NEWS
By Larry Carson | October 24, 2009
Advocates for people with severe disabilities have launched a campaign to reverse $29 million in recent state budget cuts that they contend are hurting an already underfunded, vulnerable community. Supporters are organizing a series of nine public meetings around Maryland and are taking their case to top officials. Gov. Martin O'Malley, who met with advocates for the developmentally disabled this week, has repeatedly pared spending for state agencies and services to keep the budget balanced, and he must close another $2 billion shortfall next year.
NEWS
May 13, 2009
The waiting lines for food and medical assistance, always long at state Department of Human Resources offices, have grown even longer during this economic downturn as a surge in applicants has stretched caseworkers to the limit and left many people without benefits, simply because there aren't enough staff workers to process their claims. Baltimore Sun reporter Julie Bykowicz's poignant story Tuesday about Miracyle Thompson, a pregnant mother who was forced to skip meals so that her children could eat, represents a dilemma faced by thousands of Maryland residents who have waited longer than the 30 days allowed by federal law for emergency assistance approval.
NEWS
By Laura Smitherman | July 31, 2008
Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday that state agencies employed more students than ever before as part of Baltimore's YouthWorks program, which gives students work experience and keeps them off the streets. The state government's investment of about $300,000 in the YouthWorks summer program allowed state agencies and offices to hire nearly 400 young men and women, including about 200 at the Department of Natural Resources. The state's participation helped Mayor Sheila Dixon fulfill her goal of not turning away anyone who applied to the program, which could not place about 1,200 youngsters last year.
NEWS
By Andrew A. Green | August 22, 2007
Rescue workers from five state agencies were unable to communicate with each other by radio when they responded to a fatal crash on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in May, though officials said command procedures in place mitigated the issue. "We're not aware that it materially affected the incident," said John Contestabile, the Maryland Department of Transportation's director of engineering and emergency services. Battalion Chief Michael Cox, a spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, said rescue workers from his county and from Queen Anne's County had radios that used the same technology.
NEWS
January 27, 2007
Let `One Maryland' guide government Gov. Martin O'Malley's clarion call for "One Maryland" should not be limited to just broad public policy vision, but instead should become O'Malley's March(ing) orders for the way that state agencies operate ("An inaugural with family, faith and stars," Jan. 18). This mantra needs to percolate across all levels of state government to maximize leveraged resources in the face of expected budget shortfalls ("O'Malley to slow spending," Jan. 19). A One Maryland approach encourages state agencies to collaborate aggressively on issues that cut across their various functions.
NEWS
By Andrew A. Green | May 14, 2005
Kidded by a colleague about his "deviousness," one-time gubernatorial aide Joseph F. Steffen Jr. replied that he had "never been caught at anything," according to an e-mail released yesterday by the Maryland Insurance Administration. The e-mail, written four months before he acknowledged spreading rumors about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley's private life, was among 242 pages of documents released yesterday by the insurance administration in response to a freedom of information request by The Sun, The Washington Post and the Associated Press.
NEWS
By David Nitkin | February 12, 2005
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. dismissed yesterday mounting allegations that his administration has employed a roving band of loyalists to purge state agencies of Democrats deep in the bureaucracy, saying Democrats are upset that a personnel system they created is in the hands of the opposing party. "When the party that was the monopoly loses, they're unhappy," said Ehrlich, the first Republican governor in 36 years. In a brief State House appearance before reporters and earlier in a radio interview, Ehrlich defended his hiring practices, saying he has sought only to replace high-ranking employees with policy-makers who share his ideology.
NEWS
By Michael Dresser | December 16, 2004
The State Highway Administration stripped nine procurement officials of their government--issued credit cards yesterday - months after auditors found that they purchased supplies at exorbitant prices. SHA Administrator Neil J. Pedersen took the action one day after coming under fire at a General Assembly committee hearing for leaving the cards in the hands of employees who paid up to 28 times the retail price for common janitorial and maintenance items. The auditors said Tuesday that three state agencies spent $1.4 million to purchase goods at inflated prices from 17 suppliers, including a Florida firm that has been accused of bribing thousands of civil servants in state and local governments across the country.
NEWS
By Timothy B. Wheeler | September 4, 2004
The state has received 22 applications from developers and communities across Maryland looking to take advantage of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s new Priority Places anti-sprawl program - which promises state help with building projects in already developed areas. Deputy Planning Secretary Florence E. Burian said yesterday that she was "thrilled" with the response to the Ehrlich initiative, even though two ambitious redevelopment projects that state officials had promoted as ideal candidates did not apply.
NEWS
By Lynn Anderson | September 2, 2004
Three state agencies paid as much as 28 times more than the best-available prices for janitorial supplies from July 2001 through last November, according to a report by the Department of Legislative Services. The three agencies - the State Highway Administration, Springfield Hospital Center and Morgan State University - purchased goods worth a total of $1.4 million from 17 companies through the period that auditors identified as showing a pattern of paying exorbitant prices, the report said.