Maryland on Wednesday October 28, 2009

MD: Coastal communities need to do more to protect shorelines from climate change, study says
By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Sun (Baltimore)
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Atlantic coastal communities have been slow to prepare themselves for rising sea level from climate change, though Maryland has been in the forefront of states in grappling with the issue, a new report says.
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MD: Developmental disabilities community decries budget cuts to state services
By Liam Farrell, The Capital (Annapolis)
Advocates for people with developmental disabilities are mobilizing to try to preserve their services in the midst of Maryland's budget crisis.
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MD: Montgomery schools back higher legal dropout age
By Nelson Hernandez, The Washington Post
Members of the Montgomery County Board of Education voted Monday night to push for an increase in the compulsory age of attendance in Maryland schools. Board members said such a change in state law would reduce the number of students who don't graduate from high school.
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MD: Extensive failures found in medevac crash
By Jenna Johnson and Mary Pat Flaherty, The Washington Post
A Maryland State Police helicopter pilot made a questionable decision to fly on a foggy night last year. Air traffic controllers were inattentive, unhelpful and sloppy. Troopers tracking the medical rescue flight were complacent and slow to recognize that the helicopter was lost and ran a scattershot search.
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MD: Stimulus grant to cut cost of BGE 'smart meters'
By Paul West, The Sun (Baltimore)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. officials said a $200 million federal subsidy awarded to the company Tuesday would lower the cost to customers of an ambitious project to provide every household with an advanced "smart meter" that will enable them to better control energy use.
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MD: Hybrid maker to buy GM site
By Jamie Smith Hopkins and Hanah Cho , The Sun (Baltimore)
A hybrid-car maker plans to reopen the shuttered General Motors plant in Wilmington, Del., that employed several hundred Marylanders, igniting hope of new job opportunities for the laid-off workers.
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MD: Lawmakers want to change oversight panel
By Julie Bykowicz, The Sun (Baltimore)
Several Maryland senators said Tuesday that they believe the public defender oversight board overstepped its authority by firing the agency's director in August and promised legislation next year to change the board's makeup.
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MD: Entire delegation pledges to give back some pay
By Andrew Schotz, The Herald-Mail
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Md. — State lawmakers representing Washington County are taking different approaches to a legislative furlough program. Most are returning pay in the same way state employees are being forced to lose part of their salaries.
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MD: College costs, aid availability climb rapidly
By Ben Slivnick, The Diamondback
University's costs remain more than $2,000 above nation-wide average.
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