Free Republic

A new Maryland bill would let counties require each restaurant to have a staff member trained on food allergens, ready to advise customers. Is the measure needed? County governments may soon have authority to make restaurants accommodate customers with food allergies. A new bill would let counties require each restaurant to have a staff member trained on food allergens, ready to advise customers, reports WJLA TV. The bill would also require restaurants statewide to encourage customers to notify servers about their food allergies. The Senate passed the measure 33-14 Monday evening. A similar bill is pending in a House committee....

One of the architectural quirks of certain cities on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. is the solo row house. Standing alone, in some of the worst neighborhoods, these nineteenth century structures were once attached to similar row houses that made up entire city blocks. Time and major demographic changes have resulted in the decay and demolition of many such blocks. Occasionally, one house is spared - literally cut off from its neighbors and left to the elements with whatever time it has left. Still retaining traces of its former glory, the last house standing is often still occupied.

Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) of Maryland signed into law on May 16 a measure intended to control the sale of so-called assault weapons, which have been involved in incidents such as the mass killing at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown CT in December in 2012. The measure casts a broad net over a variety of weapons, both pistols and long guns, that have at least two of three characteristics – folding stock, grenade launcher or flash suppressor. Firearms having any two of these characteristics, therefore, qualify as an “assault weapon” under provisions of the law. Specific pistols, rifles...

Same sex couples in Maryland rang in the New Year by making history. Thanks to a change in state law; those couples are now able to legally marry for the first time. Many started their new lives with their partners with a special ceremony at Baltimore's City Hall. In Baltimore, kisses sealed the commitments as same sex couples took their first opportunity to marry legally in Maryland. Many of the love birds threw out the idea of long range plans, saying they couldn’t wait another moment to say ‘I do’.... ... magical day was made even more memorable thanks to...

It snowed, but they still came. A heavy snowfall blanketed a global warming protest outside the State House in Annapolis this morning, but it did not dampen the shouts of about 400 activists who urged lawmakers to pass the nation's toughest greenhouse gas control law. As supporters waved signs, chanted and banged drums, 18 legislators walked down a symbolic green carpet to sign up as co-sporsors to a bill that would mandate that all businesses in Maryland cut emissions of global warming pollution by 25 percent by 2020 and 90 percent by 2050. "We are going to pass this bill...

A surge of outrage is developing in Maryland, where the governing council in Montgomery County is planning to vote on a plan to open the doors of its public restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities to those who "perceive" they are that gender. "From what I'm reading, the person with the gender identify confusion is being protected by what she or he FEELS he or she is. Thus, we'd have to protect this person's gender based upon what is in his or her MIND. So, if I'm in a bathroom all by myself late at night, and a man walks...

BALTIMORE - Gov. Martin O’Malley and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine called on Congress Wednesday to pass legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions, arguing the health of the Chesapeake Bay is at stake. “We now know with certainty that human activities — including coastal development, the burning of fossil fuels and increasing greenhouse gas emissions — are contributing to both the causes and consequences of climate change,” O’Malley told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. But his testimony did not go over well with critics of the Intercounty Connector — an 18-mile toll road that would connect Montgomery and...

Governor favors linking rate to cost of road work Maryland's gasoline tax would go up in 18 months -- and possibly sooner -- if Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to add $400 million a year in transportation funding is approved by the General Assembly. Although an immediate increase in the gas tax is not part of the $2 billion revenue plan the Democratic governor has been rolling out over the past week, he said Monday that he will push to tie future increases to the rising cost of road and bridge construction materials. At present rates of inflation, that would average...

In another apparent effort to prepare Marylanders for looming tax increases, Gov. Martin O'Malley released a recorded statement to radio stations suggesting corporations and higher-income earners will be among those asked to pay more. "When given a choice between decline and progress, the people of Maryland always choose to make progress," O'Malley (D) says in the message, which runs more than two minutes and was sent to more than 50 radio stations, an aide said. "Together we can overcome the deficit in our path, and we can get our fiscal house in order in a way that improves our state...

ANNAPOLIS -- From the soap used to wash dishes to the cars driven to work, Marylanders will feel large and small effects from the recent legislative session some have called the most environmental in years. Democrats this year celebrated their stronger grip on state government and their return to the governor's mansion with a spate of earth-friendly bills that became the dominant theme of the session. Lawmakers tightened emissions standards on new cars. They slashed the amount of water-polluting phosphorus allowed in dishwashing detergent. They ended the commercial harvest of diamondback terrapins and set new goals for solar energy. Oysters...

ANNAPOLIS -- Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown yesterday said it's "probably certain" that Gov. Martin O'Malley will convene a special session of the Democratic-controlled legislature to address the likely closure of two Prince George's County hospitals. "It's probably certain that in order to complete this, the governor would have to call us back into special session, which is unfortunate because there's literally a daily cost" of running a special session, said Mr. Brown, a Democrat. The nonprofit agency that manages the hospital system was expected to vote Monday whether to shut down the hospital system, which includes Prince George's Hospital...

Maryland is poised to become the first state to agree to bypass the electoral college and effectively elect U.S. presidents by national popular vote under legislation moving briskly toward the desk of Gov. Martin O'Malley (D). But the bill comes with a big caveat: It would not take effect until enough other states agree to do the same. "It's a long way from home," said Senate President Thomas Mike V. Miller Jr. (D-Calvert). "I don't know if it will happen in my lifetime."