Around Maryland

While violent crime is up 3% in Prince George’s County, Maryland, property crime has skyrocketed compared to last year, up 53%. Crimes involving burglaries are seeing the biggest increases. Over 3,000 vehicle break-ins have been reported in Prince George’s County, up almost 20% from last year. Nearly 3,800 cars have been stolen, up 179%.

President Joe Biden proclaimed June as National Homeownership Month to recognize that owning a home is one of the greatest stepping stones to raising a family, building equity and securing generational wealth. “I call upon the people of this Nation to safeguard the American Dream by ensuring that everyone has access to an affordable home in a community of their choice,” the president said in a statement.

When Lamar Brooks was growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he yearned to see Black people who looked like him. Brooks, who is gay, hopes this year’s Baltimore Pride offers everything he sought as a young person. “Growing up, it was difficult as a gay Black man to navigate through my intersections because I didn’t have the visual representation of what it was like growing up from where I’m from,” Brooks said.

Foreclosure rates increased both in Maryland and across the country during May as homeowners grapple with the lingering effects of the end of foreclosure moratoriums and high interest rates. A May 2023 data report from ATTOM, a property data group, reported a 7% increase in foreclosure filings nationwide in the past month, and a 14% increase from the previous year.

Pepper lives in Westminster. She has movable arms and fingers, but no feet, stands about 3 feet tall, and can pivot in any direction but cannot move around. The social humanoid robot’s eyes light up to show when she is responsive to dialogue, a screen on her body can be programed to display images to match the content of a conversation. An array of 40 preset gestures — ranging from air guitar to referee signaling — make Pepper come to life.

The public has an opportunity to provide feedback in the Tier 2 study area for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A ‘Virtual Listening Meeting’ will take place on June 27. It will seek public feedback on transit, bicycle, and pedestrian considerations. The listening session is part of the ongoing review, under the National Environmental Policy Act of ways to provide congestion relief and improve travel reliability across the Chesapeake Bay.

Juneteenth may be one day on the calendar, but the Baltimore area marked the occasion all weekend, with some even starting one week early. For the second year, events in Maryland celebrated the day full emancipation reached some of the last enslaved Black people in Texas in 1865. The occasion rose in prominence after President Joe Biden declared June 19 a federal holiday in 2021.

Bears seem to be invading the suburbs with two spotted within a week, one in Northeast D.C. and another in Rockville, Maryland. But a wildlife expert said this might actually be good news. The bear running loose in D.C.’s Brookland and Brentwood neighborhoods and one spotted in Rockville were likely “sub-adult” males, according to University of Maryland wildlife ecology professor Jennifer Mullinax.