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 Daily Record reports that starting next year, the public will be able to obtain copies of audio recordings and disseminate or broadcast them, though the recordings will first be subject to a redaction process to shield sensitive information.

Montgomery County developers and realtors are concerned the rent stabilization bill (Bill 15-23) passed by the County Council in July could deter new multifamily development, reduce rental housing stock and have the opposite effect lawmakers sought. The impact the new legislation – which City Council officials say will start being enforced in late Spring 2024 – will have on development in the county ­is largely unknown.

 

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.

Pizza bar Locals Only is now open at 25 E. Cross St. in Federal Hill. The new business fills a space that was recently Pretty Awesome Live Music (P.A.L.M.) and Social Pub. Locals Only is a concept by Federal Hill hospitality veteran Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler was a partner at The Charles in Federal Hill before the ownership group sold it to a new owner in recent weeks. Wheeler also worked at Mad River in the same building.

The U.S. House and Senate are both back in D.C. on Tuesday following a long summer recess, facing an overwhelming agenda of unfinished work — funding the federal government and reauthorizing major programs set to expire at the end of the month. Congressional leaders and President Joe Biden have only a few weeks to broker a short-term spending deal that can gain votes from deeply divided members of Congress or spark a partial government shutdown before a Sept. 30 deadline. Far-right House Republicans already are insistent on big cuts in spending levels at odds with bipartisan Senate legislation.

 

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. The state’s transportation trust fund is $2.1 billion short of what’s needed to build the existing $21 billion plan of transportation projects on the books, state officials said.

Gov. Wes Moore fended off questions Tuesday on whether he’ll run in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary during an interview with global news organization Semafor, saying he had no interest in higher office and turning the subject to his nontraditional political background. “I think it’s really important for people to remember that I am probably the most improbable governor in this country,” Moore said in answer to the first question from Semafor Co-founder and Editor-at-large Steve Clemons.

Carjackings and handgun violations by young people have skyrocketed since 2020 in Maryland, but overall youth violence has been declining for more than a decade, mirroring a national trend, a new Maryland Department of Juvenile Services report shows. Agency head Vincent N. Schiraldi released the 33-page report Tuesday, pushing back against what he says appears to be a perception that Maryland exited the pandemic gripped by a youth crime wave.

If you’re like me, you’ve been keeping a wary eye on the forecast to see if Hurricane Lee is going to be a pain. If you’re not like me, well, be more like me. It can be hard to distinguish between the real danger and overhyped social media feeds or breathless TV news updates. But yes, Maryland does experience these tropical storms and hurricanes. We’re not Florida, to be sure, but it happens.

Like many Marylanders, I am concerned about the violence that occurs at the hands of our young people. We turn on the news and are bombarded with sensationalized coverage of it every day. The fear of such violence appears more widespread than ever, and that fear has given way to false narratives. But we can’t solve the problem if we aren’t working from reality.