University students may not drink wine in the classiest fashion, but obtaining the fine beverages so many students enjoy may get easier next year.
The Baltimore Sun reports (using some groan-worthy puns):
Wine lovers are planning an all-out lobbying offensive in the General Assembly next year for passage of a law that would allow merchants and wineries to ship directly to Maryland consumers.
The issue has fermented for years in the legislature where a bill has been bottled up in committee, but wine producers and connoisseurs see an opportunity in the next session that begins in January. They say they have more funding and support, and they hope to draw votes by casting the bill as a pro-consumer issue that lawmakers can promote to voters before the 2010 election.
Advocates for the bill feel it has an excellent chance of passage. The main group working in support of the legislation has seen its membership grow tenfold over the past year.
In other Annapolis-related news, The Diamondback’s favorite state senator, Eastern Shore Republican Andy Harris, seems to have a primary challenger he just can’t get rid of. Centrist Republican E.J. Pipkin looks ready to challenge Harris in the 1st Congressional District primary, according to The Sun’s Paul West, upsetting Republicans who fear another bitter primary battle. Harris was able to knock off incumbent Wayne Gilchrest in the primary last time, but Frank Kratovil won the seat, with large thanks to endorsements from Gilchrest’s chief of staff and wife.
Quick Hits
- More and more elite high school students are going to community college, largely because of the economy, The Washington Post’s Daniel de Vise reports.
- Someone who stole a radio from a faculty lounge at Iowa’s Clarke College 55 years ago recently anonymously sent $500 and a letter of apology to the school’s president.