Recent Articles from Capital News Service
Broad range of new laws to take effect in Md. on Oct. 1
ANNAPOLIS — New laws going into effect in Maryland on Friday will put into action police and criminal justice reforms, address early voting, and increase protections for LGBTQ+ people. Police reforms include greater transparency for police conduct records and independent investigations of deaths in police custody. New criminal justice laws will prohibit life sentences without […]
Robust, unique vaccine outreach bears fruit for Maryland grant
A $3 million vaccine canvassing program is benefiting 26 community groups statewide, including in some targeted minority or vaccine-hesitant areas.
Pandemic stressing Americans’ mental health, data suggests
WASHINGTON — A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers and health organizations are still trying to determine the extent of its impact on Americans’ mental health, but early data suggests it is significant. Self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression among American adults have more than tripled during the pandemic, according to data […]
Md. residents take a crack at the state’s redistricting maps
ANNAPOLIS — Interested citizens can draw their own congressional and legislative maps to submit for consideration to Maryland’s two redistricting commissions. The commissions, one established by Gov. Larry Hogan and one run by the Legislature, are holding public meetings to develop maps based on the new 2020 census data. Earlier this month the Maryland Citizens […]
Maryland to start Apple’s electronic credentials program
ANNAPOLIS — Marylanders traveling on an airplane may soon be able to leave their plastic state identification behind for a digital card from Apple Wallet. Other states introducing the digital identification program through Apple Inc. include Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Utah, according to an Apple Sept. 1 press release. The digital ID […]
Bay area lawmakers urge EPA to enforce pollution standards
Senators from the Chesapeake Bay region are asking the Biden administration to enforce strict water pollution standards in Pennsylvania and New York to help meet previously-agreed goals for restoring the Bay. The lawmakers, all Democrats, told new Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan in a letter last month that efforts to reduce certain Bay pollution […]
College Park company finds itself in quantum space race
Over the past few decades, quantum computing has developed from what many considered a science-fiction fantasy into what could be the next technological revolution. One Maryland company, College Park-based IonQ Inc., could play a key role. In what some are calling the “quantum space race,” governments around the globe are funding quantum computing research in […]
Maryland’s weakest counties see strongest home sales
Kimberly Alster first purchased property near Deep Creek Lake in Maryland’s Garrett County 12 years ago. At the time, the idea was to use the home for frequent family vacations. When the pandemic struck, however, the Alsters decided to trade city life for the great outdoors and move permanently. In doing so, families like the […]
Program leaves Baltimore residents burdened with sewage backup costs
Natasza Bock-Singleton could smell it from where she was sitting in her home office in the basement. She could hear it too — a gurgling sound, coming from the bathroom. She got up to find out what was going on. It was “this kind of geyser of human poo that was coming out of the […]
Concerns grow about policing mental health crises in Montgomery County
In Montgomery County, there is a growing debate about the role of police in addressing mental health crises. The county’s population is reliant on only two in-person assistance resources for behavioral-health related incidents. Nationwide, one in four victims of police shootings are experiencing a mental health crisis, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center. Mental illness […]
Gun sales booming in Maryland, data shows
From 2019 to 2020, the number of approved applications for Maryland civilians licensed to buy or own a regulated firearm more than doubled, according to data obtained from a public records request. In 2019, 47,093 total requests were approved for civilians in the state, while that number rose to 95,502 in 2020, marking a substantial […]
Md. board approves compensation for man wrongfully convicted
After serving 19 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of attempted murder, a man was awarded more than $1.6 million in compensation from the state of Maryland. The Board of Public Works voted unanimously Wednesday to approve funding for Melvin Thomas, now 40, who spent close to half his life in prison and was […]