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Rick Hutzell

Rick

Rick Hutzell has worked as a journalist in Annapolis since 1987, and knows the city and its people about as well as anyone can. A native Marylander, Rick lives in Annapolis with his wife, Chara. They have two grown children and enjoy life in a city on the Chesapeake Bay.

The latest from Rick Hutzell

Hutzell: A little time travel helps explain Maryland’s power dilemma
COLUMN: Demand for more electricity shows no sign of slowing. It’s driven by the rapid growth of data centers, which power the AI behind Alexa and Gronk. As Gov. Wes Moore prepares his plan out of this mess, a look at the next decade explains what’s happening.
Transmission lines travel north from Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center, Constellation’s nuclear power plant in Lusby, Maryland.
Hutzell: Masked federal agents shot dead another protester. Maryland must ban the mask.
Column: America has always been a place of division. Haves, have-nots. Black, white, brown. Left and right. Up or down. Now here’s one more. Are you on the side of the phone video or the side of the mask?
A person is tackled by a federal agent amid protests following a shooting on January 24, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Federal agents shot and killed a protestor amid a scuffle to arrest him. The Trump administration has sent a reported 3,000 federal agents into the area, with more on the way, as they make a push to arrest undocumented immigrants in the region.
Hutzell: Winter storm is the first big test for Annapolis’ new mayor. He’s home sick.
COLUMN | As Annapolis Mayor Jared Littmann prepped Friday for the first big snowstorm in a decade, he was working from home with a bad cold. That doesn't mean city residents will cut him slack if the city’s response falls short.
Snow started to form on Weems Creek on Jan. 22, 2016, the first day of a snowstorm that dropped almost 30 inches on Annapolis. The storm set to start Sunday will be first test for the city's new mayor.
Hutzell: Democrats’ redistricting map sends Annapolis forward to its past
Column: Annapolis has been here before. If the General Assembly adopts the map revealed Tuesday by Gov. Wes Moore’s redistricting commission, it will hand Sarah Elfreth the task of knocking Andy Harris out of Congress.
A runner works out on the beach at Sandy Point State Park before sunrise on February 7, 2025.
7 things to do in Annapolis: Start your (virtual) engines
Sim racing is intended to get you as close as possible to strapping into an actual Formula 1 or GT car, flying around a track. With the opening of P1 Sim Racing Annapolis, the fast-growing esport comes to Annapolis.
Bryce Swarm, left, and JP Dwyer run a demonstration race in two of the cockpits at PS1 Sim Racing Annapolis. The rigs rely on a computer physics generator to match the use of steering wheels and pedals to images on the screen, sounds and motions.
Hutzell: Testifying at the State House? You’ve got 2 minutes to change the world.
Column: Thousands of people will testify before delegates and senators in Annapolis over the next several weeks, all trying to convince them to see the issues their way. Most have just two minutes to do it.
Caroline LaPere testifies in favor of the Pava Marie LaPere Act before the Maryland House of Delegates Judiciary Committee in Annapolis on Feb. 6, 2024. The Act is named for her daughter, who was killed in Baltimore in 2023.
Hutzell: As ICE activity rises in Annapolis, fear and warnings spread
Column: Parts of Annapolis have been waiting for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to switch tactics, bringing raids like those seen in places such as Washington, D.C., Portland and Minneapolis. They were ready when things changed on Tuesday.
A protester holds an anti-ICE sign during a protest above Interstate 695 in Catonsville.
7 things to do in Annapolis: Gov. Moore kicks off MLK weekend at awards banquet
When Gov. Wes Moore steps onto the podium at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner, he’ll follow a long line of honorees who have paid homage to the slain civil rights leader.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech to thousands of civil rights supporters gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963.
Hutzell: Steny Hoyer and the case for term limits
COLUMN | Now that Rep. Steny Hoyer is leaving Congress, quoting Shakespeare’s admonition “to thine own self be true” as he heads for the door, it’s worth asking: How much time is enough for one person?
U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer flashes a thumbs up before taking an elevator ride after an interview outside his office in the Longworth House Office Building next to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 3, 2025.
Hutzell: Annapolis is having a bluegrass moment
COLUMN | Annapolis has always been a musical city. Soul and blues, indie-folk singer-songwriters, rock, jazz, opera, chamber and orchestral music, and even bossa nova have crossed its stages. What is surprising then isn’t the presence of bluegrass. It’s the sudden sense that it’s everywhere.
Sarah Larsen leads the Black-Eyed Suzies, the musical hosts for the Annapolis Opry concert series starting Sunday. The band includes, from left, Colinda Blankenship on banjo, Jennifer Reynolds on guitar, Nicole Snider on mandolin and Molly Hebert-Wilson on bass.
7 things to do in Annapolis: Colonial Players opens curtain on 2026 with a family dramedy
Colonial Players kicks off the new year with a production of “Other Desert Cities,” a 2011 dark comedy that explores depression, addiction, family and memory. And other events in Anne Arundel County.
"Other Desert Cities" opens Friday at Colonial Players with, from left, Kaitlin Fish, Stephen Nickens, Rebecca Kyler Downs, James Gallagher and Debbie Barber-Eaton as a fracturing family on vacation.
Hutzell: 5 years after Jan. 6, Democrats should use the ‘I’ word again
COLUMN | Democrats, most likely, will pass on the slogan, “Impeach Trump: Third time’s the charm!” Yet the “I” word should play a role in the ride back to relevance in Washington — focused on the confederacy of rogues that surround him.
IN FLIGHT - NOVEMBER 14: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of press aboard Air Force One on November 14, 2025 while in flight from Washington, DC to West Palm Beach International Airport. Trump is scheduled to spend the weekend at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
Hutzell: Want answers on the ICE shooting in Glen Burnie? Don’t hold your breath.
COLUMN: Anne Arundel County Police will have to figure out not only what happened and why but whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents lied.
Investigators comb the scene of a shooting involving ICE agents on Christmas Eve in Glen Burnie.
Hutzell: ‘Family of Spies’ author took a risk. We’ll explore it at The Banner Book Club
Everyone has a story about their family they’d rather not share. None may be like Christine Kuehn’s. Her grandparents and her aunt were Nazi spies working against America at the dawn of World War II. We'll talk about her new book, "Family of Spies," at The Banner Book Club.
Maryland author Christine Kuehn will talk about her book, "Family of Spies," Jan. 6 at The Banner Book Club.
7 things to do in Annapolis: Start 2026 with a hike around a state or local park
If you’re looking for something to clear your head in 2026, consider a First Day Hike. It's one of seven great things to do in the coming week in and around Annapolis.
The sand at Sandy Point State Park is ochre, a color caused by the presence of iron ore.
Hutzell: Marc Elrich is Maryland’s top socialist. It’s not an insult.
COLUMN: When Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor of New York on Thursday, the city will become the largest local government in the United States led by a Democratic Socialist. Til then, Montgomery County holds the title.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich attends a breakfast for lawmakers and members of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington in Rockville.
Hutzell: 2025 by the numbers, according to me, for Annapolis and beyond
COLUMN | How do you count the ways the world went right and wrong? Here’s 2025 summed up, according to me, numerically.
U.S. Navy Security officers attend Gate 1 at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in September after the campus went on lockdown following reports of a shooting.
Is ‘The Baltimorons’ a Christmas movie? It depends which of our columnists you ask.
COLUMN| Is “The Baltimorons” a Christmas movie? Is it a Baltimore movie? Is it both? Columnists Leslie Gray Streeter and Rick Hutzell debate.
Columnists Leslie Gray Streeter and Rick Hutzell watch “The Baltimorons,” a Baltimore-based holiday movie recently released to streaming services.
7 things to do in Annapolis: 2025 countdown starts with one last parade
The Military Bowl Parade marches across Annapolis on Friday afternoon, the final processional of the year in a city that loves a good parade. It’s one of seven great things to do in the final week of 2025, along with concerts, walks and New Year’s Eve fireworks.
The Go Bowling Military Bowl Parade takes place Friday afternoon, moving up a day early because of an 11 a.m. kickoff Saturday.
Hutzell: How do you count 2025 layoffs in Maryland? The math is murky.
COLUMN | The number of 2025 layoffs in Maryland is harder to determine than you’d think. Yet it remains one of the ways the average person understands what’s happening in the economy.
Employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stand in line to enter the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building on April 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. Layoffs began earlier this week at the Health and Human Service Administration offices after it was announced last week that the Trump Administration plans to cut 10,000 jobs at HHS.
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