Shelly in the News
Energy affordability solutions up for debate in Annapolis
BY JESSICA BABB FOX 45 NEWS FEBRUARY 19, 2026 Lawmakers in the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee heard numerous energy-related bill Thursday. Those bills were related to data centers, transmission lines, expanding solar energy, doing on a deep...
What would happen if Maryland left the nation’s largest power grid? Lawmakers want to find out
BY SARAH PETROWICH WYPR FEBRUARY 19, 2026 Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill that would explore the impact of leaving the regional power grid operator, known as the PJM Interconnection. The legislation joins a myriad of proposals that aim to lower skyrocketing...
School background checks are law, but educators slip through the cracks, audit finds
BY KRISTEN GRIFFITH THE BALTIMORE BANNER JANUARY 30, 2026 Three Maryland school systems do not regularly screen their job applicants, despite a state law requiring them to do so. That’s among the findings in a recent audit of the Maryland State Department of...
Public Defender’s Office legislative priorities include more funding, more equitable sentencing
BY WILLIAM J. FORD MARYLAND MATTERS JANUARY 21, 2026 The Maryland Office of the Public Defender laid out a legislative agenda Wednesday that calls for more funding for the office as well changes to sentencing and search laws, among others, that will help public...
Marking the 200th Anniversary of the So-Called ‘Jew Bill’
BY PAULA MINSK BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES JANUARY 13, 2026 In January 1826, the state of Maryland passed the so-called “Jew Bill.” The 200th anniversary of the bill being enacted into law was last week. The Maryland state legislature will hold an event in February, during...
Bicentennial of Maryland’s Landmark ‘Jew Bill’ Observed This Week
BY ALAN FEILER JMORE JANUARY 6, 2026 Thomas Kennedy reportedly never actually met a Jew during his lifetime. But that still didn’t prevent him from doing what he felt was right. Kennedy – who was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1776 and died in Hagerstown in 1832 —...
Sen. Shelly L. Hettleman Seeks Justice for Sexual Assault Survivors
BY SIMONE ELLIN JMORE JANUARY 5, 2026 Not long after she was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2015, Sen. Shelly L. Hettleman (D–11th) read a newspaper article that deeply disturbed her. It was about a young woman in Baltimore County who was raped. The...
Musical chairs in the Senate, Schindler takes up grave matters and new judges, in political notes
BY WILLIAM J. FORD MARYLAND MATTERS DECEMBER 10, 2025 If it was supposed to be musical chairs, it was a short song. Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) announced committee chairs for the 2026 General Assembly, his seventh as president, but most of the...
Lawmakers say consistency, efficiency needed in boards licensing health professionals
BY BRYAN P. SEARS MARYLAND MATTERS OCTOBER 23, 2025 A legislative panel on Wednesday signaled an interest in making changes to dozens of professional oversight boards housed within the Maryland Department of Health, after complaining of a lack of accountability and...
Lawmakers call for hearings to review ‘broken’ Social Services Administration
BY NICOLE PILSBURY & BRYAN P. SEARS MARYLAND MATTERS SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 Maryland lawmakers plan to hold hearings in coming weeks on reports that the Social Services Administration may have let children in its care be housed with registered sex offenders, just one...