Del. Mike Rogers (D-Anne Arundel) gathered a clutch of military veterans and other supporters along the Annapolis waterfront the other day in a small rally for his congressional campaign. He talked about his work in the General Assembly and his desire to do big things on Capitol Hill. “I’m going to bring the same passion I’ve brought here and take it there,” Rogers told the dozen or so people who had assembled on the pier at Susan Campbell Park.

Montgomery County is often described as diverse and now a new WalletHub study has placed four of the county’s largest cities in the top 10 most ethnically diverse in the United States. The City of Gaithersburg retained its title as the No. 1 most diverse city in the nation for the second year in a row, according to the study by WalletHub, an online personal finance company based in Miami. Germantown placed third, Silver Spring came in fourth and Rockville was eighth–after New York City.

As Maryland grapples with school curriculum pushback and book banning related to race and LGBTQ issues, a national analysis found that these subjects are not often discussed in K-12 schools, despite the heated debates. The Pew Research Center analysis published Thursday surveyed thousands of teachers, parents and teen students. While 68% of teachers say topics about sex and gender are rarely talked about, more than 40% of U.S. teachers say school curriculum debates about race, gender and sexuality have negatively impacted their abilities to do their job.

Mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah argued Thursday that Mayor Brandon Scott has gravely mismanaged Baltimore’s influx of $641 million in federal pandemic aid, handing out multi-million dollar grants to political allies while risking forfeiture of funds as federal spending deadlines loom. Scott, a first-term Democrat, has distributed the city’s hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic aid across dozens of different agencies and nonprofits and nearly as many projects. His investments range from almost $50 million for fostering non-policing approaches to violent crime to affordable housing, blight remediation, meal programs and internet.

Twelve Frederick County-based organizations will receive state grants totaling more than $7.6 million to help with mental and behavioral health resources for youths as part of a broader push under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan. Sheppard Pratt Health Systems is slated to receive the most — $4 million — among Frederick County recipients, according to a news release from the state.

 

Giant pandas, which enthralled Washington residents for nearly half a century, could make a return to the National Zoo, officials indicated Thursday after the San Diego Zoo announced its own deal to bring pandas back to its facility. National Zoo director Brandie Smith said in a statement on Thursday that zoo officials are “in discussions with our Chinese partner, the China Wildlife Conservation Association, to develop a future giant panda program.”

Maryland lawmakers are considering legislation to enable authorities to prosecute people who threaten to harm election officials or their immediate family members, as threats are on the rise across the country. The Protecting Election Officials Act of 2024, which has the support of Gov. Wes Moore, would make threatening an election official a misdemeanor punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $2,500.

The upcoming CIAA Basketball Tournament set to tip off this month marks its fourth consecutive year in Baltimore. The Baltimore community has been proud to serve as host of the men’s and women’s tournament, which provides a gathering place for student-athletes, students, alumni, families and fans coming to support the nation’s oldest historically Black athletic conference. The Maryland Sports Commission is proud and humbled to have had a role in recruiting this event to Baltimore and in helping sustain efforts to ensure that the CIAA remains in the city for years to come. The CIAA Tournament, the city and the state have found a mutually beneficial connection, not only economically, but also socially and culturally.

Katie O’Malley joins Sloane Brown to discuss her new role as executive director of the Women’s Law Center of Maryland; how her previous professional experiences taught her good leadership skills both at work and at home; and how growing up as the daughter of then-Maryland Attorney General Joe Curran affected her in both those arenas.

The largest maker of “ghost gun” parts — the gun frames and receivers that have no serial numbers and cannot be traced when used in a crime — agreed Wednesday to stop selling their products in Maryland and pay $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit filed in 2022 by the city of Baltimore. Baltimore joins D.C. and Los Angeles as cities which have successfully used lawsuits to keep ghost guns off their streets, and Wednesday’s settlement also requires the manufacturer to file regular reports documenting its compliance.