Maryland Lawmakers Move to Codify Standards for Custody Evaluators
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews As the 2026 legislative session gets underway, lawmakers in Annapolis are once again taking...
Judicial
Former Rockville Attorney’s $4.2M Fraud Case Raises Questions About Oversight and Accountability
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A former Rockville attorney who once marketed herself as a trusted guide through bankruptcy...
Maryland’s Judicial Discipline System Shows Rare Transparency as Virginia Moves Backward
By Michel Phillips | MDBayNews As neighboring Virginia retreats into judicial secrecy, Maryland stands out in the...
Baltimore County Lawsuit Alleges Illegal Protective Orders and Years-Long Separation of Father and Son
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A civil lawsuit filed on December 2, 2025, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County...
Maryland Volunteer Fire Departments Targeted in Alleged Multi-State Fraud Scheme
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland volunteer fire departments—already stretched thin by rising costs and staffing...
Maryland’s Quiet Justice Debate: Juvenile Reform and Foster Care Head Into 2026
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews As Maryland heads into the 2026 legislative session, some of the most consequential public...
Maryland Judiciary to Launch Unified Case Search Portal January 9
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The Maryland Judiciary will roll out a new, integrated online platform—the Maryland...
Missing Kentucky Teen Found Safe in Montgomery County, Maryland After Two-Month Search
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A months-long, multi-state search for a missing Kentucky teenager ended in relief just...
Maryland’s Contracting Problem, Back in the Spotlight
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A superseding federal indictment handed down just days before Christmas has quietly exposed...
Maryland Joins Lawsuit Defying Scientific Caution on Youth Gender Medicine
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Staff Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has joined a multistate lawsuit...
DOJ Sues Washington, D.C. Over Gun Laws, Citing Ongoing Defiance of Supreme Court Precedent
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday filed a sweeping civil rights lawsuit against the...
Annapolis Housing Discrimination Case Heads to Mediation Amid AI Filing Scandal and Attorney Shake-Up
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in Annapolis public housing is heading to...
Maryland AG Leads Bipartisan Push on Deceptive AI Weight-Loss Ads—Consumer Protection or Regulatory Creep?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A bipartisan coalition of 35 state attorneys general, led in part by Anthony G. Brown, is...
Maryland’s Transcript Trap: How Miller v. Smith and Feng v. Chen Expose Access-to-Justice Failures
When Americans think about “access to justice,” most assume it means having a fair chance to appeal if a court gets...
Maryland Public Defender’s New Justice Partnership Raises Familiar Questions About Balance, Safety, and Accountability
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland’s criminal justice reform debate is entering a new phase. On December 15, the...
DC Judge Lets Alleged Squatter Stay After 30-Day Airbnb Stay — And Forces Homeowner to Keep the Lights On
Case highlights how D.C. “tenant-first” laws can trap ordinary property owners for months By Michael Phillips |...
Judge Karla N. Smith Named New Administrative Judge for Montgomery County Circuit Court
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Supreme Court of Maryland Chief Justice Matthew J. Fader has appointed Judge Karla N. Smith as...
Ten Indicted in Latest Jessup Prison Contraband Scandal as Maryland Moves Toward 2026 Closure
JESSUP, Md. — Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown on Monday announced the indictment of 10 people—three...
Maryland’s Outdated Wiretap Law Is Hurting Victims — And 2026 May Finally Bring Change
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland is one of just a few states still clinging to a strict two-party consent wiretap...
HOTEL ROOM, NO SECOND CHANCES
By Michael Phillips When a child dies under state supervision, the public is owed more than condolences. We are owed...
Why Does Maryland Keep Releasing Violent Offenders? And Why Don’t Domestic Violence Victims Matter?
By Michael Phillips Maryland is facing a crisis—one that lawmakers, judges, and bail commissioners never seem to take...
Melania Trump’s “Fostering the Future” Executive Order Signals a New Federal Push for Family Preservation and Accountability
By Michael Phillips — MDBayNews and Father & Co. When First Lady Melania Trump stepped to the podium to introduce the...
Two Towson Teens Rescued in PA — And a Separate Towson Trafficking Bust Shows Maryland’s Growing Crisis
By Michael R. Phillips | MDBayNews Two teenage girls missing from Towson were rescued Thursday morning in Pennsylvania...
When Will Maryland’s Counties Sue Back?
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown can’t go a month without suing the Trump...
Baltimore’s Ethics Crisis Deepens: Federal Indictment Alleges Election-Related Blackmail Plot by Sen. Dalya Attar
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Maryland State Sen. Dalya Attar ran a kickback scheme out of the...
Justice Cannot Be Blind to Invisible Disabilities
By Michael PhillipsOriginally published in The Daily Record, October 24, 2025 When Congress passed the Americans with...
Montgomery County Public Schools’ Enrollment Decline: A Wake-Up Call for Maryland’s Education Priorities
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), Maryland’s largest district and once a national model for suburban education, is...
Tragedy in Curtis Bay: Father’s Guilty Plea in Toddler’s Death Exposes Maryland’s Broken Child Welfare System
BALTIMORE, MD – The guilty plea of Nathan Houck, a 32-year-old Curtis Bay father, in the fentanyl overdose death of his...
Md. ID law is a good step (Published in The Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2025)
Regarding the Oct. 5 Metro article “Md. ID marker aims to defuse conflict”: Maryland’s new “Eric’s Law,” which...
Maryland Admits Nearly 1,000 Foster Children Missing Since 2020 — Most Are Teenage Girls
In a letter released on October 22, 2025, Maryland’s Department of Human Services (DHS) confirmed what advocates had long...
The Disabilities You Don’t See — and the Systems That Still Don’t See Us
America still pictures disability as something you can see: a wheelchair ramp, a white cane, a prosthetic limb.But for tens...
The Silence of the System: How Frederick County Public Schools Failed Its Most Vulnerable Students
When a 22-year-old special education aide stands accused of sexually abusing disabled and non-verbal children inside a...
The Moral Economy of Neglect: How Maryland’s “Compassionate Governance” Betrays Its Foster Children
This investigation is part of MDBayNews’ coverage of child-welfare oversight in Maryland. All claims are sourced to...
Government Failure at Its Worst: How Maryland’s Foster System Left a 16-Year-Old Girl to Die in a Hotel Room
On September 22, 2025, tragedy struck in East Baltimore when 16-year-old foster child Kanaiyah Ward was found dead inside a...
Things Banned in Maryland You Won’t Believe Are Legal Elsewhere
Maryland has a reputation for being a little different when it comes to regulation. While other states leave many issues...
Maryland Family Courts vs. Invisible Disabilities: Rights Denied, Families Punished
In Maryland, family court is supposed to protect children and preserve parental rights. Instead, it’s become the one...
Maryland’s ADA Mirage: Rhetoric, Red Tape, and the Quiet Punishment of Invisible Disabilities
Maryland says “equity.” Parents and kids with ADHD, PTSD, dyslexia, TBI, and chronic illness hear “prove...
The Loudoun County Baby Strangling Case: When Open Borders Kill the Innocent
On September 17, 2025, tragedy struck Leesburg, Virginia, when police arrested 21-year-old Alvaro Mejia-Ayala for allegedly...
Fairfax County’s War on Girls’ Privacy: When “Gender Inclusion” Becomes Harassment
On September 2, 2025, a 14-year-old freshman girl at West Springfield High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, walked into...
Friday Night Lights, Dark Family Secrets: How a Father Who Won Was Erased — And Who Profited
On an August night in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a high school football game at Bishop McNamara should have been a...