The Washington Post on Mar 03, 2010 - Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley called Tuesday for more training efforts to prepare the workforce to meet an expected surge in jobs requiring certification beyond a high school diploma but less than a bachelor's degree. "We want to raise the bar on skills training," so that more residents will have the qualifications needed to get hired, O'Malley said at a news conference at Prince George's Community College in Largo. "Our citizens need jobs, our businesses will increasingly need skilled employees," he said, adding that he wants to boost the number of workers prepared to fill middle-skill jobs by 20 percent in two years.
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Baltimore Sun on Mar 02, 2010 - Gov. Martin O'Malley will announce plans to help workers navigate a network of existing training programs and funding. During the event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, O'Malley plans to discuss access to education and training beyond high school.
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Baltimore Sun on Mar 02, 2010 - Editorial - Our view: Gov. O'Malley's compromise strengthens the unemployment insurance trust fund, protects employers.
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WJZ on Mar 01, 2010 - Video - Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley was in Baghdad visiting Maryland-based soldiers and members of the Maryland National Guard.
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WBAL on Mar 01, 2010 - Video - Gov. Martin O'Malley was in Iraq on a Defense Department-sponsored goodwill trip to visit Maryland troops and discussed his mission with 11 News.
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The Gazzette on Feb 25, 2010 - As Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown walked through Oxon Hill Elementary School on Feb. 17 — watching several classes being held simultaneously in an open area due to a lack of funding for partitions — he said it was clear that facility updates were needed. The kindergarten through sixth-grade school has 22,000 square feet of open-space classroom, meaning there are no walls or partitions to separate most classes. Brown was on hand Wednesday to present a $2.1 million check from the state to the school to fund the costs of enclosing the classrooms. This check comes as part of the $28 million the school system is receiving for school construction this fiscal year to be used for school repairs and improvements.
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Politico on Feb 22, 2010 - A chorus of Democratic governors called on Congress Saturday to quickly pass what the executives see as a modest jobs bill the Senate is set to vote on this week – but then move quickly to send additional aid to their states. “Whatever they think is appropriate, as long as they do it quickly,” said Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, the vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association, at an afternoon press conference. “Don’t look for a comprehensive solution in just one fell swoop that everybody can agree upon. There isn’t one. Take the steps. Fight the fight. Call the votes. Fight the battles one at a time. We might not win every one, but the people of our country need to see us fighting for that. And right now, that fight is for jobs.” O’Malley called on congressional leaders to force Republicans to take uncomfortable votes against measures they've supported in the past. He thinks that would help Democratic candidates on the ballot this year, including him, argue that the G.O.P. is putting politics before job creation.
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Baltimore Sun on Feb 22, 2010 - President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser told governors Sunday that federal agencies still aren't sharing enough critical information with state and local officials, more than eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks. John Brennan, the president's special assistant for homeland security, said information-sharing has improved since 2001. But "we still have a long way to go," he said. "We're not there yet, certainly." Brennan made the remarks in response to a question from Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, at the first meeting of a new National Governors Association committee on homeland security and public safety. O'Malley, who chairs the panel, said the continuing lack of information-sharing among federal and state law enforcement and intelligence agencies remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks to improving the nation's ability to respond to terrorist incidents or keep them from happening in the first place.
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Baltimore Sun on Feb 18, 2010 - Editorial - Our view: Correctional officers need every tool available to maintain security behind bars. There's a growing sense among the nation's correctional institutions that the most dangerous contraband being smuggled into prisons isn't drugs, and it's not weapons. It's cell phones. They're turning up by the thousands in prison cells in Maryland and across the nation, and they're being used to coordinate criminal activity behind bars and on the outside. The ability of correctional officers to communicate and coordinate their activities has long been a key advantage in their efforts to maintain order and safety behind bars, said Maryland Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services Gary D. Maynard, and that advantage is rapidly being neutralized. Authorities in Maryland have gone to extraordinary lengths to try to crack down on the problem -- including the use of cell phone-sniffing dogs -- but they haven't been able to take the most obvious step: jamming the cell phone signals. The Federal Communications Commission has long held that a law dating back to decades before the invention of the cell phone prohibits signal jamming by anyone except a few federal agencies. Prison officials are salivating for the technology, but they haven't been allowed to do so much as test it. Until yesterday, that is. Federal officials tested cell phone jamming technology at a federal prison near Cumberland, and Maryland officials are hoping that if it is successful, it could lead to a move in Congress to overturn the ban.
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Cumberland Times News on Feb 18, 2010 - Gov. Martin O’Malley toured American Woodmark’s local cabinet manufacturing plant Wednesday, telling management there that state and federal legislation he envisions could result in substantial tax breaks for the company when it hires new employees. O’Malley said he is hoping for a state-level tax break of $3,000 and a $5,000 break on the federal level for each employee hired.
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The effects of the nation's economic hardship are hitting Maryland hard. We're fighting every day to protect Maryland’s families during these tough economic times. We’re also working every day to make sure that government and its programs work for people.
