Welcome.
To Her Views Minority Report. I am Asia of AlleyneMedia, coming to your from Southern Maryland. And we are on a new mission to bring you your local headlines with straight facts no hype every other week if that alright. That means the good and the not so good news with the hopes of leaving you better informed, prepared and motivated to move through your world.
Our Beautiful state of Maryland has been blessed with a bag! Maryland's has over a $2.5 Billion budget surplus this cycle. (Blueprint for Maryland) Our state is starting off the new year right, its pockets aren't tight at all. Which means this is a great opportunity to make sure things are done right and promises are kept. And we the people can hold them accountable when we see things going awry.
Starting off the new year, we have some rules that will be coming into effect.
Yup, we got that Water Assistance Relief Program that’ll help folks with any water bill debt from COVID.
Yup and that Maryland Medical Assistance Program for those adults needing dental services whose household income is at or below 133% of the federal poverty level.
Oh and Weed is about to be legal in July. Marylanders voted to legalize the drug in November's general election. Now its up to our lawmakers to setup the framework that's gonna govern our states new industry. Equity. Expungement. Fair Licensing. Look we already know that minority communities, excuse me Black and Brown (because there is nothing minor about me)communities were criminalized and incarcerated at higher rates by this, so it would only be equitable and judicially justified to make sure that those same communities aren't now locked out of the profits.
For more information on this click the link.
If you agree, sign the petition. Check the link in the description or on the blog.
Oh and if you're interested in the rest of the new rules effective this year, check the link in the description, or here on the blog.
Don’t forget Marylands Minimum wage will go up from 12.50 an hour to 13.25 this year for companies with 15 or more employees. If you have 14 or fewer employees, the wage will increase to 12.80. It’ll go up to 15 an hour by 2025 after the Maryland General Assembly vetoed Larry Hogan’s vote in 2019.
The Maryland General Assembly kicks off on a 90-day legislative session this week and everybody got their committee assignments. (Check the link in the description to learn more… https://www.somdnews.com/news/local/southern-maryland-delegation-gets-committee-assignments/article_d2b98138-393f-545a-85d2-5d8443722d62.html
Get excited. Our new Governor-Elect is gonna get sworn in on the 18th and then has to submit a budget on the 20th… so he's gonna have to hit the ground running.
Jeez - Who wrote that last part… hit the ground running… no one cares about that.
Over in Charles County, not quite like the "Congress after Dark" over the weekend after swearing in McCarthy… But those commissioners and their commissioner president are tripping. And to think we just voted them in… and they cant get along already. You know what I can blame them… but I can also blame whoever voted for them. Now are they not gonna be able to do something for their voters or what…. Oh what happened though… last November Charles County voted in a censured commissioner and now outside lawyers be lawyering.
Ooh so yo want details…
Well according to the Lagasse Report: http://lagassereport.com/2023/01/07/announcing-a-new-series-a-deep-dive-into-the-court-filings-in-stewart-et-al-v-commissioners/?fbclid=IwAR0p6-UTTvHEEjgf4CGoJU33pp_cex2_LNWkNMQGZ4zzZctz0gQ6Dbp6d3U
On December 13 last year, the first open session of the new Board of Charles County Commissioners devolved almost immediately into an ugly confrontation in which District 1 Commissioner Gilbert Bowling III (D) and District 3 Commissioner Amanda M. Stewart (D) accused Commissioners’ President Reuben B. Collins II (D) of engineering a last-minute closed session during which the other three commissioners intended to vote to fire County Administrator Mark Belton — which is certainly the prerogative of the county commissioners, except, as Bowling revealed, one of those three commissioners had been barred from engaging in any personnel actions involving the county administrator. Indeed, the commissioner in question was prohibited from even speaking to the county administrator.
Bowling and Stewart went on to reveal some of the actions leading up to this remarkable situation, all of which had taken place outside of public scrutiny beginning in 2019: a formal complaint filed by Belton accusing the unnamed commissioner of “multiple vitriolic oral and written assaults” of a racial nature (Belton is white); a counterclaim filed by the commissioner against Belton; and an investigation conducted by outside counsel that not only vindicated Belton, but also concluded that the commissioner’s actions had “exposed the county to a serious risk of liability.”
On to better news...Four Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) seniors are representing the school system this year in the Maryland General Assembly’s Student Page Program. They are seniors Jordyn Davis, Gabrielle Moore, Madeleine Schmidt and Vernon Stover. To read the about this year's pages visit, https://bit.ly/3WFJI0k.
That's all folks! Enjoy
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