Rarely does a day go by when there is not another heartbreaking reminder that Baltimore remains among the nation’s most dangerous cities for gun violence, particularly for young Black men and boys. On Monday, it was the tragic news of a 16-year-old Patterson High School student found fatally shot in the head not far from the East Baltimore campus. He was the fifth city teenager under 17 killed this year.

Maryland State School Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury — a self-described data geek — arrived from Texas 18 months ago with a plan in his back pocket to redesign an essential formula for how the state calculates levels of family poverty. Now the state education department has refined that Texas plan into a model for Maryland to target money more precisely for schools with the neediest children.

Five state legislators from Anne Arundel County have proposed a bill to create a disaster recovery fund that they say would distribute money more quickly to local jurisdictions and impacted residents following a natural disaster. Annapolis Sen. Sarah Elfreth, the lead sponsor of Senate Bill 650, said the legislation was inspired by the response to tornadoes and floods in Annapolis and Ellicott City over the past few years.

Whether it was because their apartment policies restricted them from smoking in their units or their spouse didn’t like the smell of weed in their home, medicinal cannabis smokers needed a place they could smoke and relax in peace, says Venushski “Venus” Hemachandra, 33. In efforts to appease their demands, Hemachandra says, she opened Ceylon House, at 4009 Sandy Spring Road in Burtonsville.

 

Maryland leaders made their case to the FBI and General Services Administration Wednesday to move the FBI’s headquarters to the state. Leaders present included Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Sen. Ben Cardin, among others. Landover, Greenbelt, and Springfield, Virginia are the three sites in contention for the new FBI headquarters. Van Hollen said, unlike Springfield, Maryland’s proposed locations are more in line with President Joe Biden’s ideology.

 

 

As a mother of a 3 1/2 year old, I have spent hours upon hours reading product reviews and trying to find the best, safest products for my family. Even before our son was born, I was researching what car seat had the best ratings, and as he grew older that research continued late into the night to determine whether sippy cups really destroy his oral development. From numerous conversations with friends and fellow parents, I know I am not alone in this almost compulsive level of research.

 

Maryland’s political heavy-hitters have lobbied for over a decade to land the new FBI headquarters in majority-Black Prince George’s County. But for Wednesday’s critical closing argument to the federal government, they’re bringing in the new guy: Gov. Wes Moore, the only sitting Black governor of a U.S. state, who says the Biden administration’s decision is one he “takes personally.”

The group that backed a successful petition drive to get term limits approved by Baltimore voters last fall said Tuesday it’s likely to make a second push to get recall elections on the ballot next year.
Officials with People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement, a political action committee funded almost entirely by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. Chairman David Smith, said they are holding a series of town hall meetings in Baltimore City Council districts to gather input on potential ballot questions.

Snipes, a fast-growing retail chain that got its start from one of Germany’s largest shoe company, is opening its fourth store in Greater Baltimore. The national footwear store recently leased 5,500 square feet at 5600 The Alameda for its second city location. The move to the 89,000-square-foot Alameda Marketplace boosts the small strip center located about a mile from Morgan State University toward full occupancy as it restocks tenants post-Covid-19. The retailer has another store at 300 W. Lexington St. and two others in Baltimore County.

A parking lot-turned-housing project is on deck for College Park, where the University of Maryland’s real estate arm is zeroing in on an $85 million development near its Discovery District. The public parking lot near the College Park Airport and the College Park Aviation Museum borders Campus Drive next to the Junior Tennis Champions Center.