As he looks back on the worst of his days recovering from addiction, Jeffery Schneider says, it feels like a miracle that he’s still walking around. The Baltimore painting contractor spent many years emptying his bank account for crack cocaine. His erratic behavior alienated loved ones, doomed a family business and triggered run-ins with police. But nothing was harder for the Essex native than the annual approach of what should have been the most important day on his calendar.

Transportation Security Administration officials are predicting record-breaking passenger volume this Thanksgiving. At a news conference Monday at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, officials said they have been preparing for this travel period all year. “Thanksgiving is what we consider our Super Bowl. It is, by far, the busiest travel period of the year,” Maryland Aviation Administration official Ricky Smith said. “Travelers are reminded to give themselves plenty of time for parking, airline ticketing and the TSA security checkpoint process.”

 

 

Gov. Wes Moore announced a state initiative Monday to locate the ancestral communities and rebury the remains of 15 people of possible African descent currently held at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory in Calvert County. “In order for us to be able to move forward, we must both remember and value our past,” Moore, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Ken Ulman knows what it’s like to win elections and he knows what it’s like to lose — and now he’s in charge of helping Maryland Democrats secure victory up and down the ballot. Ulman was overwhelmingly elected chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party by party officials on Saturday, kicking off a new challenge for the former Howard County executive who now is a plugged-in consultant.

An almost 34-year veteran of Montgomery County Fire and EMS has been tapped to become the county’s next fire chief. Charles Bailey is currently the department’s operations chief, but if his nomination by Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich is confirmed by the county council, he’ll lead one of the area’s largest Fire and EMS teams. “I think the excitement is going to come. I think right now, I’m still adjusting to the gravity of the importance of it,” Bailey told WTOP.

 

The Maryland Stadium Authority is an incredible organization doing great work for the citizens of Maryland. While most of its work is not fully understood by the public, its record of best-in-class management of the Camden Yards complex, capital projects management for Baltimore City and various counties across Maryland, and its recruitment of youth, amateur and professional sporting events statewide has been well appreciated by the Maryland legislature and by every governor from Harry Hughes to Larry Hogan.

Government officials in Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City will consider advancing two separate proposals Monday night that would compel both jurisdictions to implement requirements that could boost the supply of reduced-priced housing in both areas. Though the city’s legislative package differs slightly from the county’s proposal, they share a similar goal: that housing developments exceeding a certain size or value, or already receiving large public subsidies, should allocate at least a portion of the units for people at income levels below the Baltimore-area median — a practice known as inclusionary housing.

A pair of bills before the Baltimore County Council could enshrine the Office of the Inspector General in county law and bolster its subpoena power over noncounty records, but the charter amendments proposed don’t include guarantees for its right to obtain government records.County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. is requesting to put the charter change to referendum in the 2024 election, and reducing to 30 days, from 90 days, the period the IG must wait between requesting nongovernment records and requesting a court force their surrender.

The Frederick County Board of Education on Monday “indefinitely” tabled the question of how much voting power its student member should have, instead focusing on a state bill being drafted. Six of the board’s seven members said they supported granting some type of voting rights to the student member of the board, who is elected by Frederick County Public Schools middle and high schoolers.

After federal prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss one count and part of another, Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins asked the court on Friday to drop all of the charges against him in a machine gun conspiracy case. Prosecutors asked on Nov. 9 for one count in the indictment to be dismissed, after Jenkins’ attorneys pointed out a discrepancy between the language in the indictment and the March 2022 letter Jenkins signed, on which the charge is based.