The Maryland Supreme Court has ruled that state law grants certain job protections to workers on the basis of their sex and their gender identity, but the law does not extend the same protections to people based on their sexual orientation. Its 4-3 ruling Monday is the latest development in a federal lawsuit in which a man who works for Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services alleges the charity broke the law when it cut off his husband’s health care coverage in October 2017.

Fewer Greater Baltimore companies made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies this year than in any year since 2015, a drop in revenue growth that comes as investment has also plateaued in the area. Forty nine local companies made this year’s list, down from 63 in 2022. It’s the first time the region has dipped under 50 listed companies since 45 Greater Baltimore businesses made the list in 2015.

A legislative workgroup tasked with recommending changes to the degree approval process at Maryland’s colleges and universities started work this week, as the Maryland Higher Education Commission awaits legal advice on its most recent controversial decision. The workgroup was formed by the General Assembly earlier this year — before the commission’s controversial decision in June to allow a new business analytics degree at Towson University over the objection of officials at Morgan State University, a historically Black campus five miles away.

 

The line for a hot meal stretched down the air-conditioned hallway at Beans & Bread in Fells Point. Inside the cafeteria, mothers and grandmothers had walked through 100-degree July heat to find lunch for their kids. The Friday menu was fried fish, Italian sausage pasta, baked chicken, green beans, rice, and macaroni and cheese.

 

A federal appeals court in Richmond ruling struck down a lawsuit on Monday that challenged Montgomery County Public Schools’ gender identity guidelines, ruling that the case lacks legal standing. The parents of two MCPS students filed the lawsuit in 2020, alleging that the school district’s gender identity guidelines, which advise staff not to disclose a student’s gender to their parents without permission, violate federal laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

 

Montgomery County suffered 49 carjackings from January through March in a record high for the first quarter of the year, according to Data Montgomery. The highest first-quarter number was previously eighteen in 2021. The frequency of incidents since then has fallen, but the county is on track to count a record number of carjackings for the sixth year running. Montgomery County saw eight carjackings in 2017, which grew to 80 last year; the figure for 2023 already stands at 74, according to Data Montgomery.

 

Maryland’s high-profile race to replace U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin is off to a quick start, with four Democrats almost immediately jumping in for the rare chance to win an open seat in Washington, D.C., next year. Cardin, a three-term senator who’s been involved in Maryland politics for nearly six decades, is not seeking reelection in 2024.

Five Frederick County Public Schools elementary school communities will have access to expanded before- and after-school services this fall. Under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a school is deemed a “community school” if 60% or more of its students qualify for free and reduced-price meals. The Blueprint — a sweeping education reform bill that’s phasing in over the coming decade — requires districts to offer wraparound services at those schools.

 

 

A federal appeals court threw out a Maryland case challenging guidelines that allow schools to create support plans for transgender or gender-nonconforming students and do not require the knowledge or consent of the students’ parents. The decision Monday by the majority in a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit did not address the merits of guidelines written by Montgomery County Public Schools. Instead, it said the parents in the case lacked standing. The judges sent the case back to district court to be dismissed.

It’s summer, the Orioles are in first place, and there’s plenty to celebrate in Baltimore. But be careful not to leave your porch with a beer in hand, or hop on the Metro a little tipsy after the game. The enforcers of city State’s Attorney Ivan Bates’ new citation docket will be there, waiting to catch you. Don’t worry, though — just one pat down, one missed workday for your court appearance, another for your community service, and possibly hundreds in child care, and your charge will be dismissed under the new policy. You may even get some “wraparound services” out of the deal.