CONGRESSIONAL MAP BACK IN COURT: Maryland’s infamously contorted congressional district map was challenged in federal court on Tuesday by an American University law student who says the boundaries violate the First Amendment rights of Republican voters, Bill Turque of the Post reports. The suit was thrown out by a federal judge in 2014, a decision upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. But the Supreme Court ruled in December that plaintiff Stephen Shapiro was improperly denied a hearing before a three-judge panel.
MOVEMENT TOWARD RX POT: The 15 marijuana growers and the first wave ofprocessors that together will launch Maryland’s medical marijuana industry could be chosen as soon as Aug. 5, writes Erin Cox in the Sun. The licensing decisions come after months of delay for the hundreds of applicants seeking to grow and process medical marijuana in Maryland.
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“We realize that everyone in this room, the industry and patients, are eager to get going,” said Paul W. Davies, chair of the Natalie M. LaPrade Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, at a public meeting Tuesday. “We don’t want to waste a day.” Daniel Leaderman reports for the Daily Record that the commission received more than 800 applications from entities looking to become marijuana growers, processors or dispensers in the state.