Maryland

With summer being a popular time for teens to get driver’s licenses and an average of eight teens dying every day from motor vehicle injuries, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2023’s Best & Worst States for Teen Drivers, with Maryland coming in ranked as the 8th best state for teen drivers– including a number 1 ranking in two sub-categories (seen below).

In order to determine the safest and least costly driving environments for U.S. teenagers, WalletHub compared the 50 states based on 23 key metrics. The data set ranges from the number of teen driver fatalities to the average cost of car repairs to the presence of impaired-driving laws.

Governor Wes Moore and Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller released the following statements  on Saturday, August 26, commemorating Women’s Equality Day: 

Governor Wes Moore: “Today, 103 years after American women secured the right to vote, we celebrate women’s equality and acknowledge all of the obstacles they’ve overcome. We recognize the importance of equality for all.

With Americans working an average of over 1,800 hours per year and having left 55% of their PTO unused last year, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2023’s Hardest-Working States in America, with Maryland ranking 11th overall and has high as 2nd in the “Average Commute Time” category.

In order to determine where Americans work the hardest, WalletHub compared the 50 states across ten key metrics. The data set ranges from average workweek hours to share of workers with multiple jobs to annual volunteer hours per resident. Additional information on Maryland’s ranking below:

Per the Maryland State Police: Maryland State Police and the Maryland Center for School Safety (MCSS) remind motorists to stop for school buses as students return to class next week. Drivers must stop at least 20 feet from a school bus with the stop arm extended and the red lights flashing. Do not pass the bus from any direction until the stop signals are off and the bus is moving again. Motorists in Maryland are not required to stop if the road is separated by a physical median – such as dirt, grass, or a barrier.

Millions of children ride school buses and are most at risk when they get on or off the bus. There were 1,009 fatal school-transportation-related crashes from 2011 to 2020, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The MCSS encourages Marylanders and visitors to:

August message by Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz: Governor Wes Moore recently announced a new strategy for how Maryland will deploy state resources to improve water quality in our waterways by better aligning our ongoing Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Coastal Bays cleanup efforts with the latest science.

A major study released in May by leading Chesapeake Bay scientists continued to show watershed states struggling to reduce nonpoint sources of pollution – the runoff being washed from our farms, cities, and suburbs. This challenge continues to prevent residents and visitors in parts of our state from having access to clean water. In response, we’re shifting Maryland’s waterway cleanup efforts to more effectively tackle nonpoint source pollution. The associated work will also help build resiliency for communities facing threats from a changing climate. 

Per the Maryland Attorney General’s Office: In a sealed order issued August 16, 2023, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City authorized the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) to release a revised, substantially unredacted version of the Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The court unsealed its ruling today and authorized OAG to release the new version of the Report in late September, subject to further order of the court.

In April 2023, the court authorized an interim public release of the Report. The interim public release was redacted, by order of the court, to shield the identities of ten alleged abusers who had not previously been publicly accused of child abuse. The names of five ranking officials of the Archdiocese of Baltimore were also redacted. Those five officials had extensive participation in the Archdiocese’s handling of abuser clergy and reports of child abuse. In addition, the names were redacted of over two dozen other individuals who were identified by name at various points in the Report although they are not accused of child sexual abuse. In the ruling unsealed today, the circuit court has authorized OAG to release a new version of the Report in which the identities of all but three of the previously redacted persons will be unredacted.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture has received confirmation of a positive case of locally acquired malaria in a Maryland resident who lives in the National Capital Region. According to the Maryland Department of Health, the individual was hospitalized and is now recovering. They did not travel recently outside of the United States or to other U.S. states with recent locally acquired malaria cases (note: the location of the confirmed case and spraying specifically for this reason has not been disclosed.).

“This positive malaria case underscores the importance of being vigilant during mosquito season about personal protection against mosquitoes as well as the importance of continuous monitoring and spraying by the Maryland Department of Agriculture Mosquito Spray Program,” said Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks. “The quick action of health professionals to identify the case allows MDA to respond rapidly in treating the region to protect against future cases.”

Per the Maryland Attorney General’s Office: Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown co-led a coalition of 15 Attorneys General supporting EPA’s proposed rules for “advanced recycling” facilities, but also urging the agency to go further in its proposed Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) for producing 18 substances used to make transportation fuels and refinery feedstocks – raw material for processing or manufacturing another product – from plastic waste. Under the new rules, the “advanced recycling” – a misleading term that primarily refers to two processes, pyrolysis and gasification, that break plastics down into their constituent molecules – of plastic waste containing certain chemicals and impurities known to be hazardous to human health and the environment would require EPA’s pre-approval.

Pyrolysis and gasification are processes that use significant energy, extreme heat, and a low-orno oxygen environment to break down plastic products. Those molecules can then, in theory, be used to build new plastic products, but the great majority of substances produced through these processes is, instead, burned or added to transportation fuels. The plastic waste used in these processes often contains chemical additives and impurities that are known to be harmful to human health and the environment. Studies indicate that those additives and impurities may wind up in consumer goods or otherwise become part of a facility’s air, water, or solid waste emissions, posing significant environmental justice concerns as petrochemical facilities are disproportionately located in minority and low-income areas across the country.