Around Maryland

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.

A task force that could chart the future governance of the Baltimore area’s water and sewer system is likely to convene in the coming months, following approval by the General Assembly. Gov. Wes Moore plans to sign the bill creating the task force, a spokesman said. The bill moved virtually unchanged through the legislature, though not without criticism.

Now waaaaaiiiit a minute: The AFRAM Festival announced The Isley Brothers and Ty Dolla $ign as the the headliners for its 46th annual event at a news conference on Tuesday. Other renowned artists who are set to perform at Druid Hill Park during the Juneteenth weekend celebration include Eric Bellinger, Kid Capri, DJ Spinderella and Maryland’s own Tamar Braxton.

Montgomery County, Maryland, council members began going over a $6.8 billion budget plan submitted by County Executive Marc Elrich. In a briefing with reporters Monday, Council President Evan Glass said, “There’s a lot in this budget. There’s a lot of good,” but there are also a lot of questions. Among those questions, Glass said, is whether the county can use one-time revenues to pay for recurring expenses.

Despite an ongoing lifeguard shortage, officials say they will make any necessary changes to ensure the beach is covered ahead of the summer season. On Monday, Emergency Services Director Joe Theobald presented the Ocean City Police Commission with an update on lifeguard recruitment. While staffing challenges remain, he said the Ocean City Beach Patrol would have two more testing dates before the summer season starts.

After multiple discussions spanning several months, the Frederick County Board of Education has determined it would be impossible to expand school bus service in the fiscal 2024 budget, its vice president said. Board Vice President Dean Rose said in an interview last week that he wasn’t giving up on the overall idea, though.

While race, sexual orientation and religion are the most likely sources of bias incidents in the state, almost three-quarters of the verified events from the 2021 Maryland Hate Bias Report were based on race, with 61 of the 101 statewide verified incidents being anti-Black or anti-African American. The next most likely group to be targeted in Maryland was gay males with 11 incidents.