Around Maryland

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball Thursday announced $13 million in pass-through funding from the state to renovate and expand the Howard County Public School System’s (HCPSS) Applications and Research Laboratory (ARL). The funding is part of the $35 million in state pass-through grant funding that was awarded to Howard County by the Maryland General Assembly in 2022.

Maryland is advancing negotiations to extend MARC commuter trains past Union Station in the District and into Virginia, with the goal of having the service operating across the Potomac River within a few years. The Maryland Department of Transportation on Thursday said it has reached an agreement with the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority for the potential future expansion of MARC to Alexandria. The agreement outlines the next steps needed to launch service.

Housing rental costs in Maryland have been above the national average since at least 2018. Even as average rents started to level out in January and February of this year, rents in Maryland are still above the national average. Rents were relatively stagnant before the COVID-19 pandemic, but spiked with pandemic inflation. In 2023, rents appear to be balancing with the help of disinflation and some local legislation. 2023 data is current through February of this year.

Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, are planning to install “vape detectors” in school restrooms, and will require students to wear ID badges on campus to quickly identify potential trespassers as part of two new security measures being rolled out at some high schools. Both measures are pilot projects that will be put in place at “select high schools” in the coming weeks, according to an April 12 school safety update from Brian Hull, Montgomery County Public Schools’ chief operating officer.

An Anne Arundel County program offering free gun locks to residents at three library locations in the county launched Thursday at the Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library. Locks are available at the Annapolis branch as well as Glen Burnie and the Eastport-Annapolis Neck locations. Residents must be 18 years or older and are allowed two locks each. Instructions on how to use the locks and literature on safe gun storage also will be provided.

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.