Around Maryland

Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) is trying a second time to introduce legislation to limit some police searches in an effort to curb racial disparities. Maryland’s attorney general had determined that his previous effort, the STEP Act, conflicted with state law. Jawando on Tuesday introduced the Freedom to Leave Act, which would prohibit consent searches of a motor vehicle or person by a police officer.

A batch of recycling trucks newly arrived in Baltimore and 20 additional pickup crews will allow City Hall to resume weekly recycling services the week of March 4, Scott administration officials confirmed Tuesday, marking the end of reduced curbside pickups that first became unreliable at the pandemic’s outset in 2020. The city received nine 2024 Peterbilt Model 220s last week — the order was placed in 2021 — and hired dozens of new drivers and crew members to reduce the vacancy rate on the Department of Public Works’ solid waste team to 8.5%, the lowest since before the coronavirus pandemic.

The FBI’s November announcement that it will be moving its headquarters from downtown DC to Greenbelt, Maryland, ended a long-running jurisdictional competition over the agency’s future and its coveted economic redevelopment potential (if a challenge fails to overturn the decision). Now, the move promises to bring 7,500 jobs to Greenbelt, along with 61 acres of mixed-use development for the site itself, plus an additional million square feet of nearby development, presenting a huge opportunity to close our region’s east-west economic divide. The project would be a joint development between WMATA, Prince George’s County, and the federal government.

Frederick County plans to replace about 21% of its vehicle fleet with electric vehicles, as well as use biodiesel fuel for other parts of the fleet, to help lower the county's greenhouse gas emissions. At Mobilize Frederick's climate summit at Hood College on Friday, County Executive Jessica Fitzwater announced a plan to replace parts of the county fleet with electric vehicles (EVs), as well as a resource document and website for residents and businesses to consult when considering switching to EVs.

On Jan. 2, 2023, during a pivotal Monday night National Football League game, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin tackled Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. It was a standard tackle. One that the then 24-year-old had been making for years playing the game. Hamlin got up, adjusted his face mask and then collapsed a few seconds later, laying motionless on the field. His heart stopped beating due to a condition known as commotio cordis, in which the heart stops beating after a severe blow to the chest at the exact wrong time and location during heartbeats.

Overall, crime increased in Montgomery County for the third year in a row. In a briefing before the Montgomery County Council Public Safety Committee, legislative analyst Susan Farag laid out the data: Auto thefts spiked by 131%, Carjackings rose by 28.6%, Crimes under the category “crimes against society,” including drug offenses, fell by 13.8%, Crimes under the category “crimes against persons,” including homicides, rose 6.6%.

Some 6,000 Anne Arundel County residents will soon find out whether they need to check their water pipes for lead. Federal guidelines require that every water utility across the country announce publicly by October how many water pipes need to be checked for lead and report the results. WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates was the first to report in November that some 230,000 residents in Baltimore City and Baltimore County need to check their pipes for lead.

PJM, the nation’s largest grid operator, is changing how it plans transmission upgrades needed to ensure reliable service for the 65 million people who live in its footprint. The effort comes after plenty of criticism of how the regional transmission organization, responsible for coordinating the flow of electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia, including Maryland, has traditionally conducted planning.