Around Maryland

The Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) has announced they may no longer be employing seasonal officers after this summer. According to Ocean City Police, a steady decline in seasonal officer interest, nationwide police reforms, and potential changes to the Maryland police certification process have led the Department to consider transitioning away from the seasonal officer program, a move the Department calls a “monumental change.”

A Maryland nonprofit is doing its part to curb youth violence in Maryland. Chase Your Dreams Initiative is partnering with Live Casino Maryland to host a Gun Violence Prevention Weekend in March. “All of our city and all of our county needs to know we are here to try to find solutions. We are getting to the root of violence,” Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said. The weekend of events takes place March 9-10. It will feature music performances and discussions led by celebrity guests like NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens and country singer Jimmie Allen.

The Frederick County Board of Education on Wednesday voted 6-1 to approve a budget request for the district to County Executive Jessica Fitzwater. The request approved by the board for the next fiscal year is the same as the recommended spending plan Frederick County Public Schools Superintendent Cheryl Dyson released in January. It totals about $991.5 million and represents an increase of about $81.3 million, or about 9%, from this year.

After a shooting brought Kansas City’s Super Bowl celebration to a halt, a security expert explained how to handle yourself in a similar situation Jared Krieger is the director of operations and training for Defender One Security in Reisterstown. The firm provides security for people, events, businesses and more. In the wake of Wednesday’s mass shooting, Krieger said situational awareness is key if you find yourself at a packed event when an emergency breaks out.

State officials hired a new contractor to process payments to behavioral health providers, ditching a troubled system that wreaked havoc in the treatment community at a time when the coronavirus pandemic was increasing demand for mental health and addiction services. A state spending board approved the new contract Wednesday for up to nearly $340 million with Boston-based Carelon Behavioral Health Inc. replacing one with Minnesota-based Optum Inc., a subsidiary of the managed care giant UnitedHealth Group.

Within just a few months of living in Piątek, a small town in central Poland, Leah Michaels, M.F.A ’21, intermedia and digital arts, has already traveled to Romania, where many recipients of the Fulbright U.S. Student award placed throughout Europe gathered at a media literacy conference.

Dressed in matching red heart headbands and necklaces, a pair of volunteers roamed the halls of LifeBridge Health Carroll Hospital Tuesday visiting patients alongside Raven, an 11-year-old Dalmatian outfitted in a red T-shirt, red tutu, pink and red bows and painted red nails.

Maryland’s first chief of the unit tasked with investigating police fatalities is leaving for a new role, she confirmed Tuesday. Dana Mulhauser was hired by the state in 2021 to helm its new Independent Investigations Division, a part of the state Attorney General’s Office. She left earlier this month and will become Everytown for Gun Safety’s deputy director of affirmative litigation.