The Maryland Transit Administration on Wednesday released projected levels of effectiveness for its six proposed Red Line alternatives, comparing cost, ridership and other metrics for the light rail and bus rapid transit (BRT) options along three different alignments. The agency employed the Federal Transit Administration’s STOPS program, a data modeling tool that uses Census numbers, current transit ridership levels, and a slew of other data to generate trip and ridership projections for new transit projects.

Open enrollment on Maryland’s health insurance marketplace kicked off Wednesday with a new carrier, expanded savings for young adults and changes to value plans. Marylanders have until Jan. 15 to purchase private plans on the marketplace, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange said in a news release. Those who qualify for Medicaid may enroll at any time of year.

More than two years after the discovery of severe pollution coming from its two wastewater treatment plants, Baltimore has agreed to pay a state fine of up to $4.75 million and meet a series of deadlines to make repairs, officials will say Thursday. Nearly half of the civil penalty, which is among the largest for water pollution in state history, will fund environmental projects, with a focus on the Patapsco and Back rivers, which received millions of gallons of polluted water from the plants.

Baltimore got a look this week at new renderings of the proposed $500 million redesign of Harborplace — and reactions aren’t as glowing as developers might hope. The reimagined Haborplace would include four new buildings and nearly 1,000 new residential units, along with shops, restaurants, a park and an amphitheater. P. David Bramble and his firm, MCB Real Estate, which is spearheading the redevelopment, laid out their vision for the Inner Harbor area on Monday alongside government and business leaders.

The Baltimore Fire Department is making adjustments to how it fights fires. The new procedures were sent out in a memo to staff on Tuesday, WJZ-TV reported. It says effective immediately firefighters must fight fires from outside the building unless they’re told to do otherwise by a battalion chief. Firefighters will now only attack fires from the inside of occupied dwellings after they have completed several checks of the building.

Over the last few months, a handful of city residents tasked with reviewing the Baltimore Police Department’s internal misconduct investigations have been scouring nearly two dozen cases per week, flagging issues with missing video footage, incomplete reports and policy discrepancies. Since its first meeting in mid-June, the five-member “administrative charging committee” of the city’s Police Accountability Board has reviewed more than 370 cases, according to the city’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights, which oversees its work. Of those cases, the committee has differed from the department’s internal conclusions in seven instances, the civil rights office said.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown co-led a coalition of 19 attorneys general who submitted an amicus brief supporting the Montgomery County Board of Education in its decision to include LGBTQ+ books in its language arts curriculum A group of parents sued the Montgomery County school board after it allowed elementary schools to read books about LGBTQ+ people.

Karla Silvestre, the president of the Board of Education, joined the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Democratic Breakfast club on Oct. 23 to discuss issues that the school system is facing and answered community member’s questions and comments. Silvestre touched on the investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct by a Montgomery County Public Schools principal, how to support students and schools during the Israel-Hamas war, the school district’s climate initiatives, the electric school bus program and some budget details.

 

African American studies will be offered to high schoolers in Anne Arundel County starting next fall. The class will be offered as an advanced placement course. The decision became official following Wednesday morning’s board of education meeting. Students in grades 9-12 will have the option of taking the course. It will examine, in part, the diversity of African American experiences.

Baltimore officials must now notify the City Council president and city comptroller when they request emergency spending funds. The agreement is a compromise between competing proposals from Comptroller Bill Henry and Mayor Brandon Scott. Henry had previously said the five-member Board of Estimates often doesn’t learn about emergency contracts until months or years after the money has been spent.