Officials in Montgomery County say they won’t follow Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in lifting all coronavirus-related restrictions Saturday but they say they are on pace to resume normal operations at all businesses across the state before the end of the month.
Photo | iStock
John P. Morrissey, the chief judge for Maryland district courts, has ordered all district court employees to stop wearing articles of clothing that dawn the thin blue line flag.
The “thin blue line” flag is often used by law enforcement officers to symbolize the line between police and their role in preventing society from descending into chaos. The flag has since been adopted by the Blue Lives Matter movement. In November 2019, the movement’s website which no longer exists and redirects to a website called “Warrior Maven” said it was founded to combat “anti-police bias” reporting.
Over the last decade, the flag has been dawned at controversial demonstrations, including some where violence has been directed at police officers. For instance, several rioters displayed the flag at the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol which left more than 140 police officers injured and three officers dead Officer Brian Sicknick died a day after the attack; and t
Montgomery County approves funding to develop plan for new global pandemic prevention center
By Melanie Alnwick and FOX 5 Digital Team
Published
Montgomery County approves funding to develop plan for new global pandemic prevention center
Montgomery County has approved funding to develop a business plan for a new global pandemic prevention and biodefense center.
ROCKVILLE, Md. - Montgomery County has approved funding to develop a business plan for a new global pandemic prevention and biodefense center.
On Tuesday, the County Council approved a $500,000 appropriation to support the $2.5 million strategy phase of the plan. An exploration team will now work to identify and finalize a site location.
After ‘major outages’ in 2019, county’s new emergency communication system ‘a relief’
Upgraded 22-tower system more reliable, covers more area
May 5, 2021 | 4:39 pm
May 6, 2021
share this
Two years after major outages crippled Montgomery County’s emergency communication system, officials say a new, more reliable network that provides nearly 20% more coverage is fully operational, easing worries that first responders could be left with no way to talk or call for help.
Over Mother’s Day weekend in 2019, the county’s 11-tower system nearly failed, as outages knocked out nearly all of the channels police and other emergency personnel use to communicate for more than half of a day.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is expressing some hesitancy about meeting a goal set by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan of having enough people in the state vaccinated to “get things back to normal by Memorial Day.”
Speaking to reporters during a weekly media briefing Wednesday, Elrich said, “This is all numbers driven, so we’ll see where we are on Memorial Day.”
The county, which has been a leader in the state in terms of vaccinating its population, has recently seen a 25% average slowdown in the pace of administering shots in part because of lower uptake in the population of young “invincibles” in the 20-30 age range, officials said.