Around Maryland

The Annapolis City Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the site plan for the new City Dock Park at a December meeting. This update and discussion of the overall project aimed at protecting the downtown area from frequent flooding and honoring the city’s maritime history was the subject of two city work sessions held Thursday for the City Dock Action Committee to update city leaders on waterfront plans.

Residents on the eastern side of Frederick County can weigh in on possible plans for a bicycle and pedestrian trail to connect Frederick, New Market, and Mount Airy. Officials from the county’s Division of Planning & Permitting will host a meeting on Nov. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. at New Market Middle School to hear from the public about the plan.

The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office will soon be moving to encrypted radio communications. Like a growing number of police departments nationwide, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office will be transitioning in January to encrypted radio communications. Sheriff Matt Crisafulli says the change is meant to keep law enforcement officers safe. “I understand that this is not a popular decision, however; it is a necessity for the preventative safety of our law enforcement officers,” Crisafulli said.

Carroll County public schools officials have made final decisions on 10 of the 58 books that Superintendent Cynthia McCabe ordered removed from library shelves last month amid challenges from the Carroll County chapter of Moms for Liberty. “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” by Sarah Maas, and “Water for Elephants,” by Sara Gruen, were both banned from school shelves by the decision of the superintendent-appointed Reconsideration Committee on Sept. 15.

Before the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency earlier this year, state officials and advocates warned about the challenges that could arise from the massive undertaking of resuming annual redetermination of Medicaid eligibility for millions of people, also known as Medicaid unwinding. Several months in, inappropriate terminations, computer errors and even call center wait times have added hurdles for the Maryland Department of Health and frustrations for some of the 1.8 million Marylanders on Medicaid waiting to see if their coverage will be renewed or if they will be rolled off and have to shop for insurance in the marketplace.

Omer Balva, a 22-year-old Rockville native, was back from his home in Israel. Then, during his U.S. vacation earlier this month, Hamas stormed southern Israel, kidnapping hundreds and killing more than 1,000. Balva’s reserve infantry unit in the Israel Defense Forces quickly recalled him. But before his return, he wanted to gather supplies he knew that soldiers in his unit might need.

Former police chiefs in North Dakota and North Carolina are facing charges in Maryland in connection with a conspiracy to illegally acquire machine guns and other firearms — and court records indicate the case could reach into other states as well. The charges are similar to those faced by Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins (R), who sought during a hearing in U.S. District Court on Thursday to have the case against him dismissed.

More than a year after Baltimore City Department of Transportation officials flipped the switch on two new speed cameras on Interstate 83, car crashes have significantly decreased, a Baltimore Banner data analysis found. The city-controlled “Grand Prix,” as some call it, due to the way some people drive it, connects Baltimore to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It has long bedeviled area drivers with its winding curves, lack of lighting and unruly motorists.