safety of citizens

Bel Air Mayor Susan Burdette, who is in her fifth year on the town board, spends her days and nights serving residents and representing the Harford County seat at the state and regional level. She's technically a mayor in name only, because the post is mainly ceremonial, but that hardly means she isn't constantly busy with town government related activities and decisions.

As long as judges continue to maintain that they must accept the accusations against defendants as true at pretrial release hearings, defendants who might have been released after a fair hearing will instead be detained for weeks, months or years awaiting trial.

The ruling upholding Maryland's assault weapons ban is in line with other post-Heller cases.

Police, firefighters and other emergency responders occupy a special position of trust in their communities. They need to always be aware of the impact of their behavior.

Harford County government and the county's volunteer fire and EMS companies are discussing proposed changes to a county-funded retirement program for the volunteer firemen, including lowering age of eligibility to receive benefits.

Maryland uses incarceration and residential placement for youth too much. But there are solutions.

The man who shot his friend of 15 years in the chest, missing the bulletproof vest he was wearing and killing him, will be held without bail on charges of first degree murder, second degree murder and two gun charges.

A powerful judicial panel voted Friday to slash sentences for thousands of prison inmates — hundreds of them from Maryland — a significant move toward softening severe punishments for federal drug crimes.

Anne Arundel County executive candidate George F. Johnson IV said Tuesday he won't fire the police and fire chiefs if he's elected. Rather, he'll take his time to evaluate the chiefs and all department heads.

With the opening this week of the 15-screen theater at Towson Square, Towson will get a look at the first wave of visitors drawn by nearly $800 million due in new investment that will transform the town center of the county seat of government. The theater is the first in a series of density-boosting projects. The county is preparing to fend off gridlock — and not just traffic jams in the street. We think pedestrian congestion looms as a problem requiring attention.

A state correctional services van carrying six inmates and a correctional supervisor to a work detail on Tuesday morning was involved in two-vehicle collision that sent the passengers to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, corrections officials said.

Maryland's sex offender registry needs to be part of a larger crime-fighting strategy to protect vulnerable children and adults

Clifton Wilson, an inmate at the state's Eastern Pre-Release Unit facility, spent Thursday in the great outdoors, relocating oysters from cages on private piers near Thomas Point on the Chesapeake Bay to a sanctuary nearby Glebe Bay.

The two candidates running for Howard County's highest office have been locked in and focused for nine months so far, campaigning but laying comparatively low until the primaries had run their course. Now, it's their turn for the spotlight.

Officers have not had the use of tranquilizer guns over the past few months including last week when police killed two animals

Baltimore County will add additional police officers and offer special parking rates to handle new development in Towson, including the July 10 opening of the Cinemark movie theater, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said Friday.

WASHINGTON — A policy unveiled by Gov. Martin O'Malley that was intended to reduce the number of non-criminal immigrants deported from the Baltimore jail is facing scrutiny from advocates who say it contains loopholes so large it will inevitably fall short of that goal.

Primary election voting recommendations.

Veteran Montgomery County legislator Brian Frosh has the experience, temperament and intelligence to excel as the state's top lawyer.

Dying is too easy in Baltimore, and neither death nor we should be proud. Even before summer officially arrives, nearly 90 people have been slain. Sages of street life here forecast long hot deadly days ahead.

Two Republican candidates are running for the GOP nomination in this year's race for Harford County sheriff, which will bring the eventual opportunity to challenge incumbent two-term Sheriff Jesse Bane, who is a Democrat.

Delegate's efforts on behalf of children and families make him suited to be attorney general

Police need to take a smarter approach to combating the threat posed by illegal dirt bikes

The public's focus on public business ain't what it should be, or at least what it needs to be in Harford County and many other places.

Members of the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company went door-to-door in the Edgewater Village Community of Edgewood on Saturday morning, checking smoke alarms and installing many replacements, free of charge.

The mayor and city state's attorney attend a public safety summit for north and northeast Baltimore, at Morgan State University, but city police Commissioner Anthony Batts is not there.

WASHINGTON — The U.S Justice Department on Wednesday invited thousands of federal convicts to request their release from prison, a measure that could have an outsized effect in Baltimore where U.S. prosecutors have worked closely with local authorities.

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman released on Monday a $1.026 billion operating budget proposal for fiscal year 2015, his last before his second term ends in December of this year.

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced today that the Baltimore City Detention Center will no longer automatically honor requests from the federal government to hold immigrants for deportation — making it one of a handful of jurisdictions in the country to take a more discerning approach on the issue.

President Obama is right to use his executive power to give suspected illegal immigrants their day in court

The Columbia Association will hold elections on Saturday, April 26. During the elections, Columbia residents who pay the Columbia Association assessed fee can vote in their respective village for their village's representative to the 10-member Columbia Council, which becomes the 10-member Board of Directors.

Maryland Natural Resources Police continue to investigate the unusual case of a man who was shot while kayaking on a Pasadena creek Saturday night.

The Annapolis Police department will host a Neighborhood Watch meeting tonight, Tuesday, April 8, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Annapolis Police Headquarters, 199 Taylor Avenue.

State Sen. James N. Robey claims no grand ambition, no plan to arrive where he now sits as majority leader of the Maryland Senate, or to have made the unusual leaps from Howard County police chief to county executive to legislator. Things happened, he said, one thing led to another, people egged on a sometimes reluctant candidate.

The Maryland General Assembly approved legislation Thursday that will provide new protections for motorists from erroneous tickets and other speed camera abuses, sending the bill to the governor for his expected signature.

Devin Tucker is no stranger to Anne Arundel politics. The Russett community advocate and owner of a philanthropic consulting business has run for office twice before – once, in 2006, for County Council and then, four years later, for a state delegate seat. This time around, the Democrat is running for an Anne Arundel County Council seat in District 4, which represents parts of Laurel, as well as Crownsville, Gambrills, Crofton, Odenton, Maryland City and Russett.

On Tuesday, Howard County Executive Ken Ulman released his capital budget for fiscal year 2015, a $259.9 million spending program that prioritizes funding for schools, parks, water quality improvements and expansion of a new intercounty broadband network.

A minimum security inmate escaped from Dorsey Run Correctional Facility in Jessup on Monday morning and was later captured in the home of an acquaintance.

A Maryland Senate bill to decriminalize marijuana is unnecessary, because, in fact, most Maryland counties are already not criminally charging for possession of small amounts, but rather putting offenders into a program that includes drug education and community service. Also, while there were 19,828 violations in Maryland in fiscal year 2013 for possession of less than 10 grams, there were only four convictions.

Maryland claims it does not use solitary confinement to discipline inmates, but isolating convicts either alone or with another inmate in the same cell for prolonged periods amounts to the same thing

Harford County public safety officials, working with the county's volunteer fire and ambulance companies, implemented a "closest unit" strategy for EMS dispatching this week, which could result in residents seeing ambulances from neighboring jurisdictions in their communities if the crews happen to be close by.