Maryland lawmakers aim to promote Black history education even as it is under attack in some states

While the teaching of Black history is under fire and facing censorship in some states like Florida, two Maryland lawmakers have proposed legislation aimed at providing more federal support to promote and preserve Black history, culture and education. Rep. Kweisi Mfume and Sen. Ben Cardin, both Maryland Democrats, introduced their measures on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month. The legislation would create a council of 12 presidential appointees to advise the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) on promoting Black voices, ensuring that Black history and culture is recognized in schools, providing resources to preserve Black history, and recommending national policies that would generate improved public understanding of African American history and culture.

Maryland advocates push specialty crop support, conservation for 2023 farm bill

Maryland agriculture officials, conservation groups and producers from the state’s more than 12,000 farms are vying for their priorities to appear in this year’s federal farm bill. A behemoth package of legislation considered to be the primary vehicle for addressing agriculture issues and setting policy, the five-year farm bill expires in September. The bill authorizes billions of dollars in a dozen areas ranging from crop price supports to forestry, with most funding set aside for nutrition programs. This year, groups in Maryland will push to increase farm bill programs for smaller specialty farms – which produce crops like fruits, vegetables and tree nuts – and establish more incentives for farmers to embrace conservation practices.

Brooks: America should be in the middle of a schools revolution

“The coronavirus caused by far the biggest disruption in the history of American education,” Meira Levinson and Daniel Markovits wrote in The Atlantic last year. Things have not reverted back to normal as COVID has gradually lost its grip on American life. Today’s teachers and students are living with a set of altered realities, and they may be for the rest of their lives: Shrinking enrollments. In the first full academic year of the pandemic, K-12 public school enrollment fell by 1.1 million students and fell by about an additional 130,000 students the following fall. New Stanford-led research finds that 26% of that decline was caused by students switching to homeschooling and 14% by students leaving for private schools. Another 34% of the decline is hard to track, but some students were probably going truant, doing unregistered home-schooling or simply opting out of kindergarten.

Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum named second best art museum in the nation by USA TODAY

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore came in second place in USA TODAY’s contest for the “Best Art Museum” in the country, with the top honor going to the Detroit Institute of Arts. A panel of experts nominated museums for the contest, which were narrowed down to 10 by the USA TODAY 10Best editors and voted upon by readers. Readers were able cast one vote per category each day. “Located next to downtown Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is America’s official national museum and education center for self-taught and intuitive artistry. Created with materials from roots to toothpicks, farmers, homemakers, people without housing, and others have donated their art to this museum, transforming dreams and loss into works of art,” the 10Best editors wrote.

Meet Tucker Balti Moore, Maryland’s First Dog and the newest addition to the governor’s mansion.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore adopted a new family member Friday – a fluffy mixed-breed rescue puppy, the Maryland SPCA in Hampden said. Moore tweeted a series of photos Friday evening of him and his children with their new furry friend. The governor also shared the pup’s full name, a nod to Charm City: Tucker Balti Moore. “Tonight @DawnFlytheMoore, Mia, James, and I welcome a new member of our family: Tucker Balti Moore! Thank you to @MDSPCA for helping us adopt our new energetic family member. We can’t wait to run through Government House and the streets of Annapolis with Tucker!” Moore tweeted.

Who’s at risk for brain disease? Baltimore scientists need diverse subjects to find out

The basement of the building on Johns Hopkins’ East Baltimore medical campus is lined with large extra-cold freezers containing what neuroscientists believe can help them answer long-standing questions about why people of African ancestry get some illnesses at higher rates. The “freezer farm” contains brains — 4,000 of them — from infants to 102 years old, donated locally and around the country by families descending from Africa and the rest of the globe. “We are all almost entirely genetically the same, 99.9%,” said Dr. Daniel R. Weinberger, director and CEO of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, a Hopkins-affiliated nonprofit research organization that collects and studies the brains.

Maryland governor taps gas industry official to help regulate gas industry

In his inaugural address, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) pledged to speed the state’s shift away from fossil fuels and toward 100 percent clean energy by 2035. “Clean energy will not just be a part of our economy,” Moore declared in January. “Clean energy will define our economy in Maryland.” But roughly a month later, the Democrat is angering some of his environmental supporters by nominating a natural gas industry official to the state Public Service Commission, a five-member body that regulates utility companies and plays a pivotal role in the state’s efforts to combat climate change.

‘Operation Clean Sweep’ aims to tackle litter along Maryland roadways

The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration launched “Operation Clean Sweep Maryland” Friday — aiming to increase litter removal along roadways throughout the state. As part of the effort, the state will double how frequently crews pick up litter and mow along Maryland roads. Maryland will also hire more state employees to help with litter pickup. Operation Clean Sweep Maryland is beginning in the D.C. and Baltimore areas. “Maryland’s highways connect us to friends, family, schools, jobs and recreation, and serve as the welcome mat for visitors to our state,” Acting Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said in a news release.

Under Armour to expand Baltimore student-athlete support program

Under Armour Inc. wants to expand its program that gives Baltimore City student athletes the resources they need to succeed now that the local sportswear maker has completed renovations of all 21 of the city’s public high school gyms and outfitted all its varsity teams. Executives with the company shared that message Friday from the gymnasium of Edmonson-Westside High School, where a crowd of high school athletes, city officials and others were gathered to celebrate six years of Under Armour’s Project Rampart and talk about where the program will go in the future.

After CIAA Tournament’s second run in Baltimore, officials hope to continue long-term partnership

Hall of Famer Bobby Dandridge led the Norfolk State men’s basketball program to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association title in 1968 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and had attended conference tournaments in Norfolk, Virginia, Charlotte, North Carolina, and — for the past two years — Baltimore. “The Greyhound,” as Dandridge was nicknamed, said Baltimore has proved to be a worthy host after the CIAA elected to move the tournament from Charlotte after the 2019-20 season.