Wired Maryland 10/25/26

🏛️ Wired Maryland

Sunday Edition | Statehouse Intelligence & Leadership Profile

Sunday, October 25, 2026

🆓 MARYLAND WIRE NOTES & MEDIA ROUNDUP

Quick reads, lateral moves, and verified news from around the Free State.

• Board of Public Works Docket Finalized: The Board of Public Works (BPW) meets this Thursday, October 29, at 10:00 AM in the Governor’s Reception Room to act on the state’s procurement agenda, including $441k in MACS agriculture grants and DGS facility modifications.

• Worker Freedom Act Effective Date: Maryland’s ban on mandatory employer “captive audience” meetings regarding political or religious topics officially went into effect this month, requiring state employers to update compliance posters ahead of the November 1 DLI deadline.

• Uninsured Health Grant Launch: Governor Moore announced a $25 million healthcare expansion grant targeting uninsured Maryland residents, creating immediate clinical and administrative subcontracting avenues.

• Stadium Authority Meeting: The Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) meets this Wednesday, October 28, at Camden Yards ahead of upcoming eMMA facility maintenance contract reviews.

💡 Have an intelligence tip, contract filing, or statehouse move to report?

Direct email to barry@themarylandwire.com or reach Barry directly via text or phone at 570-447-4395 (text preferred for fastest response; voice calls returned as available).

First Downtown RISE PILOT: UMB and Wexford’s North Quad gets the green light

• The Baltimore Board of Estimates unanimously approved on October 21 the first PILOT under the Downtown RISE program — the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Wexford Science & Technology’s North Quad, a 15-story, 404-unit, 730-bed graduate-housing building with about 16,000 square feet of retail in the 600 block of West Lexington Street. The deal is a 25-year, 95 percent abatement on new value; the Banner puts the abatement at $80 million over 25 years, while the Baltimore Development Corporation notes the project pays about $182,000 a year in PILOT payments from the start on a parking-lot site that pays zero city property tax today. For land-use readers, the process is the utility: a BDC pre-application meeting, an economic analysis plus a financial-necessity showing, then BDC board and Board of Estimates approval, in 3–9 months against the old 9–18 — and the eligibility window runs to June 30, 2036. BDC president and CEO Otis Rolley pitched it as a deal that turns an empty parking lot into graduate housing and shops, and BDC senior vice president Jeremy Watson put it bluntly: ‘Without this deal, the building doesn’t get built and the city keeps collecting what it gets today, which is zero.’ Same program, watch this space: it is the vehicle for the Harborplace PILOT talks.

• Source: Baltimore Banner

Suspicious powder letters reach Maryland’s delegation and elections office

• Maryland Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis says law enforcement intercepted the suspicious letter aimed at his office, as both of Maryland’s senators, at least five House members, and the state elections office reported receiving letters containing a nontoxic powder in the week before October 24. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating the mailings as part of a nationwide series ahead of the November 3 election, and the FBI said Thursday it had not yet identified who sent the letters, what the substance was, or what motivated them. ‘It’s a cowardly act … the goal of this person is to disenfranchise Marylanders,’ DeMarinis said. ‘It’s just a pure coward that wants to undermine American democracy in its foundations, starting with elections.’ Representative Andy Harris, the delegation’s lone Republican, was the only member whose office said it had not been targeted; an aide to Representative Glenn Ivey declined to comment, and Representative April McClain Delaney did not respond. Earlier in the wave, the district offices of Representatives Sarah Elfreth and Johnny Olszewski were evacuated after receiving suspicious mail.

• Source: Baltimore Focal

Prince George’s picks a new auditor as $7.6 million comes back

• The Prince George’s County Council is expected on Monday to appoint Marcel Emerson as its new auditor, putting a financial controller for a New York City-based acquisition holding company — and a former account manager for Prince George’s Community College — at the helm of the Office of Audits and Investigations at the exact moment that office is investigating the council’s own grants. Acting Auditor Larry Whitehurst currently leads the office, which has issued subpoenas seeking preservation of records tied to the council’s grant funding. County Executive Aisha Braveboy announced Thursday that the California-based Edward Charles Foundation had returned $7.635 million of roughly $12.8 million the council awarded from 2024 through 2026 through the foundation as fiscal sponsor for Community on the Frontline, with the remaining funds expected in the coming days. Community on the Frontline is run by Janna Parker, a close friend of Council Chair Krystal Oriadha, who has repeatedly denied that the relationship influenced the awards and says she has ‘consistently supported a full review of the grant funding in question.’

• Source: Baltimore Banner

Judge Curtin: Harford’s ‘Flamer’ ban violated the Freedom to Read Act

• Harford County Circuit Court Judge Yolanda L. Curtin ruled Thursday that the Harford County Board of Education’s June 2025 decision to pull Mike Curato’s graphic novel ‘Flamer’ from school libraries violated Maryland’s Freedom to Read Act and the First Amendment — the first court test of the 2024 law. Curtin upheld the Maryland State Board of Education’s reversal of the ban, finding the local board had inserted its own opinions into the decision rather than following the process: a reconsideration committee had unanimously recommended keeping the book for middle and high school libraries, and former Superintendent Sean Bulson had upheld that recommendation. Curtin said the board’s ‘collective wisdom’ was not sufficient to override the committee, and that the state board can step in when a local decision is arbitrary, unreasonable, or illegal. Outgoing board member Carol Bruce, who voted to keep the book, called the fight ‘a very political thing’; board president Lauren Paige did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Source: Baltimore Banner

Schwartz turns the Harris forum clash into $200,000-plus

• Democratic First District nominee Dan Schwartz says his campaign has drawn more than 3,500 donations totaling over $200,000 since his October 13 candidate-forum confrontation with Representative Andy Harris and a student reporter drew widespread attention — and Schwartz is now running the footage in a campaign ad. The ad shows Harris warning that people recording at the event could be referred to prosecutors and calling for an officer to be brought in; Schwartz appears in the spot arguing that answering difficult questions from constituents and local journalists is part of a representative’s job. Harris’s campaign declined an interview request; in a radio statement Harris said people had been brought in from outside Maryland to heckle him and argued the forum needed more civil discussion, and he has accused the student journalist of violating Maryland’s two-party consent law by recording him — arguing the event took place in a private room at a private venue, although media had been invited.

• Source: Baltimore Focal

Harborplace’s developer never formally applied for its downtown tax break

• With one of the largest tax breaks in city history weeks away from finalization, the Baltimore Development Corporation has not released information about how or why it approved the incentive package for Harborplace — and the city law department told the Banner, in response to a records request, that no applications exist. BDC president and CEO Otis Rolley III said Monday that MCB Real Estate, Harborplace’s developer, had submitted an application for the award, but BDC spokesperson Tamarah Lawrence said after publication that what MCB sent was a ‘proposal,’ since it arrived before the PILOT application process had been formalized. The BDC board green-lit the tax break, a payment in lieu of taxes, in a closed-door session at the end of August, and the Board of Estimates — effectively controlled by the mayor — is expected to approve it, though the timing is uncertain. MCB spokesperson Alexandra Hughes declined to comment, and the mayor’s office says any coverage of the figures in the project’s outside financial analysis would be ‘premature and speculative’ until a tentative agreement is presented to residents and the Board of Estimates.

• Source: Baltimore Banner

Ballot questions read at graduate-school level — Maryland included in the warning

• A new Ballotpedia analysis of 164 statewide ballot measures across 40 states finds their titles require an average of 17 years of education to understand — roughly a first-year graduate student — with summaries averaging 15 years, and many measures carrying no summary at all. Maryland enacted a law this year requiring ballot questions to use plain, clear language, but the report did not provide a separate readability score for the state — a gap worth noting in the middle of the Question 3 wording fight. ‘The most significant factor driving readability differences isn’t the type or topic of the ballot measure, but which state it’s in,’ said Ryan Byrne, managing editor of Ballotpedia’s ballots team. Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Tennessee had the lowest average title score, at 10 years of education, while Colorado averaged 33 years.

• Source: Baltimore Focal (Ballotpedia report)

WOMAN OF DISTINCTION: ANISHA QUEEN Partner, Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP

When Marylanders face systemic bias, employment discrimination, or violations of their fundamental civil rights, few litigators offer the blend of strategic precision and fierce advocacy that Anisha Queen brings to the courtroom. A Partner at Baltimore’s Brown, Goldstein & Levy, Queen has rapidly distinguished herself as one of the state’s most formidable legal minds, earning recognition on The Daily Record’s Employment Law Power List and standard-setting representation across high-stakes litigation.

Queen’s trajectory reflects a relentless pursuit of excellence. After graduating summa cum laude from the University of Maryland, College Park, she earned her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where she served as Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal on Racial & Ethnic Justice and researched civil rights strategy at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute. Her sharp judicial instincts were further forged while clerking for Hon. Tanya S. Chutkan on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

At Brown, Goldstein & Levy, Queen focuses her practice on civil rights, employment law, commercial litigation, and wrongful convictions. Whether securing multi-million-dollar settlements for victims of severe workplace harassment or challenging federal agency abuses, her work consistently reshapes how justice is delivered across the region.

Beyond her casework, Queen’s leadership extends deep into the legal community. She serves on the Maryland Access to Justice Commission, sits on the Council for the MSBA Labor and Employment Law Section, and advises the Family Justice Law Center.

Her legal prowess is matched by a steadfast commitment to breaking down systemic barriers for vulnerable communities. As Maryland navigates an evolving economic and regulatory landscape, leaders like Anisha Queen ensure that equity remains at the forefront of the law. For her outstanding legal achievements, fierce advocacy, and dedication to public service, The Maryland Wire is proud to honor Anisha Queen as a Woman of Distinction.