Latest news with #PrinceGeorgesCounty
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Climate
- Washington Post
Black bear shows up on Memorial Day in a Maryland suburb
Burgers, hot dogs and a black bear — yes! a bear! — were a part of Memorial Day for some in a Maryland suburb after the animal was found wandering in a residential area, much to the surprise of neighbors. The incident happened just after noon in the 8300 block of Tahona Drive in the Langley Park area, according to Prince George's County police. The bear wandered into the area and climbed a tree.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why our kids can't wait for safe routes to school
A crossing guard escorts students and parents across the street after the first day of school Aug. 14, 2024, in Texas. (Photo by Janecze Wright/U.S. Army) This month, students across Maryland headed to school to celebrate National Walk, Bike and Roll to School Day. Many did so despite facing perilous routes, a stunning lack of basic infrastructure like crosswalks, and poorly designed streets resulting from decades of failed public policy that prioritized cars over pedestrians. Far too often, tragedy is no accident. It's inevitable. In November 2023, that reality hit Prince George's County when two elementary school students were struck and killed walking to school. Sadly, their deaths were no anomaly, with U.S. pedestrian deaths hitting a 40-year high – more than 7,500 – in 2022. That's 20 pedestrian deaths every single day, and meaningful action is long overdue. Prince George's County is leading the way. After tragedy, parent leaders from 11 schools representing 8,200 students came together with a clear message: Every child has the right to get to and from school safely. In addition to the immediate hiring of additional crossing guards, they also called for long-term reforms and a renewed policy focus on pedestrian safety. That effort and earned media campaign helped launch the Prince George's County School Pedestrian Safety Workgroup, a collaboration of parents, municipal leaders, and school and county officials who spent six months crafting a detailed report of 18 Safe Routes recommendations released last December. Some formalized existing policies, such as ensuring pedestrian safety infrastructure at the time of new school construction and proactive meetings between agencies to improve coordination and efficiency. The group encouraged partnerships between school, municipal and county officials. And recommended establishment of Safe Passage Coordinators, officially hired by Prince George's County Public Schools this spring. Maryland Matters welcomes guest commentary submissions at editor@ We suggest a 750-word limit and reserve the right to edit or reject submissions. We do not accept columns that are endorsements of candidates, and no longer accept submissions from elected officials or political candidates. Opinion pieces must be signed by at least one individual using their real name. We do not accept columns signed by an organization. Commentary writers must include a short bio and a photo for their bylines. Views of writers are their own. Many recommendations formed a roadmap for local education agencies and municipalities nationwide. Creating a unified walk audit template to help standardize data collection will help school administrators establish internal goals and timelines for implementing these walk audits, while collaborating with local officials to initiate an overall evaluation of accessibility around schools. Once concerns are identified, schools and municipalities are encouraged to establish long-term strategic plans to equitably improve pedestrian infrastructure. This data and planning can help create a pedestrian safety risk measure for each school, ensuring resource allocations are prioritized by need instead of politics. And Board of Education members are encouraged to take on greater roles engaging and educating their own school communities on pedestrian safety. One recommendation focused on bilingual outreach and pedestrian safety education to ensure 'every child has the right to get to and from school safely' truly means every child. Another empowers students to become Vision Zero advocates by launching an annual Youth Transportation Safety Summit. This event, organized by the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, successfully hosted more than 100 attendees earlier this month. And the group recommended working with artists to create walkability safety signs and high-visibility artwork for crosswalks. Schools are encouraged to participate in events like National Walk, Bike and Roll to School Days and Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day (Nov. 14) to increase parent and community engagement. County and school district officials are recommended to establish both as official events, and there's an ongoing legislative effort to recognize Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day statewide. Parents can organize 'walking school buses' and walking groups to help reduce the number of families driving to school. Less cars around schools means less opportunities for tragedy. One recommendation encourages increased traffic calming infrastructure around schools and temporary street closures at drop-off and pick-up. And it's crucial to encourage principals to be proactive and empower them to create their own innovative solutions to improve school pedestrian safety. Finally, some recommendations focused on legislative and government solutions. The group strongly encouraged using unspent funds to subcontract with municipal police departments for difficult-to-fill crossing guard positions. One of the most important recommendations involved lowering speed limits around schools. Municipalities must have greater autonomy to keep their own residents safe, without regulatory hurdles. The National Transportation Safety Board found a pedestrian struck at 20 mph has a 90+% survival rate; at 30 mph, chances of survival are around 55%. Lowering speed limits, while protecting and enhancing the radius of school zones, will save lives. Creating safe walkable routes to schools is a rare opportunity for bipartisan consensus at every level of government. Investing in safer streets around schools also helps create safer routes to small businesses, parks, libraries and other community hubs. But we can't expect students and families to walk to school – or anywhere in our communities – if we don't provide them with the safe routes to do so.
Washington Post
24-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Prince George's County credit is downgraded amid federal spending cuts
The bond rating agency Moody's downgraded Prince George's County's credit this week, citing the Maryland county's sensitivity to federal spending cuts and its long-standing budget problems amid rising debt and interest rates in the country. The county's lower rating, from triple-A to Aa1, comes on the heels of Maryland's state government receiving its own credit downgrade last week after maintaining a triple-A bond rating for more than 52 years. The agency also lowered the District's bond rating to Aa1 and revised its outlook to negative in April, similarly citing Trump administration spending cuts as well as weaknesses in the commercial real estate market.
Washington Post
20-05-2025
- Washington Post
Jury acquits Maryland man of murder in gunfight that killed toddler
Johnny Turcious, a 29-year-old Maryland man, was involved in a shootout that left a toddler dead, according to a Prince George's County jury's verdict on Monday. But his gun didn't fire the bullets that struck the boy and his mother in the Langley Park area in February 2024, and the jury voted not to hold him responsible for the child's death. Turcious, of Hyattsville, faced 11 counts, including the first- and second-degree murder of 2-year-old Jeremy Poou-Caceres. The jury convicted him of three counts: attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder of one of the men targeted in the shooting, and prohibited possession of a regulated firearm. Deliberations stretched over three days. Turcious is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 12, Assistant State's Attorney Daniel Kim said. Turcious faces up to life in prison plus 45 years. Kim said at a virtual news conference after the verdict that the understanding of the legal theories applied in the case by the prosecution — which included 'transferred intent' and 'accomplice liability' — is probably why the jury struggled to agree. While the lethal weapon, an AK-47 rifle, wasn't fired by Turcious, his involvement in the shooting that also wounded the toddler's mother made him equally liable, Kim said during his closing argument. 'Because of accomplice liability, you might as well put the rifle in Mr. Turcious's hands,' Kim said. 'The law in this case establishes that no one gets a discount for having bad aim.' Several of the jury notes centered on these technical theories and how to apply them, Kim said. Defense attorney Keith Lee Hiller argued that there was no physical evidence linking Turcious to the shooting. He also questioned the credibility of the state's key witnesses, including the driver of the vehicle involved in the shooting, who pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact. 'Witnesses can be mistaken, witnesses can lie,' Hiller said. On the evening of Feb. 8, 2024, Turcious and a companion, Israel Fuentes Jr., armed themselves with guns, hopped into a stolen gold Ford Explorer with two others and drove around seeking to kill a teenage boy and his friends, Kim said. According to charging documents, a witness described the shooting as a territorial dispute over drug dealing. Around the same time, a then-17-year-old mother, Rosa Caceres, was returning home on a walk from a nearby McDonald's with her son, Jeremy. She crossed the path of the group that Turcious and Fuentes were looking for on Kanawha Street. In a nearby parking lot, Turcious and Fuentes got out of the SUV and began shooting at the group, Kim said, as the intended targets attempted to flee in the same direction as Caceres and Jeremy. A shootout ensued, bullets striking the back of the boy strapped in his stroller. Turcious fired at least once, Kim said. Jeremy was pronounced dead a short time later at Children's National Hospital. Caceres was treated for a gunshot wound to one of her legs. Caceres identified Turcious as one of the men who exited the SUV. So did David Medina, who admitted to driving the Ford involved in the killing. In a written statement to detectives, Medina identified Turcious's picture. He said Turcious, nicknamed 'Dopeboy,' grabbed him 'and put a knife to me and put me in the car,' and that 'he was the one shooting the handgun.' Kim said that when police arrested Turcious, he was wearing clothing matching that of the shooters captured on video. They also found a gun converted to fire .22-caliber bullets, the same as the ammunition recovered in the Ford Explorer, inside the apartment where he was hiding, Kim said. In an attempt to alter his appearance, Turcious's braids had been cut off in the bathroom, Kim said. Caceres didn't identify Turcious to detectives when she first talked to authorities, said Hiller, the defense attorney. He cast doubt on her memory, saying Caceres couldn't identify Turcious until after seeing a photo on social media that named him as a suspect. 'Mr. Turcious's fate is in your hands, not social media's,' Hiller said to the jury during his closing argument. 'How is Ms. Caceres, more than a year later, able to identify a total stranger, near sunset, two football fields away?' Hiller said the police detective who responded to the scene testified that the men wore face masks. Before his plea deal, Medina faced life in prison, Hiller said. 'But he's given a way out — he's looking between one year to six years. He had to testify,' Hiller said. Kim argued that Medina pleaded guilty because 'he knew he was guilty' and because of the evidence against him. Turcious declined to testify. 'I might not always agree with everything that a jury decides on as to what counts they decide to find guilt on, but in this case, I can certainly guess why they did render the verdict they did,' Kim said. 'At the end of the day, I believe that he was guilty of all the counts, and again, that's why we charged it the way we did.' Fuentes is scheduled to stand trial in January. 'He looks forward to his day in court,' said Thomas Mooney, an attorney for Fuentes. 'We will fight as equally as hard to have that person found guilty as to the murder of her son,' Kim said, adding, 'The next trial will be against the person who fired that rifle and likely fired the shots that killed Jeremy.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
2 shot, 1 killed in Prince George's County shooting: police
The Brief Two people were shot and one has died in Prince George's County, police say. The victims' ages and identities are not yet known. Police are continuing to investigate the incident at this time. PRINCE GEOREGE'S CO., Md. - Prince George's County Police are investigating a double shooting in Lanham. What we know According to police, the shooting happened at 8:40 p.m. in the parking lot of the strip mall. At this time, officials have confirmed that the person who died is an adult male. The second victim is also male, but his age is unknown. What we don't know The condition of the other victim is not known at this time. No information about the alleged shooter have been released.
