaker at University of Maryland

Famed Sesame Street puppet Kermit the Frog has been scheduled as the 2025 commencement speaker for the University of Maryland, reports say.

Jim Henson’s popular puppet character debuted during a local TV series in Washington D.C. in 1955 and later on Henson’s popular kids’ show, Sesame Street — before breaking out as the star of The Muppet Show. Henson, who died in 1990 of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, graduated the university in 1960.

The university published a biography of their puppet speaker, claiming Kermit is an “environmental advocate, a Peabody Award Winner, best-selling author, and international superstar,” according to CBS News.

“I am thrilled that our graduates and their families will experience the optimism and insight of the world-renowned Kermit the Frog at such a meaningful time in their lives,” UMD President Darryll Pines said in a statement. “Our pride in Jim Henson knows no bounds, and it is an honor to welcome Kermit the Frog to our campus, 65 years after Mr. Henson graduated from the University of Maryland.”

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C-32 Forced To Delay Landing After F-16s Scrambled To Intercept Drone Near Capital

AC-32A VIP transport jet on a special air mission (SAM) had to delay landing at Joint Base Andrews on Saturday because two U.S. Air National Guard F-16C Vipers and a U.S. Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter were scrambled to intercept a “potential drone” flying near the capital region, according to Air Traffic Control (ATC) audio posted online the internet. The object was observed over Freeway Airport located about 10 miles north of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, according to that audio. The incident began around 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday.

The C-32A was using callsign SAM47, which makes it clear neither POTUS nor VPOTUS were on board, although it was likely operating in support of the President’s movements to the West Coast.

“You can expect some delay, I have a scramble in progress,” an ATC operator told the pilots of SAM47, according to the audio posted by a user named TEEJ on the metabunk.com website. Our friend @Thenewarea51 on X also posted a snippet of the conversation, along with flight tracking data that showed C-32A’s flight path.

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Maryland Police ‘Unable To Assist’ With Inauguration Security Due To ‘Use Of Force’ Policy

Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) cited recent changes in Maryland’s use-of-force policy for why multiple law enforcement agencies were reported as being unable to assist with security for the 2025 presidential inauguration ceremonies.

Just days before the inauguration, seven Maryland-based police departments confirmed to The Daily Caller that they will not be working with MPD, despite having assisted with security in the nation’s capital in previous years. At least one department, the Montgomery County Police Department, revealed it was due to issues with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the departments. Some of these departments, including those in Anne Arundel County and Prince George’s County, as well as Maryland State Police, said they would be assisting the United States Capitol Police instead.

“Due to differences in the interpretation of Maryland’s recent legislation on Use of Force compared to the District of Columbia’s Use of Force policies, some Maryland agencies are unable to assist MPD directly for the inauguration. However, many of these agencies are contributing to the event’s security efforts through agreements with the United States Capitol Police,” Washington, D.C. police told The Daily Caller in a statement.

Maryland state legislators passed new restrictions on police use-of-force and repealed the nation’s first Police Bill of Rights in April 2021 following the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd. The sweeping police reform bill stipulates force can be used only to prevent “an imminent threat of physical injury” to a person or to “effectuate a legitimate law enforcement objective.” It also upgraded the standard for using force from “reasonable” to “necessary and proportional.”

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Real Truth About Maryland’s Blueprint: Expensive Ineffective Reform Designed By Bureaucrats

It’s the same old song and dance from the education establishment. Design a ridiculously expensive, cumbersome reform to save public education, the same public education they ruined. Invite politicians, elite college professors, corporate CEO’s and other big name policy makers to draft the reform. Sprinkle in a token few “educators” and tell them all to “shoot for the moon” when writing the reform. Pretend that funding is unlimited. Throw in every unproven pet educational program du jour. Then, convince lawmakers that the reform as written is the only way to assure the successful futures of our children.

Never ONCE during the entire process think about nuts and bolts of the reform and whether it will actually work or not. When the reform fails, write articles on how it’s not that the reform itself that is flawed, but the “unrealistic goals, insufficient management, and inadequate funding” of the program that are lacking, with strong emphasis on funding being the blame.

And so here Maryland is in year five of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education leviathan spending bill and local governments and the state are discovering that, surprise, it’s not working and it’s not sustainable. What do the creators of the bill do?

They shift the blame off the people who created the mess and on to those who need to implement and pay for the mess.

In his article in MARYLAND MATTERS, December 16, 2024, Kalman Hettleman, one of the members of the Kirwan Commission who developed the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, bemoans the fact that the Blueprint has become a huge problem for state and local educators and education agencies as they fight to fund the full implementation.

Hettleman is a renowned “expert in education” and has a resume that includes being a past member of the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education (Kirwan Commission), member of Baltimore City school board, deputy mayor of Baltimore City, Maryland secretary of human resources, and Baltimore City director of social services. He had many other government positions in his career*. He is also the author of two books and numerous articles on public education. He was never a teacher. However, he has written several education books including this one:

It’s the Classroom, Stupid: A Plan to Save America’s Schoolchildren (New Frontiers in Education): Hettleman, Kalman: 9781607095491: Amazon.com: Books

From the summary of this book on Amazon:

In this book, Hettleman presents a bold, unconventional plan to rescue our nation’s schoolchildren from a failing public education system. The plan reflects the author’s rare fusion of on-the-ground experience as school board member, public administrator and political activist and exhaustive policy research. The causes of failure, Hettleman shows, lie in obsolete ideas and false certainties that are ingrained in a trinity of dominant misbeliefs. First, that educators can be entrusted on their own to do what it takes to reform our schools. Second, that we need to retreat from the landmark federal No Child Left Behind Act and restore more local control. And third, that politics must be kept out of public education.

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‘My mouth dropped’: Drone sightings rattle Maryland residents

Drone concerns are mounting across the country after multiple sightings in New Jersey for the past few weeks. It’s even led to New Jersey lawmakers calling for a limited ban on drone flights until the public receives answers about the sightings.

Now, there have also been sightings in Bowie, Maryland.

“We see at least three to five different drones in the sky,” said Autumn Stasulli, who captured videos of drones outside her Bowie home. “I was shocked. My mouth dropped.”

The discovery came moments after Stasulli said she and her sister were talking about another pair of drone sightings in New Jersey.

She said she’s lived in Bowie her whole life and had never seen a sight like this.

“It was very unsettling afterwards, because I’m like ‘Oh my goodness. It’s happening here in Bowie, Maryland,’” Stasulli said. “Why Bowie? Bowie is such a quiet, quiet town.”

After several sightings reported throughout New Jersey, House members on the Homeland Security subcommittee questioned FBI leaders on Tuesday about the drone sightings.

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Ex-Maryland teacher sentenced to 30 years for having sex with student — but will only spend one year behind bars

A disgraced Maryland teacher who had sex with a teenage student nearly two dozen times was slapped with a 30-year prison sentence — but will only serve one year behind bars for the crime. 

Melissa Marie Curtis, 32, was handed the three-decade sentence with all but 12 months suspended for engaging in sexual acts with the 14-year-old while she was a teacher at Montgomery Village Middle School in 2015, Fox 5 DC reported.

Curtis — who was 22 at the time — had sexual intercourse with the minor more than 20 times between January and May 2015 — with illicit trysts occurring within the school, her car and several residences, including her mother’s home in Montgomery County, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.

The convicted perv also gave the eighth-grader alcohol and marijuana, the Montgomery County Police Department said.

Prosecutors said the pair were often left alone together after the young teen volunteered for an after-school program Curtis headed, according to court docs.

Police launched their investigation in October 2023 when the victim came forward with the abuse allegations.

Curtis, of Upper Marlboro, was a teacher for approximately two years and had also taught at Lakelands Park Middle School, cops said.

The sicko teacher turned herself in to police on Nov. 7, 2023, and was charged with sexual abuse of a minor and multiple counts of third- and fourth-degree sexual offenses. 

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Female, black applicants who failed Maryland State Police tests likely to receive $2.75M in back pay from discrimination suit

The Maryland Department of State Police agreed to settle a Department of Justice lawsuit to the tune of $2.75 million, which will provide back pay to female and black applicants who failed the physical fitness and written tests.

The physical fitness exam, called the Functional Fitness Assessment Test, required applicants to complete 18 push-ups in one minute, 27 sit-ups in one minute, run 1.5 miles within 15 minutes and 20 seconds, and reach approximately 1.5 inches past their toes while seated. Candidates were allowed to take the test up to three times in one year.

“The rate at which female applicants passed the FFAT at least once is statistically significantly lower than the rate at which male applicants passed the FFAT at least once; and the female applicant pass rate is less than 80% of the male applicant pass rate,” the complaint read.

The written exam, the Police Officer Selection Test, included four components: mathematics, reading comprehension, grammar, and report writing skills. To pass, candidates had to achieve an aggregate score of at least 70% on all sections combined and minimally 70% on reading comprehension, grammar, and report writing skills. There was no minimum required score for the math component. Candidates could take the test four times within a year.

The lawsuit said that roughly 91% of white and 71% of black applicants passed at least once.

The lawsuit claimed that both the FFAT and the POST, which are used by MDSP to screen trooper applicants, are “not job related or consistent with business necessity.”

The DOJ argued that MDSP’s screening “results in a disparate impact” on female and black candidates.

“MDSP’s use of the POST has disproportionately excluded African-American applicants, and its use of the FFAT has disproportionately excluded female applicants, from employment as troopers,” the lawsuit stated.

MDSP was accused of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

On Wednesday, the DOJ announced that the MDSP has agreed to settle the lawsuit.

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Frederick Becomes Largest Municipality in Maryland to Approve Non-Citizen Voting

The city of Frederick, Maryland, has granted non-citizens the right to vote in local elections.

The move by the city makes Frederick the largest municipality in the state to allow non-citizens to vote.

On Thursday night, the Board of Alderman voted 4-1 to grant green card holders and illegal immigrants the right to vote in local elections.

Under the new rule, illegal immigrants and green card holders must only prove they reside in Frederick to vote.

The move by the Alderman board comes after receiving pressure from the ACLU and illegal immigrants residing in Frederick.

WUSA 9 reported that the new voting laws will allow nearly 6,400 non-citizens to vote in local elections.

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HERE WE GO: Voters in Montgomery County Receive Ballots with Incorrect Names

Here we go.

Voters in Montgomery County, Maryland received sample ballots with incorrect names.

According to WTOP, the Montgomery County’s Board of Elections sent 132,217 ballots to voters in the 8th Congressional District and many of them were surprised to see they were incorrectly labeled.

An official with the Montgomery BOE said an issue with the spreadsheet used to print the names and addresses led to the errors.

It is unclear how many voters received ballots with the wrong name.

Every voter in the district was emailed a digital version of their sample ballot.

How convenient!

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