Around Maryland

The 50 or so Baltimoreans who’ve logged on for the Maryland Transit Administration’s pair of summer online public meetings are buzzing. As MTA’s planners sift through seven recently-unveiled visions of light rail, heavy rail and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that would extend from the county across the city’s east-west axis, meeting goers’ hopes, fears and outright impatience all bubble to the surface.

Federal housing officials have requested an investigation of a city nonprofit they believe misused federal grant money meant to subsidize the rents of extremely vulnerable tenants to prevent homelessness. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesperson Sean Callahan said the agency has referred the nonprofit to the U.S. Office of Inspector General of Investigations, which determines if cases get referred for prosecution or civil action.

About 15 to 20 Anne Arundel County residents have contracted monkeypox since July 4, according to Anne Arundel County Health Department. That’s about 7% of the state’s total of 275 reported cases as of Friday. Five of the county’s cases have since been released from isolation. The state health department is not sharing exact case numbers to protect those with the disease from becoming ostracized due to the visible nature of the skin rash on the hands, feet, chest, face or mouth that appear like blisters before scabbing over and healing, said Megan Pringle, a health department spokesperson.

Montgomery County leaders have never been keen on Gov. Larry Hogan’s plan to add variably-priced toll lanes to the Capital Beltway and I-270. Now, with Hogan set to leave the State House in January — and many elements of the project yet to be nailed down — county officials are increasingly optimistic that Maryland’s next governor will take office with the power to steer congestion relief efforts in a new direction.

Young Baltimore families chosen to participate in a new guaranteed income pilot program will see their first check soon, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Monday. Scott said Monday that the city would begin processing payments of $1,000 per month to go to 200 parents selected for the program. Participants will soon see the money appear in bank accounts or on pay cards, the mayor’s office said.

Baltimore prosecutors have dropped the charges against 25 state correctional officers accused in 2019 of using excessive force against inmates and functioning as a criminal enterprise in jails around the city. Several defense attorneys representing the officers, all of whom were part of a specialized tactical unit, questioned how the officers were charged under the state’s gang statute in the first place. The lawyers told The Baltimore Sun their clients’ lives were upended because of allegations that wouldn’t stand up in court.

Baltimore County police are starting to get back test results from a long-delayed project to process the oldest known collection of DNA evidence from rape cases. Last year, ProPublica wrote about the trove of evidence and the prescient doctor who began assembling it in the 1970s, long before preserving forensic evidence was common police practice. Police have processed DNA from 49 of about 1,800 remaining cases as of the first quarter of this year, according to a department memo obtained through a public information request and follow-up communications with a sergeant in charge of the cold case unit. Ten of the 49 cases yielded actionable DNA profiles, according to the sergeant.