Apolitical Juice Blender: Pay Raises for PG Politicians, Shorter Sentences for MoCo Criminals // Plus, a Curfew Update

UPDATE: The Washington Blade has additional details about the Howard County gender discrimination bill, as well as its supporters and opposition (which includes former candidate for D14 Delegate Vanessa Ali from MoCo).

Here's a random blend of apolitical tidbits from recent news, starting with a Washington Post article discussing a scheduled pay raise for politicians in Prince George's County and other area governments:

Apolitical Juice #1: The Prince George’s County Council and county executive, already among the highest paid county government officials in Maryland, are due for a 3.4 percent raise next month. The increase comes at a time when public employees are enduring pay freezes and unpaid furloughs to plug local government budget gaps....

In Prince George’s, three council members said they will return their raises or donate them to charity. County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), whose salary is slated to increase from $174,539 to $180,473, said Tuesday that he will either turn back the raise to the government or donate it to a nonprofit group.... Prince George’s council members are paid $96,417.... In Prince George’s, council members have taken different approaches to handling the raise....

The Post proceeded to compare Prince George's handling of elected officials' pay raises with the actions of Montgomery and Howard Counties:

Dueling Anonymous Lawmakers on the Trial of Senator Ulysses Currie // Plus, A Quick Summary of the Case

UPDATE: The Gazette has an interesting analysis of whether the Prince George's Delegation will lose influence over these scandals. The experts seem to conclude: "Not really."

The investigation of Senator Ulysses Currie of Prince George's has loomed like a cloud over Annapolis. But now that the criminal trial has begun, Maryland Juice wanted to find out what this case was all about. After poking around, we summarized the case below and asked two anonymous legislators to comment on the severity of the charges: one from a legal perspective, and one from a political perspective.