Around Maryland

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski on Friday announced that he had picked Robert McCullough to be the county’s next police chief, turning to a retired leader who had worked his way up through the ranks and would become the first Black person to head the agency. The 35-year department veteran, who retired as a colonel and operations bureau chief in 2021, said he was drawn back by the importance of the job and the chance to help change the culture of policing.

In the wake of a week-old Texas court decision invalidating FDA approval of mifepristone, also known as the “abortion pill,” that is set to take effect Friday, Maryland officials have not formulated a plan to preserve access to the drug. Gov. Wes Moore’s press secretary, Carter Elliott, said such a plan is coming “as soon as possible” and the administration is “exploring options” such as stockpiling mifepristone, which some other states have done.

After a yearlong legal battle, Anne Arundel County’s Health Department is finally enforcing a law passed in early 2022 that will require gun retailers in the area to insert government-provided pamphlets on suicide prevention and conflict resolution into ammunition and firearm packaging. However, a new legal challenge may bring the issue to a higher court and set a precedent over how far warning labels can go and what communities can do to increase public gun safety.

Dozens of residents packed Montgomery County Council chambers Tuesday afternoon to voice their concerns about potential tax increases and share their priorities for the fiscal year 2024 county budget during a public hearing. So many residents attended the hearing–many holding signs–that seats were filled and some people stood along walls, supporting testimony.

Keko Thompson was trying to cope with his cousin’s killing last September when he was approached by Youth Advocate Programs with an offer for services or connections — a “second chance to get myself together,” as Thompson put it. He accepted. Since that outreach, Thompson has earned a forklift certification and held a job at a warehouse for six months, his longest-ever continuous employment. And he’s been paired with a life coach, Mark Ross, who he speaks with daily.

Sprawling townhouse communities have impacted traffic from Bowie to Brandywine, and efforts to build more of them have influenced recent elections in Prince George’s County, Maryland. On Tuesday, a bill is being introduced in the county council that would put a two-year pause on future townhouse developments that would be built outside of what the county defines as transit hubs.

As the 2023 Maryland legislative session came to a close Monday, Anne Arundel County lawmakers successfully passed several bills to improve access to behavioral health resources, expand virtual school opportunities and refine police accountability oversight. In the 90-day term, which featured a slate of new delegates and senators in the Maryland General Assembly and a new Democratic governor in Wes Moore, legislators passed several historic bills including gun control legislation, laws setting up a framework for the sale of recreational cannabis and the Child Victims Act, which would allow more survivors of child sexual assault agency to sue those who abused them.