Good morning, Washington. Happy October, and happy new fiscal year. A noticeable drop in temperature this weekend reminds us it’s not too long before we’ll witness a noticeable shift in hues. Some may mourn the loss of warmer days but nearly all of us can look forward to approaching shades of autumn. What the new fiscal year will bring is far less certain.

Photo by jeffq Meet Walter Carl Abbott, Jr. He’s the kind of Lou Dobbs-loving, manly-man Maryland construction worker who blames everything that’s wrong in this country on illegal immigrants. In fact, he feels so strongly about illegal immigration that last year, he decided to send an email to Gov. Martin O’Malley about it. Unfortunately for Abbott, the email included this phrase: “If I ever get close enough to you I will [w]rap my hands…

The Washington Post reports that the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee rejected Gov. Martin O’Malley’s bill to repeal the death penalty, the latest turn in the state’s long back-and-forth history on capital punishment. It’s hardly the last. In fact, it’s not even the last legislative push Maryland will see before spring. The Senate committee split on O’Malley’s repeal bill, by a vote of 5 to 5. Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R-Harford), a death penalty supporter,…

Md. Gov. Martin O’Malley was also a big winner last night, as Marylanders voted overwhelmingly to legalize slot machine gambling in the state. O’Malley will now move quickly to install up to 15,000 slot machines at five locations around the state: Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Cecil, Worcester and Allegany counties. The success of the ballot measure also means that we finally get to stop reading sanctimonious articles about how gambling is sooooo bad. Let…