Power Over People: How Annapolis Rewrote the Rules — and What It Ignored to Do It
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The Maryland General Assembly closed its three-day special session Tuesday night having...
Politics & Policy
The Hand They’re Not Playing: How Maryland Can Rebuild Horse Racing After the Preakness Shake-Up
Maryland owns the assets, the history, and the window. What it needs is a strategy — and someone willing to make the...
The House Passed It 96-38. Bouchat’s Bill Never Got a Hearing.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The Maryland House of Delegates voted 96-38 Tuesday to pass House Bill 2100, sending the...
What CDI Does With Tracks It Owns
Churchill Downs has a documented playbook for acquired racing assets: acquire, extract value, close the original venue,...
Nine Minutes. One Question.
CDI and NYRA spent the day defending their new championship series — and confirming, almost in spite of themselves,...
Day One: The Session Convenes, the Math Gets Real, and a Democrat Breaks Ranks
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The General Assembly gaveled in at 10 a.m. Monday for the Aug. 3-5 special session, and by...
Blindsided, Again
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Editor's Note: MDBayNews published this morning, at approximately 11:30 am, the first...
The Bet That Already Lost
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Breaking — August 3, 2026This morning, Churchill Downs Incorporated and the New York...
Van Hollen Isn’t Even on the Ballot. He’s Still Doing the Socialists’ Work for Them.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Chris Van Hollen has no primary to survive and no general election to win in 2026. He...
Synagogue Sues Montgomery County Over Firearms Ban, Says Ordinance Started as “Housekeeping”
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The Silver Spring Jewish Center and its rabbi, Menashe Shapiro, filed a federal lawsuit...
Two Maryland Schools Cut Staff. Two Cut Tuition Instead. Only One Strategy Is Working.
Maryland's public university system has been cut $222 million over three years. College Park and Bowie State responded by...
The $9 Million Everyone’s Talking About: What Maryland’s Dream Act Actually Costs — and Doesn’t
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Since the Justice Department filed suit against Maryland on July 17 over its Dream Act, one...
Two Regulators, One Gas Company: DC and Maryland Both Weigh Washington Gas Pipe Spending This Week
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Washington Gas is facing scrutiny from utility regulators in two jurisdictions this week,...
Anne Arundel Schools Face Federal Investigation Over Policy That Let Staff Withhold a Student’s Gender Transition From Her Parents
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Anne Arundel County Public Schools is now the subject of a federal investigation that could...
Republicans Won’t Boycott the Special Session. They’ll Just Talk About Everything Else.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey wants one thing clear before the Aug. 3-5 special...
Who Authorized This? A Private Nonprofit Is Now Appointing Attorneys in Maryland Custody Cases
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A Seattle-based nonprofit with no Maryland legislative authorization, no independent...
Gun Rights Coalition Asks Maryland’s Top Court to Hear Reciprocity Case — But the Argument They’re Pushing Was Never Actually Ruled On
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A coalition of Second Amendment groups is urging the Supreme Court of Maryland to take up...
Montgomery County Bought Half a Ferry. It Won’t Say What Happens If the Other Half Never Comes.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Montgomery County officials stood in Poolesville on Friday to announce what they're calling...
What Maryland Actually Gets — and Gives Up — By Saying No to Data Centers
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews National coverage of the data center backlash tends to run one of two ways: either data...
Wes Moore Told Randi Weingarten He Was “Humbled” to Follow Her. His Own Biography Argues Against Her.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Gov. Wes Moore closed out the American Federation of Teachers' national convention in...
The Data Center Fight Isn’t Just Frederick’s Anymore — Here’s Where Maryland’s Counties Stand
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Frederick County's data center fight — a 2,600-acre zoning overlay, a referendum drive...
Maryland Named Twice by DHS — State Signals It Won’t Comply, as Federal Funding and Legal Threats Escalate
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland is one of 18 states named in a declassified federal intelligence review alleging...
What Governor Moore’s $13.3 Billion Announcement Left Out
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Gov. Wes Moore announced this week that the results of PJM's latest capacity auction "saved...
A Government Chosen By 5 Percent Is Taxing The Other 95
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Montgomery County's property tax bills have been landing in mailboxes for two weeks, and...
The Bipartisan Rider Nobody’s Enforcing: USDA Presses Ahead On Beltsville Closure While Congress Says Stop
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland's largest federal research complex is closing, and Congress told the U.S....
Maryland’s Roads Rank Among the Worst in the Country. Here’s What the Data Says Is Actually Wrong With Them.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland doesn't have the single worst roads in America. But three separate national...
Maryland’s Road Money Is Locked Up By Law — And Nobody’s Fixing It
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews State budget data shows 75.1 percent of Maryland commuters drive alone or carpool. Only 5...
Maryland’s Hidden Bill: A Supreme Court Ruling Just Told Annapolis to Find the Money It Never Set Aside
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland's Supreme Court handed the state a win on June 23 — and used the occasion to...
Paying Twice: The Federal Deal Costing Maryland Ratepayers Hundreds Of Millions For Two Anne Arundel Power Plants
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Every Baltimore Gas and Electric customer — 1.2 million households and businesses across...
Maryland’s Gaming Regulators Let the Casino Lobby Write Their Homework. Would We Say the Same If It Were Oil and Gas?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Here's a test worth running on any story about industry influence in government: swap the...
Texas Lost Its Dream Act in Court. Maryland’s Voters Already Defended Its Own.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews In a 2-1 ruling handed down July 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held...
Maryland Built a Legal Wall Against ICE Surveillance Data. Is Anyone Checking If It Holds?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Nobody in Maryland has smashed a Flock Safety camera. Nobody has cut one down with vice...
Maryland’s Economy Isn’t Growing. The Numbers Say Something Sharper.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland officials have spent much of the past year touting job growth numbers as evidence...
Annapolis Doesn’t Pay to Play. Marylanders Do.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland families are getting squeezed from every direction this summer — a property tax...
Moore’s ICE Scare Tactic Was Already Out of Date When It Aired
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews On a soundstage in California, taped weeks before it ever reached a Maryland screen,...
The State That Almost Said No
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews | July 4, 2026 Tonight, Maryland celebrates 250 years of American independence. Fireworks...
Maryland’s Highest Court Kills the Frederick Data Center Referendum — 21,029 Signatures, Zero Votes
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The Supreme Court of Maryland on Tuesday ended the largest citizen petition drive in...
Wes Moore Picks a Fight on the Nation’s 250th Birthday. Maryland Gets the Bill.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland Governor Wes Moore will stand at the State House in Annapolis on Saturday and...
Supreme Court Clears States to Bar Transgender Athletes From Girls’ Sports — Where Does That Leave Maryland?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states may lawfully restrict girls' and women's...
Montgomery County Schools Faces Supreme Court Petition After Barring Teacher for Refusing to Keep Parents in the Dark
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The cert petition landed at the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday. Kimberly Ann Polk, a...