At a town hall-style meeting on Thursday evening, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and his pick for the city’s top police post, Richard Worley, fielded questions scrutinizing the latter’s time with the department, probing how the candidate can reform the agency from the inside. Speakers at the community engagement meeting prodded at the 25 years Worley has worked for the Baltimore Police Department, a period when several of the agency’s internal scandals and unconstitutional policing practices came to light.

With employee health care costs leading the way, Maryland’s public school districts spent $21.1 billion between fiscal years 2019 and 2022 — not on teacher and staff salaries — but on everything else that keeps the schools running. That’s the bottom line if you add up all 26,000-plus vendor payments of $25,000 or more made by Maryland’s school districts between the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 school years.

Taneytown has extended the deadline to submit an application for police chief by two weeks, in hopes of getting a larger pool of candidates, and deleted a requirement that the chief must live in the city. Thus far, the city has received three applications for the position that has remained open since the Nov. 2 resignation of the last chief, Jason Etzler. The deadline for submitting an application was extended to Sept. 15, according to the advertisement posted on the city’s website, taneytownmd.gov and at https://policeapp.com.

Wings tossed in honey and suya spice, jollof rice and spinach-efo riro are some of the options on their menu that you won’t find in every restaurant and their social media presence gives a special view of just how their food is made and served. On top of the restaurant’s personal take on West African cuisine, the Spice Kitchen team advertises both restaurant humor and delicious previews of their menu through TikTok and Instagram. Their TikTok account has nearly 50,000 followers and over 1.5 million likes.

 

Gov. Wes Moore’s speech to county leaders at the Maryland Association of Counties Summer Conference Saturday was — surprising. Even as the economy seems to be stabilizing, and as his administration is getting praise from all corners of the state for showing up, listening, and delivering on an ambitious agenda, the Governor, a Democrat, warned of tough times ahead, and he asked for discipline.

A few weeks ago, I held a fashion show in my living room. Instead of swimwear and bridal, the categories were more “Does that have holes in it?” and “Can you just wear a belt?” and “Trousers that are now the same length as cut-off shorts.” Yes, it’s the annual back-to-school scramble, when families transition their emotions, schedules, wardrobes and wallets from relatively laid-back summer mode to sensible bed times, packed lunches and permission slips due today shoved in your face on the way out the door.\

Congratulations to Maryland State Police Trooper 3 for 50 years of lifesaving service to the citizens of Frederick County and surrounding areas. Serving as a Central Alarm dispatcher when Trooper 3 first went in service, I vividly recall the early days of medivac helicopters. Early Bell Jet Rangers were about the size of a Honda Accord. Patients were loaded lengthwise, lying beside both the paramedic and the pilot. It was interesting to see tall troopers such as Eric Smothers and Paul Crutchley squeeze themselves into extremely small aircraft.

Maryland’s constitution covers a lot of territory in its 47 articles. The right to a trial by jury is in there. So are the legislative and executive powers. It specifically makes clear that people have a right to participate in the legislative process, that courts can’t silence free speech, that “paupers” ought not be taxed to pay for government and, thanks to some more recent amendments, there’s even language permitting slot machines and legalizing adult use of cannabis.

Bill Tompkins is all business. Specifically, all Montgomery County’s business. As president and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corp. (MCEDC), Tompkins oversees an agency with a $6.2 million fiscal year 2023 budget and a staff of 25. Its aim? Attract public and private enterprises to the county, keep those that are here, and lend a hand to entrepreneurs just starting out.

 

U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey (D- Maryland) was the keynote speaker during the Council for Innovation Promotion roundtable at the University of Maryland. Hosted at the IDEA Factory, the conference was to promote intellectual property (IP) rights, such as copyrights and patents. President and CEO of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation David Iannucci and David Kappos, former director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and co-chair of the C4IP, were also speakers at the conference.