JUVENILE JUSTICE LAWS MAY UNDERGO REFORMS: Maryland officials are grappling with whether the state needs reforms to its juvenile justice laws as another summer punctuated by shootings, car thefts and other crimes involving young people comes to a close. Pamela Wood, Brenda Wintrode and Ben Conarck/The Baltimore Banner.
JUVENILE CRIMES IN OVERALL DECLINE: The state Department of Juvenile Services has released a report breaking down a decade of statewide data on youth crime. Titled “Putting Youth Crime in Maryland in Context,” the report shows offenses committed by young people make up a small portion of all crimes statewide. It also shows that those crimes committed by young people, which have seen an uptick since the pandemic years, are still down from pre-pandemic levels — part of a roughly decadelong overall decline. Darcy Costello/The Baltimore Sun.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT POTENTIAL ARCHDIOCESE BANKRUPTCY: Should the Archdiocese of Baltimore file for bankruptcy, as Archbishop William Lori says it is considering, what will that mean for Maryland’s Catholics. First thing to know is that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy has become a go-to legal defense in the litigation playbook for entities accused of corporate malfeasance and sexual abuse, the latter of which the Catholic Church has been plagued with. Hallie Miller/The Baltimore Banner.
MORE SIGN ON TO ARUNDEL GUN LAW: Gun rights nonprofit Maryland Shall Issue appealed a federal judge’s decision to uphold an Anne Arundel County law requiring gun sellers to hand out pamphlets on suicide prevention and safe gun storage. Since then more than 20 parties have filed amicus briefs defending the county’s bill. Dana Munro/The Capital Gazette.
STATE LAUNCHES SUICIDE PREVENTION INITIATIVE: Over the past five years, more than 3,000 Marylanders died by suicide. In an effort to save lives, the Maryland Department of Health launched an awareness initiative Monday. The Office of Suicide Prevention within the Maryland Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Administration effort includes the release of “Connecting to Hope,” a suicide prevention awareness “toolkit.” Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
OPINION: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE ON SUICIDE PREVENTION: September is National Suicide Awareness Month. Since my mom, an Air Force veteran, died by suicide in March 2018, I’ve spent the past five years wondering what more I could have done. After beginning my role earlier this year as Maryland’s secretary of veterans affairs, I began to see my mom’s death from a new perspective. What I’ve learned is this: Suicide is not just about the mental health challenges faced by the person who takes their own life, and suicide can be prevented with improved policies and public health systems. Anthony Woods/The Baltimore Banner.
TRONE CALLS FOR END OF IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT IN FREDERICK: U.S. Rep. David Trone has asked the U.S Department of Homeland Security to end the 287(g) immigration enforcement program in Frederick County. Trone wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office has faced reports of civil rights violations and shouldn’t be allowed to continue its partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Gabrielle Bienasz/The Frederick News Post.
McCLAIN-DELANEY TO RUN FOR HUSBAND’s FORMER HOUSE SEAT: April McClain-Delaney, an attorney who most recently has been a high-ranking official in the Biden administration’s Commerce Department, plans to announce in October that she is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the District 6 congressional seat, which from 2012 to 2018 was by her husband, John Delaney. Louis Peck and Ginny Bixby/MoCo 360.
B’MORE ADVOCATES LOOK AT LARGESSE TO STADIUMS: The coalition of religious leaders overseeing improvements to East Baltimore neighborhoods – where the homicide rate has plunged, vacant homes have been renovated, property values are rising and new residents have arrived without displacing existing ones – wants to tackle the city’s crisis of empty lots and vacant homes. Manyhave balked at the plan’s estimated price tag: $2.5 billion in government bonds. But community leaders wish people could see the same value in Baltimore’s neighborhoods that they see in the Ravens and Orioles stadiums, which are slated to receive $1.2 billion of public money in the coming years. Politicians, they say, can find money if they want to. Giacomo Bologna and Hayes Gardner/The Baltimore Sun.
MO CO COUNCILMEMBER FACES STYLE FAUX PAS: Democrat Kristin Mink’s in-your-face brand of progressivism was a selling point during her campaign for the District 5 seat on Montgomery County Council, which highlighted her public confrontations with the likes of then-EPA chief Scott Pruitt. But Mink’s comments have also boomeranged on her. Ginny Bixby/MoCo 360.
TWO UM COLLEGES CHALLENGE HOPKINS DOCTORAL PROGRAM: The Johns Hopkins University’s proposal for a doctoral physical therapy program hangs in limbo as the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore and the University of Maryland, Baltimore claim the prospective degree is duplicative of their own programs and would cause them harm. Sabrina LeBoeuf/The Baltimore Sun.
