It’s human nature to want to be included, whether it’s in an invitation to a party or just being in on the hot new meme. One of the most delightful parts of social media — which is mostly not delightful — is recognizing a pop culture or historical moment and thinking, “Hey! This is just for me! I’m in the club!” I feel that way every time I see one of those memes about how Gen Xers ran the streets like wild jackals and existed on water from rusty hoses and Jolly Ranchers.

Lawmakers, public defenders, police, prosecutors and state officials gathered in a marathon meeting over video on Wednesday to confront Maryland’s problems with juvenile crime head-on. For five hours, they defended their own actions to help kids and combat crime, while pointing out other areas that need changes. Despite disagreements, all said they hope to reduce instances where children are perpetrators or victims of violence.

At the first meeting of the Baltimore Water Governance Task Force on Wednesday night, Chairman Bill Henry chose to start off with some assurances. “Our water utility system is not for sale,” Henry said. “We will not be making any recommendations that involve Baltimore City giving up legal ownership of the water, wastewater and stormwater system.”

A day after the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services released a report showing statewide youth crime has decreased over the past decade, some state lawmakers criticized the findings in a legislative hearing Wednesday. State House Judiciary Chair Luke Clippinger, a Baltimore City Democrat and Anne Arundel County prosecutor, held a legislative briefing Wednesday, the first in a series before the 2024 session, to address the state of the juvenile justice system.

The Baltimore Police deputy commissioner overseeing the department’s consent decree with the federal government will leave the agency at the end of September, he announced Wednesday. Eric Melancon, who leads the agency’s Compliance Bureau, said he will return to New Orleans to be closer to his family and to pursue a new career opportunity. He did not specify what the job was.

Howard County Public Schools is adjusting school start times in order to adapt to ongoing school bus issues. In a letter to families, HCPSS Superintendent Michael Martirano said that thousands of students are experiencing delays and some students are even being dropped off nearly two hours after dismissal. The school bus problems began during the first day of school.

 

 

Raychel Santo was both a Johns Hopkins University alumnus and employee in 2018 when she decided to tackle the inequity she saw in her employer’s free shuttle system. It “weighed on her” that the free shuttle wasn’t convenient for a lot of Santo’s coworkers, many of whom would pay for transit that brought them to the North Baltimore campus from less-connected, more remote parts of the city.

 

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Frederick County Board of Education meeting on Wednesday during a pair of passionate — and at times tense — demonstrations related to the district’s gender identity policies. Local groups opposing the board’s Policy 443 — which, among other things, directs school employees to use students’ preferred names and pronouns, and says school employees will keep a student’s gender identity private, not disclosing it to the student’s parents or guardians, unless the child consents to sharing it — advertised the event as a “rally for parents’ rights.”

 

An unnamed investor snapped up the Edgewood Plaza Shopping Center in Harford County for $10.35 million, about $3.5 million more than when the property last traded hands in 2005. KLNB’s Retail Capital Markets team brokered the deal for the center’s owner, Sandmar Properties, after receiving nine offers from local, regional and national investors for the 76,000-square-foot center.

Stepping into the waiting room at Lactation Room in downtown Mount Airy, one might feel like they entered the living room of a girlfriend’s apartment. Outfitted in pink, peach and gray décor and furniture, the space offers a calm and inviting atmosphere suitable for new mothers and their infant children. The Lactation Room has three locations in the region, in North Bethesda, Herndon, Virginia, and Mount Airy, the first in Carroll County.