Around Maryland

The police department in Montgomery County, Maryland, has lost 194 officers over the past five years and now has a sworn vacancy rate of 14%. An analysis shows recent recruit classes have averaged 23 recruits each, “which remains too low to address current attrition,” according to the memorandum submitted to a county council committee Monday.

State health officials have placed their bid for Maryland to be among the first participants in a federal program that will help fund state initiatives to improve patient outcomes and bridge inequities, while constraining hospital and medical costs. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is rolling out the new States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development Model, called the AHEAD Model, and states are invited to apply for funding.

The Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit digital news publication that launched in 2022, is planning to expand its editorial coverage beyond Maryland’s biggest city into the surrounding regions and beyond, its new CEO Bob Cohn told Axios. Why it matters: Cohn sees a geographical expansion and more editorial investments in niche subject areas, like business, culture and tech, as key drivers for adding more digital subscribers.

More plans are underway for new houses in the city. The mayor and City Council on Tuesday discussed an agreement to sell several lots for $1 each to TeaBow Residential LLC, based in Washington, D.C., to increase housing stock in the municipality. Nearly a dozen of the lots are on Maryland Avenue, and several more are on Arch, Lee, Elder and Knox streets, and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Recreational cannabis is approaching a $1 billion dollar industry in Maryland. Now, the state is tasking counties with divvying up the tax revenue received from those sales. The Wicomico County Council is preparing to workshop legislation that would create a Cannabis Social Equity Fund, allocating tax revenue from pot sales to community groups that benefit those who have been most impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

The U.S. Senate voted, 50-47, on Tuesday to approve the nomination of Maryland labor lawyer Nicole G. Berner to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, making her the first openly LGBTQ+ judge on that court. The vote had been expected to be close. Her nomination had been narrowly approved, 11-10, on a party-line vote by the Judiciary Committee in January.

More rezoning could be coming to Baltimore County Public Schools. The Baltimore County Board of Education voted Tuesday to alter the boundaries for central-area elementary schools in an effort to ease overcrowding. The board voted unanimously to adopt the changes. “The purpose for this boundary study was to relieve schools projected to be overcrowded and to maximize use of available space in schools until more seats can be added in the region through the capital program,” BCPS chief operations officer Jess Grim said.

A handful of new security cameras and a shot-spotter detection system could be on the way to Pocomoke. The city’s police chief asked the city for the additional help at Monday night’s city council meeting. The hope is the additional technology could help, in part, with the departments challenges to recruit. “As every agency in America is finding this with a manpower shortage, you have to be creative and inventive on how you’re going to be proactive,” said Police Chief Arthur Hancock. “Technology, you know, it’s a big part of it in todays world.”

Over the last few months, Ginger Gilmore, 46, has watched the value of her food stamps decrease. She was getting $725 a month, which dropped to $600, then $500 and now $430, she said. She also has a limited income, since she receives disability checks and can’t work due to health problems, something she’s dealt with her whole life.