Around Maryland

Montgomery County Council Vice President Kate Stewart and Councilmember Natali Fani-Gonzalez are proposing the Vehicular Noise Reduction Bill. It's a pilot program that will enforce existing state noise laws, using three "noise cameras." Noise cameras will capture both audio and video of any noise louder than 80 decibels, which is the limit that the state of Maryland has established.

Residents and families with students in Harford County Schools voiced their concerns at the first Board of Education meeting since a deadly shooting inside Joppatowne High School on Sept. 6. The school board president said they're already exploring new safety initiatives. "These initiatives will include both physical and electronic security measures, enhanced discipline and upholding a rigorous standard for behavior and accountability.

Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland has a new office of Integrity and Compliance. But while school offices are in Upper Marlboro, the new I&C officer Frank Turner’s office is in Largo, an indication of the independence he intends to show as he digs into waste, fraud and abuse within a school system that’s been plagued by scandals and corruption.

The seafood industry around the waters and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay has seen better days, but it’s also had worse days. While things have rebounded to some degree in recent years, there are increasing concerns about what the future might hold. Those concerns exist within the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, as well as on the boats used by watermen who harvest crabs by the bushel.

In Baltimore, Black residents tend to be hit the hardest by public health crises, but results from a community survey released Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University show that income level and educational attainment are more powerful than race at predicting whether a Baltimorean has lost someone close to them from a drug overdose.

Unionized sanitation workers at Ecology Services, a company contracted by Anne Arundel County for recycling and yard waste collection, remain on strike this week with no end in sight. Dozens of employees who are part of Teamsters Local 570, the union representing Ecology Services workers, went on strike Sept. 4 over the company’s refusal to address unsafe working conditions and unfair wages.

Nathaniel Jordan was a private man who many hadn’t truly known. Aside from his humor and love for Jamaican music, his daughter Yasmeen Jordan didn’t know much else about him. But she knew about her father’s drug use all too well. “I had to grieve the fact that I didn’t have him around,” Yasmeen Jordan said. “He was funny, he stole, but I feel like, if he had the proper help, the proper assistance, I feel like he would have [still] been here.”

The Baltimore County Council on Monday night passed legislation to tax vacant structures and direct the revenue to funds that help find housing and fix up vacant buildings. The law will take effect July 25. Baltimore County has about 500 structures that are registered with the county as vacant, and 31 that are deemed unfit for habitation or other authorized use.