As Maryland health officials begin reforming their oversight of services for adults and children with disabilities, advocates are demanding greater urgency and specific fixes to address a reported increase in incidents of abuse and neglect.

The Maryland Disability Law Center wants regulators to move quickly because reports of serious incidents jumped 15 percent in a recent six-month period, according to its analysis. There were 2,608 reported incidents across all services regulated by the state between March and September, a marked increase over the previous six-month period, the center found.

"We need you to act now because people who receive services need more protection from harm," Nancy Pineles, managing attorney for the center, wrote recently to state health secretary Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. "Reports of abuse, neglect and other concerns are on the rise."

On Sunday, Sharfstein released a plan to strengthen government supervision of group homes for disabled foster children and...

A U.S. Department of Justice official pledged Monday to conduct a thorough, independent and objective review of the city police force after hearing more concerns from residents about excessive force and other misconduct by Baltimore officers.

While some Baltimoreans called for a full-scale civil rights probe of the city police, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services said federal officials believe working with the department is the best way to improve its interactions with the community.

Ronald L. Davis, the director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, said they decided on that approach — called collaborative review —after considering the reforms instituted in last two years by Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

"The civil rights division is a part of the process," Davis said, "and they retain the ability to come into Baltimore if reform is not made, if recommendations are not...

When Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts asked the federal government to review allegations of brutality in the police force, he turned to a familiar face: Ronald L. Davis, the head of the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Batts and Davis have crossed paths on a number of occasions. Batts edged out Davis to be Oakland's top cop in 2009. As they worked in nearby cities, they served in 2010 on a transition committee for a newly elected California attorney general. And last November, they shared a stage with others in New York City to talk about police issues for the new mayor.

Now, as Baltimore and federal officials prepare to announce details Monday of the collaborative review of the city's Police Department, some community leaders are faulting Batts for not disclosing his professional relationship with Davis.

"He definitely should have made us aware," said City Councilman Warren Branch, head of the public safety committee.

Marvin L....

Maryland's top health official announced Sunday that his agency is reforming the way the state regulates group homes for disabled foster children.

In a report sent Sunday to Maryland lawmakers and The Baltimore Sun, the state health department identified five steps it is taking to improve coordination among the multiple agencies that supervise group homes, increase scrutiny of contractors' finances and appoint an employee to implement and oversee the enhancements.

The announcement follows investigations by The Sun that detailed significant problems with the state's two largest contractors for such care, including reports of abuse and management issues.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Maryland's health secretary, also announced the formation of a task force that has been charged with recommending more improvements by January for services to all disabled adults.

"With limited resources, we must focus our skills on the timely investigation and resolution of complaints and self-reported incidents...

When state officials removed several disabled foster children from an Anne Arundel County group home in early July — after a 10-year-old boy died there — they placed most of the children with Second Family, a Prince George's County nonprofit that is Maryland's largest contractor for such care.

Three weeks later, state lawmakers gathered to discuss findings of a Baltimore Sun investigation that revealed long-standing problems with the company that ran the troubled Anne Arundel facility. One lawmaker asked regulators if the children's new homes were better managed.

"As far as I'm aware, we're certainly comfortable with the state of those providers," Maryland Health Secretary Dr. Joshua Sharfstein told the two dozen legislators. "This situation has led me to ask the inspection office to make sure, to take a much closer look."

But The Sun's ongoing examination shows that the new homes, run by Second Family of Landover, have had their own problems — including neglect and abuse incidents...

This week, courts in Anne Arundel County made the first tentative steps toward using electronic court records, but Maryland has no immediate plans to provide public online access to legal documents.

As Terri Bolling, a spokeswoman for the judiciary, put it: "The system's really designed for attorneys right now."

People involved in non-criminal cases in Anne Arundel County are now required to sign up for an account and file documents through the electronic system. While anyone can create an account, there's not much to see so far, and at least for now only parties in a case will be able to see filings.

Other counties' courts are expected to be brought online over the next few years.

Electronic court records are a powerful tool for reporters and the public to monitor legal actions. Maryland has an online case search system that provides basic information about a case, such as whether defendants are being held in jail, who the lawyers are and when the next court date is.

The federal...