Free Republic

Maryland Republicans are driving efforts to overturn the state’s newly drawn congressional map in a referendum next month, but they are joined by a number of Democrats who say their own party has gone too far in crafting districts for political gain. Numerous Montgomery County Democrats are scheduled to hold a news conference Monday in Rockville during which they are expected to urge a “no” vote on ballot Question 5, which would reject the district map drawn last year by Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley and approved by the General Assembly. Critics have accused the map’s makers of lumping disparate communities...

As Maryland voters prepare for a November referendum to decide the fate of the state’s new congressional map, Montgomery Gazette columnist Blair Lee chronicles the quandary faced by Democratic Party leaders in strongly Democratic, earnestly liberal and good government-oriented Montgomery County. On one hand, the newly drawn map — one of the most ridiculously gerrymandered in the nation — maximizes Democratic opportunities across the state. On the other, the new congressional lines are an indefensible affront to good government — an issue of concern in the affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., one the nation’s top goo-goo outposts.

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...

Phil Andrews remembers day of Mayflower By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Once upon a time, there was really only one hot place to go at night in Cheyenne. Down on 17th Street, behind a frontier-style wooden front lay the Mayflower Dance Hall, billed as Wyoming's largest, authentic Western dance hall. Live bands and drinks drew the crowds, where by all accounts, the service was outstanding. And when Hollywood came to town in 1964 for the premiere of the John Ford saga, "Cheyenne Autumn," they capped off the night at the Mayflower Dance Hall. Those...