Maryland Department of Natural Resources leaders have undertaken sweeping reforms of the state’s park system in the wake of complaints about sexual harassment and a toxic work culture, as well as the highly publicized rape trial of a former park manager, the agency’s top official told lawmakers Wednesday. “There were legitimate workplace culture, communication and transparency issues in the park service,” Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz told a joint legislative committee.

As children head back to school, it is critical that we give them the best environment in which to learn and grow during the next nine months. Whether one considers students’ physical and mental health, educational achievement or other metrics, it is clear that the best learning environment includes time outside, engaging in educational opportunities within our natural environment.

After new members were elected to the Prince George’s County Council last fall, the council dubbed itself “The People’s Council.” While this is encouraging to hear, as residents of this county, the actual litmus test for whether this new council is genuinely dedicated to the concerns of the people, and in particular, the needs of residents from less affluent, over-policed communities, is the passage of CB-81-2023, a bill to give the county’s new Police Accountability Board independent investigatory and subpoena powers. In other words, we’ll believe it when we see it.

Baltimoreans can be parochial with the best of them, so it’s hardly surprising that the recent uptick in car thefts within Charm City has quickly driven some to question whether police and local officials have misfired on yet another public safety concern. City Councilman Zeke Cohen’s call for a hearing on the topic by the council subcommittee that oversees public safety, is notable for at least two reasons.

Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-District 5) hosted his signature Bull Roast, the 42nd of his career, on Sept. 8 at the Newton White Mansion in Bowie. The event has been a staple for candidates, especially gubernatorial candidates, and is one of the quickest ways to meet Democrats from every part of Maryland in an afternoon. Hundreds gathered behind the Manor for hot dogs, hamburgers and political chats with a statewide audience and speeches from Attorney General Anthony Brown (D), Senate President Bill Ferguson (D) and other prominent elected officials.

Prince George’s County Council members on Tuesday said they’d reconsider legislation to codify the ability of the body’s first pregnant representative to participate in meetings virtually, an apparent course change after a rejection of the measure prompted forceful criticism from other elected officials, labor rights groups and county residents.

Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater announced on Tuesday that the county had purchased a 119-acre plot of land for a future high school. The site, which Fitzwater, D, called the Burall Farm Property, sits at the intersections of Md. 80 and Md. 75 between New Market and Urbana. The county purchased the land for $2.2 million, which she said was “well below market value.”

 

Maryland’s only historically Black land-grant university has missed out on $321 million in funding over the past three decades, the Biden administration has said in a letter to Gov. Wes Moore. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore and similar institutions across 15 other states have missed out on a collective $12.6 billion over the past 30 years, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack said in letters Monday to the governors of each state. The letters said the largest disparity was in Tennessee, where Tennessee State University has been underfunded by $2.1 billion.

Seven months after pulling the plug on a controversial process to find a company to run the concessions operations at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, the state is trying again. Late Monday, the Maryland Department of Transportation issued a document known as a Request for Proposal, seeking bidders that want to oversee concessions at the state-owned airport for the next two decades.

 

Young adults packed Montgomery County Council chambers in Rockville on Sept. 12 to voice their objection to proposed changes to the county’s Policing Advisory Commission, including eliminating a requirement to have one person age 25 or younger and one person between the ages of 25 and 35 serve on the body.