LAWMAKERS CRITICIZE REPORT THAT SHOWS DROP IN YOUTH CRIME: A day after the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services released a report showing statewide youth crime has decreased over the past decade, some state lawmakers criticized the findings in a legislative hearing Wednesday. Lee O. Sanderlin/The Baltimore Sun.
- The most intensely debated issue before the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee is a relatively new law that governs how police officers can question minors. The Child Interrogation Protection Act requires that a parent or guardian be notified before police can question a minor in custody, and the child must be given a chance to speak to an attorney. Pamela Wood and Brenda Wintrode/The Baltimore Banner.
FINANCIAL SHORTFALL PROJECTED FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS: Maryland’s pending list of ambitious transportation projects — the Red Line in Baltimore, a Southern Maryland transit way and a new American Legion Bridge over the Potomac River — faced a brutal financial reality Wednesday: Officials said there’s not enough money to pay for projects already approved. Erin Cox and Ian Duncan/The Washington Post.
TOLLS COULD INCREASE FOR MARYLAND BRIDGES, TUNNELS: Using one of Maryland’s toll bridges and tunnels could become more expensive. The state has not seen an increase in tolls in more than a decade. Joseph Sagal, executive director of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said that era, which included two toll reductions, may be at an end within the next four years. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
MOORE STANDS BY BLUEPRINT DESPITE LOW SCORES: While acknowledging low performance scores largely related to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Wes Moore stood in firm support of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education policy at a town hall hosted by Maryland Public Television on Wednesday afternoon. Hannah Gaskill/The Baltimore Sun.
- You can view the Jeff Salkin’s interview with Gov. Moore by clicking here.
VICTIM’s MOTHER’s TESTIMONY STOPS B’MORE COUNCIL MEETING: The Baltimore City Council meeting was brought to a tearful stop with the emotional testimony of Krystal Gonzalez, whose 18-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, was killed when gunfire erupted at the Brooklyn Day block party in the early hours of July 2. Emily Hofstaedter/WYPR-FM.
- Gonzalez relayed how she felt reading the internal review by the Baltimore Police Department, and took particular issue with the comments from Foxtrot, the agency’s air unit. In the hours before the shooting, the helicopter unit radioed to officers that there was “nothing suspicious” about the growing crowd, and that everything appeared normal. “I challenge you, what is your normal?” Gonzalez asked, her voice strained. “‘Let them take each other out.’ Is that your normal?” Ben Conarck and Adam Willis/The Baltimore Banner.
HUNDREDS PROTEST FREDERICK SCHOOLS GENDER POLICIES: In what was advertised as a “rally for parents’ rights,” hundreds of people gathered outside the Frederick County Board of Education meeting on Wednesday during a pair of passionate — and at times tense — demonstrations related to the district’s gender identity policies, which, among other things, directs school employees to use students’ preferred names and pronouns, and says school employees will keep a student’s gender identity private, not disclosing it to the student’s parents or guardians, unless the child consents to sharing it. Jillian Atelsek/The Frederick News Post.
MOMS FOR LIBERTY WINNING BOOK BAN FIGHT IN CARROLL COUNTY: Carroll County Public Schools can’t keep up with a flood of requests to review 56 school library books by a group of parents who oppose their content, so the superintendent has temporarily taken them off the shelves. Flooding the queue is the conservative parents-rights group Moms for Liberty, whose Carroll County chapter has joined its nationwide call for stricter school library book selection, targeting titles with sexual content, in particular. The number of Maryland school systems seeing pushes to remove books from their libraries is growing. Kristen Griffith/The Baltimore Banner.
STATE SUPREMES LIFT BAN ON AIRING COURT AUDIO RECORDINGS: A ban on broadcasting court audio recordings in Maryland will end Jan. 1, after the state’s highest court approved new rules regarding the release of court recordings. The Maryland Supreme Court approved the change during a meeting Tuesday. The Associated Press.
HIGHER ED PANEL RE-REVIEWS STEVENSON DOCTORAL PROGRAM: For the fourth time this year, the Maryland Higher Education Commission met to decide whether to allow a state university to move forward with a new degree program over the objection of another institution. But Wednesday marked the second time the commission reviewed a proposal from Stevenson University to create a physical therapy doctoral program. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
RAVENS A SILENT PARTY TO ORIOLES LEASE NEGOTIATIONS: A 31-year-old rule nicknamed the “anti-chump clause” makes the Ravens a significant, if silent, party to the Orioles’ ongoing lease negotiations by mandating that the state can’t treat one team better than the other. Under the parity clause, the state is like a parent legally bound to love each of its children the same. Jeff Barker/The Baltimore Sun.
B’MORE COUNCIL CHIDES HOMELESS SERVICES’ LOSS OF $10M IN FED FUNDS: The Baltimore City Council took city employees with the Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services to task Tuesday over $10 million in federal funds that the city forfeited and decadeslong problems with a program that is supposed to house the city’s homeless population. Emily Opilio/The Baltimore Sun.
