National and Maryland-based hunger relief organizations are grappling with the fact that millions in federal dollars for food assistance programs are no longer available low-income families who relied on them through the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that many families still struggle to afford basic needs. The Food Research & Action Center, a nonprofit aiming to reduce poverty-related hunger, said that low-income families, including some 360,000 households in Maryland, now have less federal money for food assistance as cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program program have gone into play.

The recent gun buyback event where $50,000 of firearms were purchased in the Edmondson Village Shopping Center parking lot, an effort organized by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was derided by some of this newspaper’s readers for failing to attract young people who are most inclined to settle their grievances with a firearm. That may have been the case — police on the scene described sellers as middle-aged or older — but such criticism ignores the benefits of reducing the number of guns in circulation regardless of the owner’s age and background.

For anyone who loves a child, the news about the cause of death of Ray Lewis III, former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis’ 28-year-old son, is heart-wrenching. His was yet another life cut short due to the relentless drug epidemic — in this young man’s case, he died from an accidental overdose after taking a mix of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. Regardless of his father’s fame, this could have happened to anyone’s child.

The headlining photo of a glossy spread that hit The New York Times on Monday morning featured not a player, a coach or a baseball operations executive from the team that still leads the American League. It was John Angelos, standing alone. He’s the exact figure in the Baltimore Orioles we all could use a little less of in the news cycle. If you’re one of those fans who wants to feel good about the future of their team, bad news, everybody: Angelos, and the aspects of the franchise he actually controls, continue to be the dark cloud hanging over baseball in Baltimore.

Two Montgomery County Council members requested Monday that state and county watchdogs investigate the county school system’s handling of reported allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and retaliation by former Farquhar Middle School principal Joel Beidleman. Dawn Luedtke (D-District 7), whose district includes Farquhar, and Council President Evan Glass (D-At Large) requested in a letter that Montgomery County Public Schools “halt the work of Jackson Lewis,” a Baltimore-based law firm that was hired to investigate claims made by several Farquhar and school system employees.

Dozens gathered in front of Baltimore City Hall on Monday to call on Mayor Brandon Scott and the City Council to consider changes to Baltimore’s Complete Streets roadway policy, saying the emphasis on bike lanes and traffic-calming devices is having unintended consequences on their neighborhoods. Two groups, The Friends of Gwynns Falls Parkway and Eutaw Street Neighbors, organized the rally and held up signs that referred to the policy as “Incomplete Streets.”

As his bosses consider whether to give him a new contract, Mohammed Choudhury, Maryland’s superintendent of schools, has been meeting one-on-one with General Assembly leaders involved in education policy in an attempt to repair strained relationships. The meetings — which one lawmaker called a “kiss and make up tour” and another described as an “apology tour” — come on the heels of a nine-page letter the superintendent sent to the leaders on June 30 acknowledging “missteps in proactively communicating changes” and July reporting by The Washington Post about claims he has mismanaged his agency.

Frederick County Public Schools plans to more forcefully publicize its contract with a 24/7 virtual tutoring platform, hoping students use it more. At its most recent meeting, the Frederick County Board of Education approved the final renewal of the district’s three-year contract with TutorMe, a Los-Angeles based company that provides on-demand tutoring in hundreds of subjects.

 

A single mother of six, Ms. B worked hard to change the circumstances that cost her the custody of her children. Her kids desperately wanted to return to their mom, her attorney Natasha Khalfani testified in the Maryland General Assembly in 2022, not revealing her client’s name. Three of the children were being cared for by their father, while the oldest three were placed in foster care. The case stalled for years in court, long after Ms. B was deemed fit to regain custody.

Until the middle of January, Ryan took the bus to school. The junior at Lansdowne High School walked into the blue, silver and brick building, where he saw his friends, took Advanced Placement classes and sometimes stayed late to participate in the Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. But after the 16-year-old made threats and was suspended, he spent the majority of his spring semester at home, staring at his laptop, which he used to log in to Baltimore County Public Schools’ Virtual Learning Program.