Executive Race, Equifax Breach, & New Carrollton

I TOLD Y’ALL LAST YEAR that Rep. Donna Edwards was going to run in the Prince George’s County Executive race. Check the receipts. On the blog’s April 27th episode, political analyst Neal Carter spilled the tea.  What do you all think? Can she win against this crowded field of democrats? There’s State Senator C. Anthony Muse, States Attorney Angela Alsobrooks, Former Obama DOJ appointee Paul Monteiro, and Robert S. Lewis. According to the Gonzales Research and Media Services poll taken a month ago, Alsobrooks is ahead (today) in a race with the aforementioned contenders; it was assumed that Edwards would enter the race. What surprised me about the poll is that Muse is doing quite poorly. Maryland Matters reported, “In the initial ballot test, Alsobrooks was favored by 37 percent of Democrats, compared to 33 percent for Edwards, 8 percent for Muse and 1 percent for Monteiro. Twenty-one percent of survey respondents were undecided.” Gerron Levi ran for the democratic nomination in 2010; guess she’s hoping for another chance.I believe in 2nd chances and 3rd, and 4th, and 88th chances; you get my drift. But I don’t know if I believe in giving Councilman Mel Franklin and the chance to continue representing Prince George’s County at this time. If I see that Mel Franklin ad ONE MORE TIME, OH-EM-GEE it is everywhere.

Everywhere I click, there he is trying to convince me to vote for him. Yes folks, I get that he is a “nice” guy, from what I’m told, but he still has the stench of drunk driving on his breath. Maybe he should take a break from public office and get some help with whatever’s driving him to drive under the influence. Former Maryland State Delegate Gerron Levi  is also running for the at-large seat. Meanwhile, County Executive Rushern Baker is scoring higher in the Goucher College Poll than that of the MANY democratic contenders for the MD Governor’s race.

Equifax Breach and Marylanders’ right to a FREE “credit freeze.”

A credit freeze prevents anyone from seeing your credit report without your express permission; the freeze remains in effect until you remove it.  If a potential creditor can’t see your credit report, they are less likely to open a new credit card, cellphone, utility or other account at the request of an identity thief.  A new Maryland law, which went into effect Oct. 1st,  only waives the fees for freezing a credit report, but not the fees for temporarily “thawing” or lifting the freeze for a credit report if the consumer needs to apply for credit, rent an apartment, or engage in another transaction in which the credit report needs to be reviewed.  The fee for temporarily thawing a credit report is $5 for each credit bureau, but creditors generally only need to review one bureau’s report. 

Equifax’s data breach affects more than 143 million consumers and they are currently offering free credit freezes to consumers.  To place a credit freeze through Equifax, consumers  may go to https://www.freeze.equifax.com or by calling 1-800-685-1111. Consumers may also freeze their reports with the other two major credit bureaus, Experian and TransUnion.  Information about placing freezes with those bureaus may be found at www.experian.com/freeze and https://annualcreditreport.transunion.com/fa/securityfreeze/landing.

New Carrollton News

Kaiser Permanente broke ground on what will be a 176,000 sq. ft. Mid-Atlantic headquarters situated near the New Carrollton Metro/Amtrak hub.  The facility is set to open in November 2018 and will bring more than 800 new jobs to the New Carrollton Kaiser headquarters. This is another phase of a 71-acre New Carrollton Mixed-Use development project originally approved in 2010. New swanky apartment dwelling, The Remy, has opened at 7730 Harkins Rd in Lanham, MD 20706. The place has a salt-water pool, movie screening room, entrance that leads to New Carrollton Metro, foosball. *screeech* Yes I said foosball and no I don’t know anyone who plays but it is an amenity none the less. My point is this: New Carrollton is another hotspot in the county. Buy in early. Construction on the Purple Line light-rail system has started after miraculously receiving Governor Hogan’s blessing (I know there’s a mighty fine story behind his & the courts sudden change of heart)

More news coming up on the Central Avenue Corridor development and Branch Avenue. Thanks for reading.