Free Republic

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the longest serving House Democrat, will not seek re-election in 2026 and retire after serving more than 44 years in Congress. “I did not want to be one of those members who clearly stayed, outstayed his or her ability to do the job,” Hoyer said in an interview Wednesday with the Washington Post. Hoyer, 86, plans to formally announce his retirement plans Thursday on the House floor. The Maryland Democrat is one of more than 40 House members who have opted to depart the lower chamber by the start of 2027. Hoyer’s district, southeastern Maryland’s 5th...

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — A 13-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, in October has been found. According to a post from the Rockcastle County Sheriff's Office, 13-year-old Wynter Wagoner was last seen on Oct. 14. Officials posted a month later, announcing that they were continuing to look for Wagoner, working with Kentucky State Police, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals. On Dec. 27, Montgomery County, Maryland, police announced that Wagoner had been found. MCPD said that Wagoner was found in a home in Silver Spring, Maryland, which is just outside of Washington, D.C. Officers...

A federal judge ruled Monday to keep a temporary order in place, preventing Trump officials from re-detaining illegal Salvadoran immigrant and alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. “U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said she was concerned the administration might try to take Abrego back into custody ‘in the middle of the night’ before she could take steps to ensure due process in his case, and she dressed down a Justice Department lawyer for repeated misrepresentations by the U.S. government,” The Washington Post reported. “Once again, I’m making a finding that these representations, which are misrepresentations, are in bad faith,” she...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland will create a commission to study potential reparations for slavery after lawmakers voted Tuesday to override a veto by Gov. Wes Moore — currently the nation’s only Black governor — that disappointed many fellow Democrats. Moore said in his veto letter in May that it was a difficult decision to veto the bill, which was a priority of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. But he wrote there has been enough study of the legacy of slavery, and it was now time to “focus on the work itself” to address it. “Now is the time...

Maryland will launch a study to analyze the economic impacts of climate change to determine the costs associated with storm damage and health outcomes. The move is part of the Moore-Miller administration's strategic approach to investing in a clean energy economy and modernizing the state's energy infrastructure. "While the federal government has spent the past year rolling back climate protections and driving up energy costs, Maryland is taking a responsible step toward understanding the true price tag of climate change," Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. "This study will give us a clear, data-driven look at the real burden...

A Vietnamese mother and business owner whose deportation sparked liberal outrage has an extensive criminal record, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Melissa Tran, 43, has criminal convictions including grand larceny, multiple counts of forgery and fraud, DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. The mom-of-four is the owner of Nail Palace and Spa, a nail salon in Hagerstown, Maryland where she had become a pillar of the community. Tran arrived in the US on a Green Card at the age of 11 after fleeing from Vietnam in 1993. But her world came crashing down when she was unexpectedly detained...

Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday launched a redistricting commission to consider whether to redraw the state's congressional lines ahead of next year's midterms, as other states redo their districts. The launch comes the same day that California voters are casting their ballots on whether the Golden State should participate in the redistricting movement. The resolution would redraw House districts to secure a greater Democratic advantage as retaliation for similar Republican efforts in states like Texas. The commission will be led by Maryland Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and will hold public hearings, solicit feedback and make recommendations to the...

State Senate president rejects midcycle changes to congressional map as ‘too risky’Gov. Wes Moore (D) hinted that he may move ahead with plans to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts, and to call a possible special session, despite opposition from a key lawmaker. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City), in a letter to Senate Democrats Tuesday, said he opposed mid-cycle redistricting, which he called “too risky” for Democrats who could end up losing a seat in their efforts to redraw congressional districts to gain one. Ferguson said that redistricting in the middle of a decade “twists rules for potential short-term...

A Democratic state senator from Maryland is accused of orchestrating a scheme to secretly record two critics — including a former campaign consultant — in bed together and then using the footage to threaten and silence them, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment. Federal prosecutors say Maryland State Senator Dalya Attar, her brother Joseph "Yossi" Attar, and Baltimore Police Officer Kalman Finkelstein secretly filmed the pair during an intimate encounter, then used the recording to intimidate them into silence. The 20-page indictment, unsealed Thursday, charges the trio with conspiracy, extortion, illegal wiretapping and violations of the Travel Act. Prosecutors...

Maryland State Senator Dalya Attar has been indicted after allegedly filming two of her rivals in bed together in an attempt to silence them. The bombshell indictment, filed on October 23, alleged that Attar, 35, planted tracking and recording devices to catch her two critics in the act. Attar then threatened to release the footage of the two 'in bed' unless they met her demands not to speak out against her publicly, prosecutors said. She is facing eight federal charges of extortion and conspiracy related to the alleged plot, which prosecutors said occurred in the run-up to the 2020 and...

The U.S. Secret Service, alongside local law enforcement and state agency partners, conducted an Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and payment card skimming outreach operation in Baltimore and the surrounding area on Oct. 22-23. Personnel visited 493 businesses and removed 22 illegal skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of nearly $22.9 million. More than 3,000 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. Teams also distributed educational materials about Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and skimming to businesses to help them better identify the warning signs of illegal skimming devices in their point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs. This outreach operation...

Maryland Governor Wes Moore strongly hinted today that he is ready to call a special session of the General Assembly to redraw the state congressional districts. That move would flip Maryland’s lone Republican seat in Congress, currently held by Representative Andy Harris, to a Democrat. At an appearance at a food pantry in Bowie today, 7News pushed the governor for an answer to redistricting. Yesterday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called for redistricting in a series of social media posts. “I hate gerrymandering. I hate it as a concept. I hate that it happens. But also you know what I hate?...

As Republicans across the country pursue new congressional maps to boost their party ahead of next year's midterm elections, Democrats are ramping up pressure on states where they can respond. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has held discussions with members of the Maryland delegation and Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in recent weeks about possible mid-decade redistricting efforts, according to a source with knowledge of the conversations. The source also said Jeffries spoke with members of the Illinois delegation about drawing new district lines, as Politico first reported. Maryland has just one Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, in its eight-member House...

Baltimore residents in Federal Hill say Mayor Brandon Scott owes them answers after revelations that his new city-issued SUV cost taxpayers $163,495 – including nearly $65,000 in upgrades including police lights, sirens and a security microphone. “Not the taxpayers’ money! If he wants it for himself, yeah. But not with our money,” said Christian Heath as she was celebrating her birthday with friends in Federal Hill Park. She didn’t know about the mayor’s luxury Jeep Grand Wagoneer until speaking with Spotlight on Maryland. “Our money should be for the city, the schools, the kids. Just to ride around? We don’t...

Conservative activist Cam Higby was attacked outside Washington’s Union Station this week while attempting to engage in peaceful political discussions. The incident comes as Higby launches his “Fearless Tour,” an effort he says that is inspired by the late Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated while engaging in similar dialogue. In the viral clip, a woman is first seen kneeling beside Higby, reaching for his MAGA hat. As Higby repeats, “Stop, stop, stop,” the woman, identified as Taylor Forte, grew more aggressive, standing up and trying to rip the hat from his head before knocking him over in his chair. Higby...

An immigration judge on Wednesday denied a motion filed by Kilmar Abrego Garcia's attorneys to reopen his immigration case, according to a copy of the decision obtained by ABC News. In the emergency motion filed in August to reopen the case, attorneys for the wrongly deported Abrego Garcia argued that because he was deported to El Salvador and then brought back to the United States, he is now eligible to apply for asylum within one year of his last entry into the U.S. But in the order filed on Wednesday, Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge Philip Taylor said that Abrego...

The Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is planning a two-day getaway at a five-star resort in the heart of California’s wine country in early October — at the same time the country may be in the midst of a government shutdown — according to an invitation obtained by Politico’s “Playbook.” The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is hosting its Napa Retreat from Oct. 13-14 at Hotel Yountville in Napa County, Politico reported Saturday. Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has chaired the DSCC since January, circulated an invitation to the event which lists her, Democratic Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and...

Ian Andre Roberts is currently registered to vote in Maryland. When he registered in 2017, he reportedly had been working in St. Louis for years. There’s no indication from his resumes that he’s lived in Baltimore since he registered to vote there.

he DOJ order was sent to U.S. attorney's offices in at least seven states. Multiple top federal prosecutors at U.S. attorney's offices around the country received a directive Monday to prepare to launch investigations into the Open Society Foundations, a group funded by the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, multiple sources confirmed to ABC News. The order from Aakash Singh, a senior official in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's office, was sent to U.S. attorney's offices in at least seven states, the sources confirmed, including California, New York, Illinois, Michigan and Maryland. The letter lists potential charges prosecutors could take...

BOSTON — Monica Cannon-Grant, the founder of the nonprofit Violence in Boston, plans to plead guilty to federal charges of defrauding people who donated to her organization. In a one-page document filed in federal court in Boston on Friday, Canon-Grant requested a change of plea hearing. Cannon-Grant faces a 27-count indictment on charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, making false statements, and filing false tax returns, among other offenses. Federal investigators have alleged that Cannon-Grant, and her husband, Clark Grant, “solicited and received over $1 million in donations and grants from individuals, charitable institutions and other entities.” The indictment alleged...