How a $375 Million Plan Became a $715 Million Problem
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews | Maryland on the Map Before Churchill Downs. Before the Preakness IP. Before the NBC deal...
Investigations
Maryland Ranked 35th Best State to Live In. Its Schools Help — Everything Else Doesn’t.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland landed 35th out of 50 states in WalletHub's 2026 "Best States to Live In" ranking,...
What Maryland Didn’t Consider
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews | Maryland On the Map The Wednesday press conference produced three things Maryland needed:...
Pimlico Has No Plan for the Other 364 Days
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A source texted Fox Baltimore's Chris Papst this week after the Preakness was excluded from...
A Senator, a Sidewalk Tree, and Three Days of Silence: Should Anthony Muse Resign?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Three days after a state senator's SUV ended up parked against a tree in Annapolis, the...
Republicans, D.C. Watchdog Group Sue to Keep Redistricting Amendment Off November Ballot
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland Republican lawmakers and a Washington-based conservative watchdog group filed suit...
The $4,000 “Crisis” Is Mostly Sandwiches. The Real Maryland Affordability Story Is in Annapolis.
By Michael Phillips | Maryland Bay News The Maryland Democratic Party wants you to believe Donald Trump personally raised...
What Moore Announced — And What Comes Next
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Governor Wes Moore held his press conference Wednesday. It was, by the standards of...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Live-Wire Testing Begins on the Purple Line. MTA’s Own Filing Says Nothing Changed — While Disclosing That It Did.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Crews began live-wire testing on the Purple Line this week, running light-rail vehicles...
The Count Behind the Count: Maryland’s Homelessness Numbers Are Getting Worse, Not Better
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews On a single night in January 2025, 7,120 Marylanders had no home. That's 1,051 more people...
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...
Seven Stops, Five States, Three Weeks: Where Wes Moore Has Been While Maryland Waits on Affordability
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews ANNAPOLIS — On the same day House and Senate Republicans stood in Annapolis calling a...
The Memo That Locked Everyone Else Out Just Let Bouchat In
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews — Part of The Bouchat Paradox series Christopher Eric Bouchat has spent three sessions...
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...
A Council Answering to 5 Percent Just Ended a 34-Year Relationship With Israel
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Montgomery County has quietly ended its funding relationship with the Maryland Israel...
Maryland’s Corrections System Is Collapsing — And It Didn’t Happen by Accident
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews You don't need to repeal a law to kill it. You just need to make sure no one can enforce...
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...
A County of a Million, Decided by 52,738 Votes
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Montgomery County — home to more than one million residents, the largest county budget in...
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...
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...
DOJ Sues Maryland Over Community Trust Act — Second Federal Challenge in Six Weeks
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The U.S. Department of Justice sued Maryland and Attorney General Anthony Brown on July 9,...
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,...
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...
Governor Moore’s Disability Pride Month Message Runs Into His Own Budget Record
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Governor Wes Moore's official account marked the start of Disability Pride Month with a...
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...