In just a few short hours, the Maryland General Assembly’s 2010 legislative session will be over! Sine die – the legislative procedure for calling a session to end – is upon us! After a slow start, the last two weeks have been a race to the finish. Here are some of the highlights from this [...]

Politico’s top story this fine holiday (Opening day, of course) Sunday is a piece comparing Governor Deval Patrick to President Obama, suggesting that perhaps Patrick’s defeat this November spells trouble for Obama in 2012.
There is little question that the two politicians share a series of uncanny similarities (although let’s be honest, Patrick was serving on corporate boards [...]

Last week, President Obama signed into law the first comprehensive health care bill in this nation’s history. Despite what many on the right say, the new law is not a radical socialist take-over of health care.

More than 70 years ago, President Truman proposed a national health care system to Congress. The American Medical Association, who opposed the bill for fear it would lower doctor wages, hired Whitaker and Baxter, a public relations firm, to mount an opposition campaign to Truman’s health care bill. When asked about the strategy, Clem Whitaker, the firm’s senior partner, [...]

The Maryland House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony this afternoon on the Governor’s Education bill, HB 1263 (aka SB 899). The bill would, among other things, lengthen the probationary period for teachers to obtain tenure from two years to three years, required annual evaluation of nontenured teachers and tie the evaluation of those teachers to student growth data

Yesterday was sex offender day in Annapolis. I, too, was a bit surprised to learn that the Maryland State Legislature has themed days but apparently they do. It was a rare day of bi-partisanship with most delegates showing their support for tougher sex offender laws.

Last Thursday I attended a lecture by Professor Beth Charlesbois entitled “Shakespeare in Prison.” Professor Charlesbois spoke about her sabbatical year working for the Prison Performing Arts. She spoke about the challenges and rewards of teaching Shakespeare to harden criminals and even, tearfully, read an eloquently written letter from an inmate of 26 years about how much the [...]

The State of Maryland was one of 10 States who did not submit an application to the Federal Department of Education for a ‘Race to the Top’ grant last week.
The Race to the Top is an effort by President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to encourage states to reform their education a laws to allow more Charter schools and to [...]

Welcome to The Political Point. Your source for all things politics. From the latest Board decision to what is going on in Annapolis to Capitol hill, The Political Point offers commentary on issues, key players and important moments. My hope is to cover a wide range of topics but to keep it to things that will interest St. Mary’s students.