The ACLU’s Jay Stanley acknowledges that he’s paid “to think about the ways this could go wrong” – but he said he’s thought of 10 issues that communities should think about before they let their local police use drones to respond to calls. Drone supporters said that they understand the concerns, but that police use of drones can help departments stretch their resources and improve their response times, while installing safeguards to protect peoples’ privacy rights.

It’s late summer, which means it’s Maryland State Fair season. The annual fair held in Baltimore County is returning for its 143rd installment, featuring carnival rides, animal shows — think alpacas and goats — and agricultural education. This year, the storied fair is scheduled for three weekends: Aug. 22-25, Aug. 29-Sept. 2 and Sept. 5-8. Gates open at 5 p.m. on Thursdays and 9 a.m. every other day.

Arundel Mills plans to implement a youth supervision policy next month. Starting on Sept. 6, the mall will require all visitors under 18 to be accompanied at all times by a parent or adult, 21 or older, after 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Youths who are unsupervised must leave the property by 3 p.m. on Fridays or Saturdays or immediately be joined by a parent or adult age 21 or older, according to the new policy.

An Annapolis business owner, one of many still feeling the impact from the massive flooding left by Tropical Storm Debby, is calling on the city to take action before a major storm hits. Sveinn Storm, owner of Storm Brothers Ice Cream along Annapolis’s City Dock for 48 years, says the city focuses on damage control after the storm has passed rather than getting a head start.

A leading regional environmental group is using the federal government’s latest study on the health of the Chesapeake Bay to push for more aggressive action in 2025 and beyond. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday released its latest biennial report charting progress on regionwide efforts to reduce pollution in the Bay.

A cadre of Republican and Democratic state’s attorneys have launched efforts to share case metrics not typically available to the public, and they’re doing so despite the prosecutors’ own professional organization opposing the idea. The projects already underway in Baltimore City and Charles, Frederick and Montgomery counties are done in consultation with criminal justice researchers from top universities and are backed by grant funding.

In December, a 42-year-old agricultural worker picking oranges in Arcadia, Florida, began acting erratically. The worker died of heat stroke, government records show. Last August, a 36-year-old roofer working in high heat index conditions in Pontiac, Illinois, returned to the roof after a break then became confused and collapsed. He was unresponsive and rescued from the roof but died of hyperthermia — an abnormally high body temperature.

Government advisers from both the public and private sectors are pushing for local officials to embrace the use of artificial intelligence for cybersecurity. “If you are not using AI within your cybersecurity framework, then I would argue that you’re not really doing cybersecurity,” Stephen Pereira, director of technology services and chief information officer for Calvert County, said during a panel discussion Wednesday.

A new bill in Congress would alter an 1851 shipping law to force the owners of the Dali to pay up. U.S. Reps. John Garamendi, a California Democrat, and Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, introduced the Justice for Victims of Foreign Vessel Accidents Act on Tuesday. The bill would retroactively increase the liability rate for damages by foreign vessels starting March 25, the day before the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, according to a news release from Garamendi’s office.

In the ongoing question of safety concerns within the city of Hagerstown, the parties attending a meeting convened Monday by Sen. Paul Corderman were, for the most part cordial — although there had been some controversy about who had been invited and who hadn’t. And after the meeting, a county official who did not attend continued to criticize the city government over its police department.