Van Hollen leads push for difficult task: a Democratic Senate

WASHINGTON – Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is chairman of the Democrats’ 2018 campaign to win back the majority in the Senate, and he has been under no illusions. “This cycle in the Senate is a very difficult political map…

Maryland’s U.S. Senators critical of FBI Kavanaugh report

Maryland Democratic Senators Cardin and Van Hollen said they found the follow-up FBI report on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh incomplete. Senator Ben Cardin said the report raised more questions than it answered and Senator Chris Van Hollen criticized the FBI for failing to contact individuals who said they had important information to share.

Maryland’s senators rip limited scope of FBI’s Kavanaugh report

WASHINGTON — Ahead of an expected vote on Saturday, Maryland’s Democratic senators on Thursday decried the FBI’s supplemental investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, calling it rushed and incomplete. “I think it raises more questions than it answers,” Sen. Ben Cardin,…

Maryland Democrats: Trump health care curbs could affect 260,000 in state

BALTIMORE – As many as 260,000 Maryland residents could see higher premiums or lose their health care coverage altogether because of pre-existing medical conditions, age or gender under a new Trump administration legal strategy, state Democrats warned on Tuesday. Rep.…

Maryland governor and senators unite over FBI probe of Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON — Even before a sudden move by Senate Republicans to request an FBI probe of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and the state’s two senators were calling for just such an investigation. Sens. Ben Cardin…

Outside the Kavanaugh hearing, tears and anger

By SAMANTHA ROSEN, MORGAN CAPLAN and ALBANE GUICHARD Capital News Service   WASHINGTON – The drama and emotion inside Thursday’s Senate hearing on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court was matched by scenes in the surrounding crowded hallways, where…

Maryland leaders pay tribute on Sept. 11 anniversary

On a somber, overcast Tuesday, bagpipes performed “Amazing Grace” as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and other state leaders paid tribute on the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks at a wreath-laying ceremony in Annapolis.

Family not satisfied with verdicts in Paraguay murder of Maryland native

WASHINGTON — Nearly three years after 16-year-old Maryland native Luis Alejandro “Alex” Villamayor was killed in Paraguay, a defendant on Tuesday was found guilty of his murder and a second defendant was found guilty of obstructing the investigation. René Hofstetter,…

Child gun deaths marked by display of thousands of empty shoes on the lawn of the Capitol

Tom Mauser lost his 15-year-old son Daniel in the Columbine shooting that changed the nation. Mauser made the trip from his Colorado home to Washington bringing with him a memory: two pairs of Daniel’s shoes, including the ones he wore when he became one of the 13 killed in the massacre at the high school in 1999. On Tuesday, the shoes became part of a display of 7,000 pairs of children’s shoes on display on the southeast lawn of the Capitol. Event organizers say the shoes represented the estimated gun deaths of children since Sandy Hook.

Van Hollen, Rubio seek ballot protections against foreign meddling

WASHINGTON – Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Marco Rubio of Florida are teaming up on a bill aimed at bolstering protections for U.S. elections against foreign interference. Van Hollen, a Democrat, and Rubio, a Republican, introduced the “Defending…