Multimedia: Gansler on dogfighting
July 17, 2008
At a press conference in Reisterstown earlier today, Attorney General Doug Gansler and the Humane Society of the United States announced a crackdown on illegal animal fighting.
Up to $5,000 will be given to anyone who provides information which leads to an arrest or conviction of someone involved in illegal animal fighting.
The announcement comes a year after former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was indicted on federal dogfighting charges and two years after a Texas pitbull breeder was killed for the $100,000 he had won at a fight. Vick accepted a plea agreement last August and was sentenced to 23 months in jail.
A pitbull terrier named Kane was brought outside the Humane Society during the press conference as an example of a dog that is used for dogfighting.
This dog was about as gentle and friendly as you could get. With an array of cameras pointed in his direction, Kane continued to munch on the grass – and later spit up a wad of it during Gansler’s speech.
In Maryland, dogfighting is most prevalent in Baltimore City.
View a video of the press conference below.
RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter
Video: Gansler tours Chester River
April 17, 2008
Photographer Eric Stocklin joined Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler on a boat tour of the Chester River yesterday, a body of water shared by Kent and Queen Anne’s County on the Eastern Shore.
The group was led by Tom Leigh of the Chester River Association, who presented findings on the health of the river.
A recent report by the state Dept. of Natural Resources on Maryland’s major tributaries identified five threats to water quality in the basin; the Chester River was rated “severely stressed” in four of them and “moderately stressed” in the fifth.
Gansler, you may know, has started a campaign (PDF) to look for ways to cut pollution in state waterways.
Would teen voters make a difference?
December 20, 2007
Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler now says 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote in the Feb. 12 primaries as long as they will be 18 by the general election.
| Maryland | 2002 | 2004 |
| Total voter turnout | 46.6% | 59.7% |
| 18 to 24 | 19.5% | 42.9% |
| 25 to 44 | 37.0% | 52.5% |
| 45 to 64 | 56.4% | 70.9% |
| 65 to 74 | 65.1% | 67.9% |
| 75+ | 63.1% | 60.1% |
That used to be Maryland’s policy — until Gansler advised the Maryland State Board of Elections that a December 2006 opinion by the Court of Appeals, which struck down an early voting statute, suggested the practice was illegal.
In the latest advisory opinion, Gansler stood by the first interpretation but said it’s outweighed by the First Amendment rights of the 17-going-on-18-year-olds.
But here’s the question: even if the policy is changed back, how big a difference will it make? A quick look at U.S. Census Bureau statistics indicates that young people don’t, in fact, rock the vote: Although the 18-to-24 age group dramatically increased in voter turnout from the 2002 to 2004 elections, it still remains the lowest in the state.
Will this proposed change make a difference? Or, in the long run, is it not about numbers but about a constitutional right?
Liz Farmer, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentMore on Gonzales as “Lawyer of the Year”
December 14, 2007
Apparently, not everyone got that the ABA Journal’s “Lawyer of the Year” is kind of like Time’s “Person of the Year.” In other words: no, people, this is not an award honoring the erstwhile AG for being such a mensch.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Wilkins for AG?
August 28, 2007
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has suggested to the White House that William W. Wilkins be appointed as attorney general to replace Alberto Gonzales, South Carolina’s State newspaper reports.
The conservative Wilkins, 65, is the former chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Maryland. He took senior status (subscriber-only) in July.
The South Carolina Appellate Law blog, which closely follows all things 4th Circuit, blogged briefly about the prospect of an AG Wilkins here.
-CARYN TAMBER, Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
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