Around Maryland

Auditors keep a close eye on school district contracting in Maryland — and if you’re wondering why, just look at what happened in May in Montgomery County. After auditors raised suspicions, the district’s former assistant director of transportation pleaded guilty to stealing over $320,000 from the county’s school system over a span of at least five years by misusing district purchasing cards and mismanaging a contract for the purchase of school buses.

Free gun safety locks are now available at all 15 open public library branches in Anne Arundel County. The pilot program began in April when gun safety locks were made available to county residents at three public libraries. By June, the program grew to six libraries due to its popularity. County residents who are 18 years old and up can receive up to two gun safety locks per household, per day. No proof of residency is required. Listings for operating hours and directions can be found at library branches.

A proposal for a new joint training facility for Baltimore’s police and fire departments on the Coppin State University campus has come back with a whopping price tag of $330 million. A preliminary design report was posted to the Maryland Stadium Authority website Aug. 17, and it outlines two possible sites on the campus of the historically Black university in West Baltimore that would offer classroom and training space for the city’s two public safety agencies.

The Baltimore County Department of Public Works and Transportation failed to adequately supervise its grinder pump work crews, allowing a handful of employees to exaggerate the number of hours they worked while going days without completing necessary sewage work, according to a report published by the Office of Inspector General Kelly Madigan.

COVID cases are on the rise in the D.C. region, according to wastewater surveillance from BioBot Analytics. Meanwhile, a new variant — called BA.2.86 — is popping up around the world, catching the attention of public health officials and scientists. “This one just came on our radar screen,” said Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The Talbot County Sheriff’s Office is preparing for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. Over the summer, school resource officer supervisor, Sgt. Kevin Parks, attended a weeklong seminar regarding school safety. The National School Safety Conference covered topics related to the latest innovations and best practices in securing our schools and universities. It is the largest and most comprehensive conference nationwide centered on best practices and proven methods.

Officials with Prince George’s County Public Schools say some data stolen in a ransomware attack earlier this month could be posted online — and the Maryland school system will now be offering credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. “We have worked diligently to restore our systems to operability as quickly as possible, and we are investigating the incident with outside cybersecurity and forensic specialists.

Television and movie lovers who cut the cable cord in favor of online streaming can take advantage of a free service offered by the Carroll County Public Library system. Hoopla, a popular digital extension of library content, is accessible from anywhere to anyone with a Carroll County Public Library card, Director of Communications Lisa Picker said. “It’s like a streaming service,” Picker said,” but better.”

If you’re curious about how your local school district is spending its money, you can download data from the “Contracted Out” database. But if you want to know exactly why school districts spend what they spend, you’re out of luck — that is, unless you’re interested in data from Baltimore County. Thanks to what appear to be two random acts of legislation that took place eight years apart, the General Assembly requires every public school district in the state to report every contract expenditure of more than $25,000, but only requires Baltimore County Public Schools to list a purpose for each payment.