A yearlong investigation recently published by The Baltimore Banner and The New York Times revealed an unprecedented overdose crisis gripping Baltimore. Nearly 6,000 people have died from overdoses in the last six years, the worst drug crisis ever seen in a major American city. Baltimore’s death rate from 2018 to 2022 was nearly double that of any large city.
Facing another funding shortfall, the Washington County Board of Education voted 5-2 Tuesday morning to cut nearly $3.7 million from a funding pool for potential raises as a way to balance its $348 million budget. School system officials said that leaves the school board with enough money to provide at least a 3% pay raise for employees, though negotiations are continuing with the three employee groups.
When the Group of 7 posed for its ritual family photo Thursday on the rocky Adriatic coast of Italy, the image was not of leaders at the height of their political strength. Instead, nearly to a person, the leaders assembling at a luxury resort in Puglia find themselves weakened at home by elections, scandal or waning influence.
Less than three months after a massive container ship struck the Key Bridge, sending it collapsing into the Patapsco River and killing six workers, officials shook hands with port workers and celebrated the reopening of the river’s shipping channel on Wednesday — marking the end of a crucial phase of the response to the catastrophe.
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Ashly Trejo Mejia is eager to attend medical school, but she’s not sure she can pursue that dream because of an upcoming court decision that could end the Obama-era program meant to temporarily protect immigrants like her who were brought into the country illegally as children. “You’re frozen in time,” she said.
Who’s smarter in school, girls or boys? You would think girls are, based on lots of evidence. On the gold standard National Assessment of Educational Progress tests, boys trail girls in reading while math scores are roughly equivalent. In Maryland’s own tests, girls hold a big lead in reading while boys have a small edge in math.
The Baltimore County school board voted unanimously to reshuffle the district’s language curriculum Tuesday night, cutting 25 classes from the course catalog that administrators say were mostly elective, mislabeled or redundant. Courses in Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, German and Hebrew, as well as English as a second language, were cut.
The Frederick County Board of Education on Wednesday night narrowly voted to reallocate $1.5 million that would’ve gone to a trust fund dedicated to post-employment benefits and use it to restore the Remote Virtual Program for middle schoolers and cut back newly increased athletic fees from $205 to $185. The board eliminated the Remote Virtual Program (RVP) for grades 3 to 8 during its meeting on May 15 to help balance Frederick County Public Schools’ fiscal year 2025 operating budget.
In the days before Anne Arundel County is required to pass its fiscal 2025 budget, the County Council voted to reallocate more than $3 million in education funding in light of the delayed opening of New Village Academy. The charter high school, originally planned to open this fall in the former Nordstrom space at the Westfield Annapolis Mall, will delay its opening to fall 2025 after being unable to finalize a lease.
A new firm is taking a crack at leasing one of Baltimore’s most unique office buildings. The Maryland Stadium Authority selected Rockville-based Scheer Partners to take the lead on leasing out the Warehouse at Camden Yards. Scheer replaces national real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield as the leasing agent for the historic 430,000-square-foot building.