Maryland
Maryland Travel Safety Week Begins as Holiday Travel Season Gets Underway – The Southern Maryland Chronicle
![Maryland Travel Safety Week Begins as Holiday Travel Season Gets Underway – The Southern Maryland Chronicle Maryland Travel Safety Week Begins as Holiday Travel Season Gets Underway – The Southern Maryland Chronicle](https://i0.wp.com/southernmarylandchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/thanksgiving-travel.png?fit=1200,675&ssl=1)
REISTERSTOWN, MD (November 14, 2022) — Because the busiest journey time of the yr approaches, the Maryland Division of Emergency Administration (MDEM) needs to verify all Maryland residents are as protected as doable as they journey throughout this vacation season. MDEM’s Annual Maryland Journey Security Week goals to make sure that residents are outfitted with the newest journey security data as we strategy this busy time of the yr.
One essential change for drivers is the revision to the State’s “Transfer Over Legislation,” which has been expanded to require motorists to make a lane change or decelerate when approaching ANY stopped, standing, or parked car displaying warning indicators – together with hazard warning lights, street flares, or different warning indicators together with visitors cones, warning indicators, or non-vehicular warning indicators.
MDEM additionally reminds vacationers that, no matter their mode of transportation, they need to bear in mind to “Know Earlier than You Go” and “If You See One thing, Say One thing.”“
Throughout this vacation journey season, we wish to remind all Marylanders to be alert, ready, and conscious of their environment,” stated MDEM Secretary Russ Strickland. “We wish everybody to have a protected vacation season. Taking the additional time to plan earlier than your journey and in addition letting authorities know should you see one thing suspicious makes an enormous distinction.”
MDEM designated November 14-20 as Maryland Journey Security Week in preparation of the start of vacation journey to encourage protected journey all yr on all modes of transportation. MDEM encourages vacationers to find out about protected journey practices whether or not utilizing roads, air, or rail, and as pedestrians and bike riders. You also needs to concentrate on security at numerous kinds of lodgings and at gatherings.MDEM encourages Marylanders to evaluate a few of these easy practices beneficial by security specialists protecting a wide range of transportation strategies.
- Know Earlier than You Go — Don’t head out for journey uninformed, unprepared, and hoping to find out about journey situations and your vacation spot whereas en route. Verify on street and visitors situations alongside your route; test for last-minute delays or cancellations earlier than heading to the airport or prepare station; all the time test native climate forecasts to be sure you pack applicable clothes and put together for potential journey delays.
- If You See One thing, Say One thing — When you see a suspicious exercise, machine, or package deal, or overhear a suspicious dialog, report it instantly to a facility supervisor, provider worker, or regulation enforcement should you see accidents or hazards alongside the roadway or mountaineering/biking trails, alert native regulation enforcement, freeway officers, or parks staff to allow them to reply.
Security suggestions when touring by motorized vehicle
- Enable further time for journey resulting from elevated visitors and congestion.
- Keep alert and provides driving your full consideration.
- Present courtesy to different drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.
- Don’t drive aggressively.
- Adjust to visitors legal guidelines and heed all visitors indicators, indicators, and markings.
- Be certain that all passengers are utilizing seat belts and automobile seats correctly.
- Be certain that to have an emergency package in your automobile with jumper cables, snacks, bottled water, and seasonally applicable objects like blankets, sand, or cat litter.
- Be particularly cautious in work zones and all the time pull over one lane (if safely doable) or cut back speeds for ANY car on the shoulder.
- Motorbike drivers and passengers should put on U.S. DOT-approved helmets in lots of states and should put on eye safety as effectively. Verify the laws the place you can be touring.
Different data for protected journey on the roads is obtainable from the Maryland Division of Transportation State Freeway Administration or AAA Mid-Atlantic. Please go to the Maryland Transportation Authority for details about security on Maryland toll roads, bridges, and tunnels. MDOT SHA additionally has bike security suggestions. Please go to the Federal Motor Service Security Administration for security suggestions associated to giant business autos and intercity (non-transit) buses.
Security suggestions when touring by taxi or rideshare
- Ask forward for the standard value and tipping vary.
- Name for a taxi as a substitute of hailing one.
- If utilizing a shared journey service like Uber or Lyft, confirm the right driver earlier than moving into the automobile.
- Search for a meter, a radio, a badge, and a door deal with.
- Sit within the backseat – not within the passenger seat.
- Maintain costly objects hidden, and maintain your belongings shut.
Listed below are taxi security suggestions from the Journey Insurance coverage Evaluate and a hyperlink to the taxi riders’ client invoice of rights from the Maryland Public Service Fee. Security.com presents the following pointers for these utilizing rideshare providers, which regularly are usually not regulated in the identical means as taxi providers.
Security suggestions when touring by air
- Be on time, enable time to get by means of the safety checkpoint, and construct in time for doable schedule modifications.
- At all times keep alert and watch your luggage and belongings.
- Don’t let anybody however uniformed airline personnel deal with your luggage.
- When you need assistance navigating the airport, test with the knowledge desks or airport/airline staff.
- Know what can and can’t be carried together with your carry-on luggage and baggage.
Different data for protected air journey could be discovered at Baltimore Washington Worldwide Thurgood Marshall Airport and the Transportation Safety Administration.
Security suggestions when touring by railroad
- At all times keep alert and watch your luggage and belongings.
- Watch your step when boarding and leaving the prepare and shifting from automobile to automobile.
- By no means try to board or exit a shifting prepare.
- Be certain that you become familiar with the security card in most seatbacks.
- Arrive a minimum of half-hour earlier than your prepare is because of depart. Some stations require further time.
- Report any suspicious habits to police, station personnel, or Amtrak Police by calling 1-800-331-0008.
Extra details about intercity rail journey security could be present in Amtrak or the Amtrak Police. The Federal Railroad Administration has data for motorists and pedestrians at railroad crossings.
Security suggestions when utilizing public transportation (bus, subway, mild rail, commuter rail)
- Verify schedules forward of time and depart enough time to make applicable connections.
- Obtain apps that help you test arrival occasions and pay fares.
- At all times maintain jewellery and different valuables out of sight. In case your pocket is picked, yell out instantly to warn others; don’t be afraid to shout. Inform the prepare or bus operator and request the police.
- Pay specific consideration to your electronics, comparable to cell telephones, tablets, and laptop computer computer systems.
- Use warning on rail platforms and bus drop-offs, particularly when surfaces are moist or icy.
Listed below are some security suggestions from Washington Metropolitan Space Transit Administration, which operates Metro bus and rail service within the Washington, D.C. space. Listed below are anti-theft suggestions from the Maryland Transit Administration, which operates bus, subway, and light-weight rail providers within the Baltimore metro space.
Security suggestions for lodging services (lodges, motels, resorts, short-term and trip leases)
- Keep in services with hard-wired smoke alarms and an computerized hearth sprinkler system in every visitor room.
- Learn the fireplace evacuation plan fastidiously.
- Discover the 2 closest exits out of your room.
- Rely the variety of doorways between your room and the exits; it will help you if that you must evacuate in the dead of night.
- Discover the fireplace alarms in your ground.
- If the rental is a trip or non-public house, guarantee the power has deadbolt locks on all doorways, locking home windows, and applicable hearth, smoke, and carbon monoxide alarms.
- If a trip or non-public house rental has a swimming pool, be certain that everybody observes all swimmers and that correct security gear is obtainable.
- Know the cancellation coverage when making a reservation.
You will discover further security suggestions for vacationers staying at trip and personal house leases from iPropertyManagement. You will discover extra resort/motel security suggestions from SmarterTravel.
Security suggestions for pedestrians
- Use sidewalks and marked crosswalks at any time when doable.
- At all times cease on the curb, look left, proper, and left once more earlier than crossing a avenue, and look ahead to vehicles handing over or leaving driveways.
- Put on mild or bright-colored clothes or reflective objects, particularly earlier than dawn and after sundown.
- Listen and take off your headphones whereas strolling – no texting or enjoying video games.
The MDOT State Freeway Administration has extra security suggestions for pedestrians than the Federal Freeway Administration.
Security suggestions for these utilizing bicycles
- Cease in any respect purple lights and cease indicators.
- Trip defensively – count on the sudden.
- Trip with visitors, by no means towards it.
- Use hand indicators when turning or stopping.
- Keep seen when driving at night time and through inclement climate.
- Put on a helmet accurately.
MDOT State Freeway Administration has further bicycle security suggestions, as does the Federal Freeway Administration.
Security suggestions for touring on the water
Whether or not piloting your leisure boats or touring on a passenger vessel (cruise ship or ferry), listed here are some essential security suggestions:
- Verify climate forecasts for approaching fronts or storm watches. It is likely to be too late to get to a protected harbor when a storm or gale warning is issued.
- By no means enable passengers to journey on the bow, gunwale, transom, seat backs, or different spots the place they may fall overboard.
- Put on your engine cut-off change lanyard and your life jacket always. The engine won’t shut off if the lanyard is faraway from the change.
- Youngsters below 13 should put on america Coast Guard-approved Private Flotation Gadget (PFD) whereas underway on a leisure vessel below 21 ft in size.
- All leisure boat individuals ought to put on an authorised PFD for optimum security.
- On passenger vessels, observe all security instructions, learn ready security materials, and take part in all life security drills.
The Maryland Division of Pure Assets has particular data for leisure boats touring in Maryland waters, together with kayaks and rowboats. The United States Coast Guard additionally has boater security data. The Maryland Port Administration has data for folks touring out of the Baltimore cruise ship terminal. The Cruise Critic additionally has some suggestions for touring safely on cruise ships.
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Maryland
Guns flood the nation’s capital. Maryland, D.C. attorneys general point at top sellers.
![Guns flood the nation’s capital. Maryland, D.C. attorneys general point at top sellers. Guns flood the nation’s capital. Maryland, D.C. attorneys general point at top sellers.](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2024/09/03/USAT/75064386007-53969346285-3-e-86-bcd-864-b.jpg?auto=webp&crop=1023,576,x0,y53&format=pjpg&width=1200)
The lawsuit announced on Tuesday claims three stores sold one person 34 guns over six months and ignored the buyer’s red flags.
Gun trafficking: How guns travel illegally on the iron pipeline
Here’s how guns legally bought in one state are smuggled illegally into another on the iron pipeline.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The nation’s capital is grappling with a deadly flood of weapons. Prosecutors are pointing fingers at three federally licensed gun stores in Maryland.
Attorneys general of Maryland and Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit Tuesday against three gun shops for selling firearms to a straw purchaser – the same stores identified as the top retailers of recovered crime guns in Maryland between August 2020 and July 2021, according to a report commissioned by the state attorney general’s office.
According to the lawsuit, the three stores in Montgomery County, Maryland, roughly 25 miles northwest of Washington D.C., collectively sold 34 semiautomatic pistols to one person in six months. Only two remained with the purchaser, while the rest are presumed to be trafficked, prosecutors said.
Some have been recovered from people accused of assault, a stabbing, and drug distribution, the lawsuit added, while most remain unaccounted for.
“Federally licensed gun dealers know the law and they know what to look for to spot possibleillegal trafficking. As this lawsuit demonstrates, gun dealers cannot just choose to ignore these warning signs and guardrails,” said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown. “Let this be a warning to other dealers who put public safety at risk to make a profit: We are watching, and we will hold you accountable for illegal conduct that fuels gun violence across our region.”
The lawsuit comes as public health experts and gun safety advocates warn about an alarming level of gun violence across the nation — guns are the leading killer of children in the U.S. and kill nearly 50,000 people a year. Lawsuits in other states have also targeted sellers and traffickers as culprits in gun crimes, including New Jersey, Michigan, and Philadelphia.
Lawsuit: Man bought 34 guns in 6 months
Three federally licensed gun stores – Engage Armament, United Gun Shop and Atlantic Guns – collectively sold Demetrius Minor, an “obvious straw purchaser,” 34 guns between April 6 and October 5, 2021, according to the lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
According to Engage Armament’s records cited in the lawsuit, Minor spent more than $31,000 at the one store for at least 25 guns. In July 2021 alone, he came to the store at least four times and bought five guns, prosecutors said.
Minor gave many of the weapons to a relative, Donald Willis, a Washington D.C. resident with a record of violent felonies, the lawsuit said, and Willis then spread the guns to other “dangerous individuals.” Minor has been convicted for his role in the straw sales. But Tuesday’s lawsuit said the stores “who chose profits over safety” have faced no consequences for their “critical role in fueling gun violence” in the D.C. metro region.
At least nine of the weapons, which the lawsuit contends were “illegally sold,” were found at crime scenes in Washington D.C. and surrounding Maryland suburbs. “Many more are likely in the hands of other individuals legally barred from possessing firearms and will be used in future crimes,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit cites a federally required form to buy a gun — the ATF firearms transaction record — which is used to determine whether a gun sale is legal. The form notes that straw purchases are illegal, meaning the firearm must go to the person who legally bought it. It also states that the seller is responsible for ensuring the sale is legal, and simply conducting a background check does not fulfill obligations.
The lawsuit notes that just as straw purchases are illegal, it is also against the law for a firearm dealer to help advance illegal sales, and federal law requires licensed dealers to report when an unlicensed buyer purchases two or more handguns within five days.
Atlantic Guns denied the straw sales allegations in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday.
“Atlantic Guns, Inc. has never and will never knowingly sell to someone who we have reason to believe is committing a straw purchase,” the store said, declining to comment further before review of the lawsuit.
Engage Armament and United Gun Shop didn’t immediately return USA TODAY’s requests for comment.
Cities and states across U.S. go after sellers to battle gun violence
The lawsuit Tuesday is the latest to sweep the nation as cities and victims of shootings target firearm stores and traffickers to battle gun violence.
Last July, Philadelphia announced a lawsuit against three vendors that the city said were the source of more than 1,300 crime guns between 2015 and 2019. The weapons were used in shootings, a home invasion, drug crimes, vehicle theft, and more, according to the city.
Three Missouri men were charged earlier this year for illegally selling guns to the people who fired shots into the Super Bowl victory parade that killed a mother and injured over 20 people earlier this year.
In Michigan, the parents of a 14-year-old Oxford High School student who was severely injured in a 2021 mass killing, named a gun store as one of the defendants in a lawsuit, alleging Acme Shooting Goods negligently and illegally sold the firearm used in the school assault that killed four people and wounded seven others. Acme sold the gun to the shooter’s father while ignoring signs it was a straw purchase, the lawsuit alleged.
In July 2023, a northern Indiana gun shop that police called a key supplier of Chicago’s criminal firearms market announced it was closing its doors after Chicago sued Westforth Sports in 2021 over what it said was a pattern of illegal gun sales.
A USA TODAY investigation earlier this year found the majority of guns used in crimes are sold by a small fraction of the nation’s gun shops. Two of the Maryland gun shops named in Tuesday’s lawsuit – United and Atlantic – were on a list by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of stores that sold at least 25 guns traced to a crime over a year that were purchased within the past three years.
Contributing: Nick Penzenstadler and Grace Hauck, USA TODAY
Maryland
Declines in revenue, federal aid drive cuts in proposed transportation projects – Maryland Matters
![Declines in revenue, federal aid drive cuts in proposed transportation projects – Maryland Matters Declines in revenue, federal aid drive cuts in proposed transportation projects – Maryland Matters](https://marylandmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/DSC_0311-scaled.jpeg)
Transportation projects around the state will be put on hold as officials grapple with ongoing budget constraints and a growing list of expensive projects.
A combination of budget pressures has created a $1.3 billion funding gap over a six year period, which Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said forced his department to defer projects across the state.
“We just don’t have enough dollars to do what we have to do within our means. So that’s what we’ve had to do,” he said.
The agency Tuesday released a draft of its latest Consolidated Transportation Program, a six-year budget that contains $19 billion in projects around the state. Wiedefeld said the draft required tough choices to address the budget gap, a “historical issue” that continues.
Wiedefeld said the state’s transportation funding shortfall is driven, in part, by an end to federal COVID-19 aid. Other factors include inflation, increased construction costs, less than expected revenue from the state’s gas tax, and reduced federal funding.
“The biggest one we do is we take a look at our financial forecast and all the ups and downs that may occur in the financial forecast,” Wiedefeld told reporters during a briefing Friday. “And so, in doing that, what we learned was that some of the projections that we had in terms of the growth of some of our sources were not growing at that rate, particularly our largest source of revenue, the motor fuel tax. There were some others that were either not growing or remaining flat again, not growing to the level that we’d hoped for.”
Wiedefeld said that resulted in roughly a $350 million decline in projected revenues over the six-year period of fiscal 2025-2030.
“At the same time, our operating costs continue to grow at a rate a little bit more significant that we have projected,” said Wiedefeld, adding $300 million in projected costs over the six-year period.
Counties scramble for answers, options as state signals deferral of transportation requests
Additionally, lawmakers earlier this year restored proposed cuts in state aid to local governments as part of Highway User Revenues as well as proposed cuts to transit systems run by 23 counties and Baltimore City. Restoration of those proposed cuts added another $400 million over six years, Wiedefeld said.
“So those three things basically are our realities that put pressure on the financial forecast,” he said.
Finally, Wiedefeld said the amount of federal aid is falling short of expectations.
“We were pushing all the modes to really buckle down and see where else we could get federal dollars for delivering projects,” he said. “We were shooting for roughly 80% federal, 20% local match, overall for the program. Basically, we were not able to achieve that, and we’re probably not going to be able to achieve that into the future.”
Instead, Wiedefeld said the state now expects a 75-25 split. “That 5%, although it sounds small, is significant, obviously, when you think of the amount of federal dollars that would bring down,” he said.
The resulting lack of revenue means counties will see priority projects not already underway slowed down or paused
“In effect, projects that are into the future — larger projects that we want to construct — we have to slow those down in terms of the process to get them to construction, until we have available dollars to pick that back up,” Wiedefeld said.
One large project that could suffer is the proposed widening of the American Legion Bridge.
“So, on the American Legion bridge, obviously, we have the record of decision for this, you know, larger improvement there,” said Wiedefeld. “But given the stress that we’re under, we’re going to have the state highway particularly focus on the pure state of good repair issues around the American Legion bridge.”
The state applied for a federal grant to help pay for the costs of repairing “structural issues with the bridge,” he said. “So that’s where we’ll be focusing,” Wiedefeld said.
News of the delays was delivered to county leaders by Wiedefeld and transportation officials during the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference last month.
The transportation secretary said he will also seek to slow down the purchase of zero-emissions buses in the coming years, as some major bus manufacturers are having issues with the performance of electric buses, as well as availability.
Moore warns of difficult fiscal decisions ahead
A new clean diesel bus costs the state $750,000. A hybrid bus costs about $1 million each. A new electric bus costs $1.4 million each.
“So, as you play that over the program period, if you defer that, it actually saves a lot of dollars,” Wiedefeld said. “It allows us not to dig deeper into operating cuts, that we would have to do, or system preservation cuts.”
Wiedefeld said he will not request cuts to his department’s operating budget as he did last year when he cut 8% across the board. He will also not request cuts to county aid or local transit networks.
“What we’ve done is we’ve gone through all those projects, and we’re going to defer those projects at a logical deferred point,” Wiedefeld said. “So basically, some of those projects were in different levels of study. We want to make sure that they stop at a point where we don’t lose any of the effort that we had done, but we don’t have the available funds right now to continue those projects. What you’ll see in the capital program is basically those projects that will be deferred.”
A year ago, Wiedefeld proposed cuts to county shares of highway user revenues and to local transportation networks.
Highway user revenues — decimated in cuts more than a decade ago — had yet to be restored to previous levels. Proposed cuts, nixed this spring by the General Assembly, would have eliminated planned increases in future years.
“Even so, the fiscal 2025 funding for HUR (highway user revenues) falls significantly short of Maryland’s appropriate and historic funding levels, even without adjusting for inflation,” the association of county governments said in a post on its website. “This gap becomes even more pronounced when accounting for rising road maintenance and materials costs.”
The association said it would continue to seek restoration of state highway aid.
“MACo and county leaders will continue urging Maryland policymakers to advance a sustainable plan to address critical infrastructure needs across the state,” the group said in its statement. “Proper restoration of the HUR formula should be a priority in advancing solutions that create sensible and reliable support for all locally maintained roadways.”
Maryland
University System of Maryland to only allow university-sponsored events on October 7
![University System of Maryland to only allow university-sponsored events on October 7 University System of Maryland to only allow university-sponsored events on October 7](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/937564c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5312x2789+0+100/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F16%2F61%2F70999d9446deb2038878edb3108f%2Fumd-administration-building-2015-1.jpg)
University of Maryland President William Pines announced this weekend that only university-sponsored activities “that promote reflection” will be held on October 7th.
The day will mark one year since Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel killed around 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages. Israel retaliated, declaring war on Hamas, which has resulted in more than 40,000 people dead, according to Gaza health officials.
This came after the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group had reserved the McKeldin Mall and Jewish organizations on campus had reserved Hornbake Plaza on October 7th to mark the day.
The announcement cancels both of these events.
“Jointly, out of an abundance of caution,” wrote Pines in an email to the campus community, “we concluded to host only university-sponsored events that promote reflection on this day. All other expressive events will be held prior to October 7, and then resume on October 8 in accordance with time, place and manner considerations of the First Amendment.”
This policy is in place for all University System of Maryland Schools.
“The intent is not to abridge students’ right to free expression; the intent is, instead, to be sensitive to the needs of our students. Our university communities may use this day to safely come together to reflect and to share, to learn and to listen, and, yes, to challenge one another. That’s the premise—and the promise—of higher education.”
-University System of Maryland Statement
SJP wrote in a statement on its Instagram account: “We as Students for Justice in Palestine are deeply angered, though not surprised, by the University of Maryland administration’s decision to cancel our reservation for a vigil at McKeldin Mall on October 7th.”
It continues, “Rest assured that we will find ways to mark this one year of genocide and one year of resistance.”
University of Maryland students worried about antisemitism on campus
The Jewish Student Union also posted a statement to its Instagram account.
“We are reassured to learn that Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Maryland will no longer be permitted to host their event on McKeldin Mall, or anywhere on campus, on October 7th,” the organization writes.
“Only university-sponsored events will occur on October 7th,” they continued. “While this is not an ideal situation, it ensures that our physical and psychological safety is protected on this day of grief.”
In the email from Pines, he noted that a safety assessment had been done and that there was “no immediate or active threat.”
The Jewish Student Union added that they would be holding an event to memorialize the day at Maryland Hillel, a center for Jewish life and students, which is located just off campus.
The UMD Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace also released a statement standing with SJP “in their anger with the university admin’s decision to cancel our registration to hold a joint vigil on October 7th.”
The email from Pines added that “we encourage our entire community to mark the anniversary of October 7 with remembrance and reflection.”
At the moment, it’s unclear what university-sponsored events will take place on October 7th, at the College Park campus.
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