Around Maryland

Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich says he is looking within the county police department for a candidate to replace retiring Chief Marcus Jones. Elrich announced his intentions in a letter sent Monday to the County Council, noting that he is considering internal candidates because he believes the department is “heading in the right direction,” though it is facing challenges, including with staffing and recruitment.

The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) today launched its “Climate Focused Funding Portal” for project proposals looking to reduce carbon emissions. The state will receive $94 million over five years, with $55 million available this year. The funds are authorized through the Federal Highway Administration’s Carbon Reduction Program established in President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Next month, there will be a series of three forums where Montgomery County, Maryland, parents and residents can discuss what they want to see from the next school superintendent. On Friday, the county’s Board of Education announced that it is beginning the formal “nationwide search” for a successor to former Superintendent Monifa McKnight, who stepped down in February with two years remaining on her contract.

Baltimore Police Commissioner Rich Worley plans to increase traffic stops for traffic violations in the coming weeks. Worley spoke Sunday morning with Jayne Miller on WBAL NewsRadio 1090 AM and 101.5 FM about a variety of topics, including having his officers increase traffic stops for traffic violations. “Part of the reason is, not only the fact that we’re disregarding the signs and the speed limits and the stop signs and the parking signs, but the fact that we have vehicles speeding that are causing more fatal crashes and severe injuries,” Worley said.

Maryland officials plan to spend tens of millions of dollars for another contract extension with a troubled prison health provider. The state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services is proposing to spend nearly $125 million to continue having YesCare provide medical care to the 20,000 people in state-run jails and prisons through the end of the year. It comes after the state extended the contract three months past the end of the prior contract Dec. 31.

There’s little historians know about Maryland’s early colonial past. So, when archaeologists in St. Mary’s City uncovered a nearly 400-year-old piece of battle gear last month, researchers celebrated. “This was definitely an exciting moment. Our eyebrows rose,” said Travis Parno, director of research and collections at Historic St. Mary’s City, told WTOP. “We were whooping and hollering. It was really dramatic.”

Northwood Presbyterian Church is, in a sense, a kind of home. People have gotten married in the cinder block building. They’ve sat with their kids in the pews and watched the Rev. Chris Deacon deliver sermons beneath the stained-glass cross for years. But as the 15,000-square-foot church, which sits on seven acres on the edge of Silver Spring, Md., has seen its congregation shrink from 400 at its first service in 1958 to just above 100 in recent years, Deacon and his colleagues believe the church could be used to house people in a more literal way.

Anne Arundel County — which has pursued innovative ways to reduce gun violence — is partnering with the Chase Your Dreams Initiative on a weekend of events aimed at engaging with and educating young people about the problem. The dialogue on Saturday and Sunday will focus on the causes of gun violence and promoting solutions that help create safer communities, according to the Gun Violence Prevention Celebrity Weekend website.