Maryland Lawmakers File Lawsuit Against Governor After Reported Threat of Arrest

Americans Without Bank Accounts Must Wait for Federal Checks

NEW YORK—As the CCP virus crisis took hold, Akeil Smith’s employer slashed her work as a home health aide to 25 hours per week. Her $15-an-hour salary no longer provided enough to pay her $700 monthly rent, and she had to visit food pantries for groceries. While millions of U.S. workers have already received a quick relief payment from the federal treasury through direct deposit, Smith is among millions of others without traditional bank accounts who must wait weeks for paper checks. When the checks finally arrive, this disproportionately black and Hispanic population often has little choice but to use expensive check-cashing services to access the money. People maintain social distancing and wear protective masks due to COVID-19 concerns while waiting to enter a check cashing service center in the…

A group including Maryland lawmakers, pastors, and military members filed a lawsuit against Gov. Larry Hogan after he reportedly threatened to arrest a delegate who planned to speak at a protest on Saturday.

Delegate Dan Cox, a Republican, was going to address the crowd at the event, where people were gathered to protest Hogan’s stay-at-home order.

The order, implemented in March to try to slow the spread of the聽CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, forced the closure of so-called non-essential businesses and largely restricted people to staying at home.

Cox said he was warned by a senior law enforcement official that Hogan “has his sights on you” and that if he attended the protest he might be arrested, according to the suit (pdf). Cox received confirmation that he might be arrested from Hogan’s聽senior adviser Andrew Cassilly and Chief Counsel Mike Pedone.

Hogan’s office and the Maryland State Police didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Maryland Lawmakers File Lawsuit Against Governor After Reported Threat of Arrest

The officials referred to Logan’s order and said Cox could land up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

Cox with the suit is requesting “immediate relief permitting him to leave his home, speak and attend a political rally in Maryland in his political district and throughout Maryland.”

Other parties to the suit are also requesting relief from the lockdown, including a campground, an amusement park, and a military member.

“On behalf of thousands of Marylanders represented by 18 brave plaintiffs I regrettably had to file suit to seek to rein in the overreaching of the governor’s orders,” Cox said in a statement.

Delegate Neil Parrott, who joined the suit, said in a video statement that the executive branch is violating the Maryland Constitution. Hogan’s order requiring masks be worn in public is an example, he said.

Hogan responded to the suit on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, saying he was more alarmed with large crowds in the District of Columbia than those that gathered in Salisburg and Frederick.

“Sadly we had far more people die yesterday in Maryland than we had protesters,” he said.

Twenty-six patients were confirmed to have died overnight from COVID-19, the disease caused by聽the聽CCP virus, the state Department of Health said Sunday. Four others were described as probable COVID-19 deaths.

Pictures and video footage from the protests showed dozens of people rallying.

“Look we’re very anxious to get our state reopened in a safe way as soon as we possibly can, because people are getting frustrated, and they’ve been inside their homes,” Hogan said.

“Unfortunately the pressure is to do it in a not safe way and that’s something we’re very concerned about.”

Hogan, a Republican, is one of a dwindling number of governors who have not set a date that they will or hope to allow reopening to start. Dozens of governors across the country have loosened harsh restrictions to let some businesses restart.

The state has seen about 1,000 new confirmed CCP virus cases each day, according to state officials. As of Monday, 1,649 people were hospitalized with the new illness, including 563 in intensive care.

Nearly 1,700 patients have been released from isolation in the state, which has 26,408 confirmed cases.

The protests were led by a group called Reopen Maryland. Protesters told WMDT they believe all businesses are essential and asked for more transparency around the harsh orders.

“We鈥檙e asking for transparency in the models that he uses, we want to know the data and the decisions that he鈥檚 using and other things that he didn鈥檛 consider,” said Tim Walters, the chairman of the group.

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A sixth woman who lived at Our Lady of the Angels Convent in Greenfield, Wisconsin, tested positive for the聽CCP virus after her death, officials say. Sister Josephine Seier, 94, died on May 1. A medical examiner’s postmortem examination revealed she tested positive for COVID-19, the disease the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus causes, according to Michael O’Loughlin, communications director for School Sisters of St. Francis. The convent cares for retired religious sisters from the School Sisters of St. Francis and the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Seier’s death is the fourth among former nuns from the School Sisters of St. Francis, according to officials. The others are Sister Marie June Skender, 83, who died April 7; Sister Annelda Holtkamp, 102, who died April 19; and Sister Bernadette Kelter, 88, who…