Politics

The Montgomery County Council is likely to approve the purchase of two police department drones after the Public Safety and Government Operations committees voted unanimously to greenlight a new program after a work session Wednesday. Drones will be deployed after a 911 call if the dispatcher and drone pilot believe there is a use for the drone to respond.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball introduced a package of legislation and initiatives Wednesday aimed at lowering the cost of housing in a county that is becoming too expensive for many residents. One of the wealthiest counties in the nation, Howard County has top-ranked schools, low crime, leafy parks and a convenient commute to both Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. It also has the highest median home sales price of any county in the Baltimore metropolitan area.

Baltimore is rehiring its embattled former director of the Department of Public Works on a contract basis for up to $72,000, according to an agenda for the city’s spending board. Jason Mitchell, who led the department for less than two years before departing in July, is being hired for a six-month period as a contract services specialist. He’ll be responsible for advising the department on modernization efforts, streamlining processes and automating and improving work with the use of technology, according to the Board of Estimates agenda for Wednesday.

Baltimore’s spending board is closing in on an agreement to increase the transparency of its emergency spending process after concerns were raised by city Comptroller Bill Henry. The five-member Board of Estimates opted Wednesday to table two competing proposals that would require faster and wider notification of officials when money is spent on an emergency basis.

A House panel held a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would boost Chesapeake Bay restoration and environmental education programs. The Chesapeake Bay Science, Education, and Ecosystem Enhancement Act of 2023, sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Maryland, would reauthorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Chesapeake Bay office for the first time since 2006.

Youth gun violence has increased sharply in Maryland this year due, in part, to car break-ins, an expert told the 11 News I-Team. State data shows most other youth crimes have decreased while gun violence is increasing. Daniel Webster, a professor of American health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, said car break-ins have been synonymous with teenagers for decades.

A stretch of Maryland Route 450, also known as Defense Highway, in Crofton, will be renamed after former Maryland Sen. Ed Reilly, a Republican who represented the area in the Maryland Senate for nearly 14 years before retiring at the start of this year. The road, located off of MD 3 in the west and ending near the Westfield Annapolis mall, spans around nine miles.

Certain traffic control signs were not posted near the work zone where six highway workers were killed along Interstate 695 in Baltimore County, Maryland, in March. Maryland’s Occupational Safety and Health Office cited the State Highway Administration with a “serious violation,” which according to the report is a violation “where there is a substantial probability that that death or serious physical harm could result.”

Some of the city’s most valuable resources including drinking water face an ongoing threat from outside attackers. Cumberland Cybersecurity Specialist Chip Watkins was at a work session Tuesday to provide the mayor and City Council an update on protections for various systems. October is national Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Watkins talked of roughly 2,700 failed attempts in 24 hours by outsiders to log in to city accounts.