Trimming Budgets Here While Cutting Commuter Times There: This Week in Regional Government

Patch takes seriously the journalists’ credo to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Read all about what your elected leaders are doing in the community, and how it affects you, in the Week in Regional Government.

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  Recently, Congress debated the need to rein in spending and eliminate the federal government’s annual budget deficit; one of the items on the chopping block is federal funding for public broadcasting. Editor Diana Soliwon sat down with Joseph Krushinsky, vice president for institutional advancement at Maryland Public Television, to find out what would happen if federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was eliminated. Hear his response on Owings Mills Patch.
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  In response to inquiries by Arbutus Patch, Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) released more details about the new $21 million Halethorpe MARC station, the construction of which will begin next month. In addition to skimming transit time for Baltimore-Washington MARC commuters, designs are in place for an elevator-equipped pedestrian bridge connecting sheltered, raised platforms for the station. To learn more about the anticipated updates, be sure to check out Arbutus Patch.
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  Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett outlined an operating budget proposal that seeks to close a $300 million gap by slashing 216 county jobs, tapping county employees to bear more of the cost of their benefits and rejecting the school system's request for more county aid. Colesville Patch has the story.
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  Patch put the Freedom of Information Act to work over a previously denied government document. Read all about it on Catonsville Patch.

• Baltimore County Police Agree To Comply Better with Open Records Laws
  In other “Sunshine Week” efforts by Patch to gain access to public records, the Baltimore County Police denied a reporter access to arrest records but said it would start offering those unfettered to news media. Editor Bruce Goldfarb challenged the withholding of records and wrote about it on Arbutus Patch.