Free Republic

Is fighting sprawl still a goal for those who decide the fate of transportation funding at the federal, state and local levels?Transportation planning is deeply connected to economic development, but there in any agreement about transportation funding among government leaders often ends.Parag Khanna, a senior public policy analyst in Singapore and author of “Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization,” summarized the political divide over transportation planning like this: “America is increasingly divided not between red states and blue states, but between connected hubs and disconnected backwaters.”But division that stymies transportation planning goes further. Government leaders have always been divided...

It’s hard to know whether Maryland’s Intercounty Connector, also known as the ICC and Route 200, will ever become informally known as Ehrlich Highway or the Ehrlich Connector, but it now has a shot. On Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) dedicated the 18.8-mile toll road to his Republican predecessor and onetime boss, former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., whom he credited with reviving and championing a road mired for decades in political controversy. “It wasn’t until Governor Bob Ehrlich made it a top priority of his administration that the Intercounty Connector project finally moved forward and became a reality,”...

Concerning Obama’s Hampton University speech, just one observation. I don’t care so much about the down-home accent and style. Lots of people slip into different skins, for different purposes. It isn’t necessarily hypocritical or wrong. (That said, I’m not eager to hear Hillary Clinton’s “black voice” again. Will we be treated to it when she runs in 2016?)What is damnable about Obama’s Hampton speech is this: It perpetrates a racial lie. It furthers racial grievance and alienation. It hardens division in our society. It increases bitterness and mistrust.The charge that President Bush and Republicans generally were indifferent to black...

Filed at 7:25 p.m. ET ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Following through on a campaign promise, Gov.-elect Robert Ehrlich said he will lift Maryland's moratorium on the death penalty immediately after taking office in January. Lifting the ban Gov. Parris Glendening declared in May could mean as many as seven inmates would be executed in Ehrlich's first year in office. Ehrlich, who made the announcement Friday, said the governor should review the case of each person on death row individually, rather than issuing a blanket moratorium. Death penalty opponents said they will try to persuade Ehrlich to wait to lift the...

Maryland's governor is defending himself against criticism over his calling the sniper a "coward." Parris Glendening made the comment at a news conference last week. That led to complaints that the name killing might have taunted the sniper to continue his deadly ways. But Glendening tells WJLA he doesn't think his comments played any role at all. He says he made the "coward" remark as what he calls as a "gut response." The governor is also urging a quick return to normalcy, while being as careful as possible. Glendening includes the resumption of school sporting events in that, and says...

Attorney Peter G. Angelos will receive $150 million over five years for his work on Maryland's tobacco lawsuit under a deal with Gov. Parris N. Glendening that will end an unseemly three-year fight between the state's top Democrats and their party's biggest financial contributor. While some elements were still being negotiated, the governor said he had reached an "agreement in principle" with Angelos to settle a dispute that could have cost the state much more. Angelos has long claimed he was owed at least $1 billion in the case. In 1996, he signed a contingency fee contract that said his...