Around Maryland

“Take it slow, Anne Arundel.” That’s the county’s new slogan as it places speed cameras in school zones for the first time, with more to come. A new Automated Traffic Enforcement Speed Program will begin using portable camera units to monitor and enforce speed limits as a way to increase roadway safety and reduce traffic fatalities and injuries.

City school administrators began seeing teachers submitting 60 course credits — the equivalent of two master’s degrees — from Idaho State University this year to get an increase in pay. To the human resources department, this looked fishy. How could a full-time teacher have enough time in one year to do the course work to earn 60 graduate credits?

Young people who live in or near Brooklyn Homes have been “close-mouthed” about last year’s Brooklyn Day block party that ended in gunfire, according to Kandice Golden, a Brooklyn resident who runs a girl’s program called Excellence Esthetics. But those same young people have been vocal about activities they’d want — hula hoops, jump ropes, bubbles and water games — at a healing and wellness event planned for July 2, which will mark one year since the event ended in gunfire that killed two and wounded 28, she said.

Properly attired officers don’t come cheap. Baltimore Police are seeking $8.35 million to buy new uniforms and access specialized tailoring services at next week’s Board of Estimates meeting. Even when spread across three years, the uniform request is five to seven times more than the historical cost of new uniforms. This increase comes despite the decline in sworn positions on the force.

Eight of the Dali's crew members will be allowed to depart the ship and return to their home countries following a last-minute deal approved by a federal judge, while the ship is expected to leave Baltimore Friday evening. The agreement approved by a federal judge allows those crew members to depart the ship, which crashed into Baltimore's Key Bridge on March 26, and return to their home countries.

The Public Service Enterprise Group, an energy company based in New Jersey, plans to build a new 500,000-volt transmission line across parts of Frederick, Baltimore and Carroll counties as part of updates to the regional power grid to accommodate growing power needs. The project, also called the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP), will be about 70 miles long.

The organizers behind a much-anticipated ballot question asking voters to slash the city’s property tax rate submitted more than 23,000 signatures Thursday, more than double the number needed to place the question on the ballot. The proposed question would ask voters to cut the city’s property tax rate from 2.248% to 1.2% over seven years. After that, the rate would be capped.

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts is working with the city to finalize their contract ahead of BOPA’s flagship event later this summer. Interim board chair Andrew Chaveas said during a special board meeting that due to prolonged negotiations with the city, BOPA missed a deadline to submit its contract to the city’s spending board, which has to approve it.