The Baltimore County Board of Education unanimously approved a new public charter school Tuesday night. The Bilingual Global Citizens Public Charter School has a green light to open in the eastern part of the county in the fall of 2025 with a curriculum that would teach in English, French and Chinese. Casey Kirk, the district’s charter school supervisor, and Melissa DiDonato, its chief academic officer, presented a recommendation to the board March 19 to approve the school, which would be the county’s only language immersion school.

 

Nearly 50 years ago, Rudiger Breitenecker began a quiet crusade for rape survivors. A doctor at Greater Baltimore Medical Center and a former assistant medical examiner for the state of Maryland, the handsome Viennese native calmly asked those who had been sexually assaulted if he could collect bodily fluids as evidence and freeze them to help police catch their assailants. Between 1977 and 1997, nearly 2,000 women, men and children, agreed.

One national retailer is set to open on Pratt Street next month while another has renewed its lease, the latest signs of a potential bounceback in downtown’s retail market. Burlington (NYSE: BURL), a discount clothing chain, is hiring new employees and stocking its 35,000-square-foot store at Lockwood Place in preparation for a May 3 opening, company officials said.

A month ahead of the primary election that will set up Maryland’s open U.S. Senate race, campaign filings show millions pouring into candidates’ coffers — including big donations from national groups banking on the seat’s significance for control of the chamber. The large fundraising sums, from financial reports due Monday, reflect the escalating attention on what had largely been seen as a sleepy contest for a reliably blue seat until former Maryland governor Larry Hogan (R) launched a surprise bid two months ago.

Baltimore voters overwhelmingly approve of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s response to the Key Bridge collapse and give high marks to President Joe Biden and Mayor Brandon Scott, according to a survey conducted by Goucher College Poll in partnership with The Baltimore Banner. Moore, a Democrat facing his highest-profile challenge since taking office in 2023, led daily briefings from the shore of the Patapsco carried live on national television.

The FBI has opened a criminal investigation focusing on the massive container ship that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore last month — a probe that will look at least in part at whether the crew left the port knowing the vessel had serious system problems, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

As the Dali cargo vessel approached Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, construction workers on it were repairing potholes. In the seconds before the ship struck the bridge, its pilot made a mayday call. That enabled local law enforcement to help stop any additional traffic from driving on the bridge. But, according to attorneys for Julio Cervantes, one of two workers who went fully into the water and survived, the crew wasn’t warned about the imminent collision. Instead, they said, the workers were sitting in their cars on a break.

The Incident Command Post, it’s the headquarters of the operation for Key Bridge cleanup, where all parties involved come together to manage the response efforts. WMAR-2 News got a tour of what goes on behind the scenes. Addressing problems, answering questions right there on the spot, making it a unified command.

An urban forest is growing in Baltimore, one block at a time. On an early spring day, a work crew from Baltimore Tree Trust has fanned out along the grassy right of way in Westfield, a neighborhood in northeast Baltimore where ArcGIS field maps show low canopy cover. Clearly enjoying the weather, crew leader Camerio Graves carefully shovels, plants, stakes, and mulches 10-foot Swamp Red Oaks on both sides of Pinewood Avenue.

Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater said Monday that her proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 will include a 4.7% increase in the county’s property tax rate, a change intended to help fund school construction projects. The proposed tax-rate increase from $1.06 per $100 of assessed value in fiscal year 2024 to $1.11 per $100 of assessed value in fiscal year 2025 would mark the first change in the county’s property tax rate since the charter model of government took effect in 2014.