Does Baltimore care about squeegee kids? That’s the most important question after a driver attacked one of them and was shot dead in return last month. Everyone in cities like Baltimore knows these kids, who live in terrible poverty and stand at stoplights and street corners and wipe the windshields of passing cars. Sadly, in the wake of this tragedy, the risk is that Baltimore will double down on failed approaches that trap squeegee kids in poverty, instead of helping them escape it. This heartbreaking incident has generally divided people along two lines. The first is the most obvious: Crack down on these kids — or even lock ’em up.
Opinion: A better way for Baltimore to help its ‘squeegee kids’
Opinion: Back to school: With experience and vaccines, it can be back to normal
For a third year, schools are opening in the presence of covid. With experience, vaccines and mitigation — plus deeper knowledge of the coronavirus itself — it should be possible to give students a lot of in-person instruction this school year, but it is vital that the lessons of the pandemic be fully absorbed. Vaccines are the key to normalcy. They are widely available, free and highly effective at protecting against severe illness and hospitalization. Yet the uptake of vaccines among K-12 students is ridiculously low.
City delays leave Baltimore nonprofits waiting up to two years for needed funds
Baltimore City’s backlog of payments to local nonprofits for federal housing grants ballooned during the pandemic, leaving many organizations to wait between 18 months and two years to receive their promised funds. It’s a delay that advocates for Baltimore nonprofits say can hobble organizations, especially those with shoestring staffs, who rely on the federal grant funding to meet basic needs such as paying employees and providing them with health care benefits. The problem really goes to the heart of an organization’s ability to deliver critical services,” said Heather Iliff, the president of Maryland Nonprofits, who said the housing funds are just the most extreme point in broader grant processing issues for the city.
Baltimore County exec shoots down school board request to tap $50M surplus for pay raises
A Baltimore County school board request to use $50 million in surplus funds for teacher and staff pay raises is on shaky ground after County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said the request was fiscally irresponsible and would cost taxpayers a half-million dollars over five years. The board of education on Tuesday voted unanimously to ask Olszewski, a Democrat, to use millions of leftover funds to raise salaries for teachers, administrators, bus drivers and other school employees. The money would cover raises for just one year, and the school system would need to scrounge up millions more within its existing budget to sustain the higher pay in subsequent years without added cost to taxpayers.
Rodricks: In defending Trump against FBI, Maryland’s Dan Cox makes a ‘constitutionally stupid’ argument
With his degree from Regent University School of Law — currently ranked 142nd in the nation by U.S. News & World Report — and his claim of being a “constitutional attorney,” you’d think Dan Cox, the Trump-endorsed candidate for Maryland governor, would know about the supremacy clause. And I don’t mean “white supremacy clause” — just “supremacy clause,” as in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. It says the Constitution and constitutional laws that flow from it “shall be the supreme law of the land.” In other words, federal law trumps state law.
Rising mortgage rates splash cold water on Baltimore’s once-hot housing market
July is typically a hot month for home sales but rising interest rates and fears of inflation and an economic slowdown threw cold water over the Baltimore region’s once-scorching housing market. Fewer homes sold last month than in any July since 2014, according to data released Thursday by the real estate company Bright MLS. The number of new listings is dropping, while the number of active listings is growing, indicating that the frenetic pace of homebuying that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic has ended.
UMd. will more than double size of field hockey, lacrosse complex with $11M renovation
The University of Maryland women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams will soon have a new $11 million home. The existing 6,195-square-foot lacrosse and field hockey complex on the College Park campus will be partially demolished to make room for a building more than twice the size at 15,340 square feet. The construction is set to be complete in 2023. The renovation is significantly larger than the plans announced in early 2020 that called for a nearly 12,000-square-foot facility. The state Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a construction contract to renovate the university’s field hockey and lacrosse facility.
Filled with firsts, the Peale reopens its historic doors as a community museum
Jeffrey Kent might be the chief curator at the Peale Museum, but as an artist living in Baltimore for more than 40 years, he’s ashamed he only heard about the institution five years ago. “It needs to be elevated and amplified that we have this jewel of a museum in our city,” Kent, 59, said. The Peale preserves Baltimore’s stories through narratives, artwork, in-person exhibits and online experiences. The building located in downtown Baltimore houses 208 years of Charm City history.
Broken AC systems, other building woes close 1 in 4 city library branches in heat of summer
On a sweltering Tuesday afternoon, Chante Richardson walked up two flights of concrete steps, past a sign reading “Happy 100th birthday Govans Branch!” and to a book drop that was filled to the brim with hardbacks and DVDs. Richardson couldn’t fit the two volumes she was trying to return past a bulky copy of William Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!” and dozens of other books haphazardly jammed into the bin. With the doors of the Govans branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library locked, the 33-year-old Baltimore resident was not able to take back books she had checked out for her goddaughter or pick up scanned documents she had accidentally left last time she was there.
Opinion: What can be done about Baltimore’s unreliable transit?
In recent months, the resurrection of the Red Line, Baltimore’s $2.9 billion east-west light rail system that Republican Gov. Larry Hogan derailed in his first term in office, became something of a cause célèbre for Democrats seeking the primary nomination to become Maryland’s next governor. The winning candidate, Wes Moore, pitched it as part of a broader attempt to serve neglected communities. Even the Hogan administration has suggested that the light rail be considered again.