Maryland Has a Horse Industry Plan. It Still Doesn’t Have a Preakness Strategy.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Governor Wes Moore unveiled Maryland's first statewide Horse Industry Strategic Plan this...
Power & Accountability
Board Approves $50,000 for Moore’s Lawyers, Down From $550,000, as Rutledge Presses Brown on Priorities
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews BEL AIR, Md. — Jim Rutledge, the Republican nominee for Maryland attorney general, used a...
Judge Orders Baltimore to Restore Inspector General’s Access, Rejects City’s “Unfettered Access” Defense
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews BALTIMORE — A Baltimore judge put teeth into her ruling against Mayor Brandon Scott's...
Green Party Candidate Says MPT Chairman’s Donations to Moore Raise Conflict of Interest Questions
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews BALTIMORE, Md. — Green Party gubernatorial candidate Andy Ellis is accusing the head of...
GOP Delegate Nominee: Maryland’s Watchdogs Keep Getting Blocked by the Governments They’re Supposed to Police
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Two Maryland governments got caught this year restricting the very people whose job is to...
The Council Eliminated a Broad $692 Homeowner Credit. Now It Wants Three Targeted Ones.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews ROCKVILLE — Roughly four months after voting to zero out a property tax credit available...
Behind the Records Fight: What Baltimore City Says About Its Own Watchdog
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews BALTIMORE — Monday's appellate ruling was another procedural win for Inspector General...
Maryland’s Reparations Commission Is Taking Shape. It’s Also a Different Commission Than Lawmakers Passed.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews ANNAPOLIS — A state commission that took years to authorize is finally close to...
Delaney’s Family Account Kept Buying Stock. She Also Voted No on a Trading Crackdown.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Rep. April McClain Delaney has cosponsored a bill that would ban members of Congress, their...
Moore and Miller Want ICE Coordination After Maryland Restricted Local Immigration Enforcement
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller are criticizing recent federal...
While Van Hollen Kicks the Tires in New Hampshire, Who Is Minding Maryland?
By Michael Phillips, MDBayNews Sen. Chris Van Hollen sat across from Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press" this past Sunday...
Introducing New Maryland: A Modest Proposal for the Rest of Us
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Let's get the disclaimer out of the way first, because someone in Annapolis is already...
Pittman’s County Newsletter Explains Why He Skipped the DNC for MACo. It’s a Reminder He’s Still Wearing Two Hats.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman used this week's edition of his official,...
The Commission Was Silent. A Soldier Wasn’t.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews | Maryland on the Map The Maryland Racing Commission held its monthly meeting on Wednesday,...
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...
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...
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...
What CDI Does With Tracks It Owns
Churchill Downs has a documented playbook for acquired racing assets: acquire, extract value, close the original venue,...
The Bet That Already Lost
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Breaking — August 3, 2026This morning, Churchill Downs Incorporated and the New York...
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...
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...
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...
Hungry, but Not Thirsty: Wes Moore’s Full-Term Pledge Has a Schedule Problem
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews This morning, the Governor of Maryland was in Johns Island, South Carolina — a 9 a.m....
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...
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,...
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,...