Baltimore’s school board held a public hearing last night to discuss whether or not the city school police force should be allowed to carry guns in schools. A bill that would allow the 141-member school police force to carry their service weapons is in front of Maryland’s General Assembly. Complicating the issue, it’s known that some officers already disregard the ban, keeping their weapons with them. Advocates (including the school board and the city school police union) believe that armed police will be better equipped to respond to a crisis, citing school shootings like Newtown. Opponents (including organized student groups, and some parents and teachers) argue their is no proof that the change would make students safer, and the presence of armed police reinforces an antagonistic relationship between police and youth.
After civic hackers figured out how to use the data from MTA’s new real-time bus tracker, developers added MTA routes to a popular, user-friendly transit tracking app. Previously, MTA claimed that making the data app-friendly would cost $600,000.
Last night, a man died in a house fire in Northwest’s Forest Park neighborhood.
Gov. Larry Hogan gave some more details about his plans to address the state’s heroin addiction crisis. Hogan announced the donation of 10,000 overdose kits from a pharmaceutical company, plus a $500k federal grant to help prisoners overcome addiction before transitioning out of prison. Hogan also shared that the heroin crisis is personal, he lost a cousin to an overdose.
University of Maryland students cant’t dance at all, but ESPN’s Seth Greenberg thinks the student body storming the basketball court after the Terrapins upset Wisconsin last night 59-53 is the real embarrassment.Priorities.