In the coming months, Tayla McCray — a fifth grade student who attends Furley Elementary School in Baltimore City — will watch her soon-to-be old school transform into a new place. But McCray said she wants to remember the “great times,” like when she and her dad dressed up for the father-daughter dance. She’s excited for her peers, because she’s already continuing her educational journey by attending middle school next year. “I hope all of the future Furley Foxes [the school’s mascot], have the same rich experience,” she said. Baltimore City officials, public school leaders, and community members gathered in the Frankford neighborhood to celebrate the start of the Furley Elementary School construction on Monday morning.
After years of fighting, renovations begin inside one Baltimore City elementary school
Three key moments from Gov. Wes Moore’s State of the State speech
Gov. Wes Moore delivered his first State of the State speech Wednesday, laying out his plans for the state based on the concept of service. Here are three key moments, ideas and promises from the speech, as prepared for delivery.
Mayor, county executive want a new look at how Baltimore’s water system is run
Baltimore City and Baltimore County officials are taking the first step toward revamping the region’s troubled system that provides drinking water and treats wastewater for millions of residents in the region. Mayor Brandon M. Scott and County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. announced a plan Tuesday to create a task force to study the water and sewer system and come up with recommendations for how the system should be owned, run and managed. They’re working with state lawmakers and Gov. Wes Moore’s administration on legislation in the General Assembly that would create the task force and require recommendations by next January.
Lutherville-Timonium redevelopment would benefit region, readers say; concerns about Fells Point parklets echoed
Amid opposition to the proposed Lutherville Station redevelopment from some nearby homeowners, I would encourage individuals who live in the area, less than 5 miles away from a large U.S. city, to closely consider the broader historical and geographic context of what exactly they have bought into. As far back as 1967, Baltimore County had the environmental sustainability foresight to establish an Urban-Rural Demarcation Line to “maximize the efficiency of County revenues on infrastructure in urban areas and preserve important natural and agricultural resources in rural areas.” Fifty-six years later, the Lutherville Station site is next to a rail transit stop, in a county with an urban-rural demarcation line (URDL), a few miles away from Baltimore — a key Northeast Corridor city that seeks growth, in part through expanded infrastructure investments, including a more robust metropolitan-area transit system.
With more vendors in place, Lexington Market marks grand opening with ribbon-cutting and bell-ringing
As a teenager, Robin Holmes and her best friend would catch the bus from Mervo High School to Lexington Market to grab an after-school snack. On Tuesday, her stall in the new Lexington Market building sold snacks to Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller. Miller and Gov. Wes Moore joined state and city officials Tuesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of the new market, which has been serving customers since a soft opening in October. More than 20 vendors — about half of the market’s capacity — are now open inside the 60,000-square-foot market building, including Deddle’s Donuts, the first brick-and-mortar location for Holmes, a Baltimore native who spent five years tooling around the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area in a pink food truck before joining Lexington’s vendor lineup.
From bad driving to divorce, Maryland lawmakers keep busy in session
The Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Tuesday heard comments for and against two pieces of legislation. The first is about drag racing and other types of dangerous driving that local Maryland governments and their police forces say are becoming bigger problems. The bill, sponsored by Anne Arundel County Democrat state Sen. Pam Beidle, would increase the fines and even allow police to arrest drivers engaged in both street racing and what’s defined as “exhibition driving.” Cars could also be impounded. The law is modeled after one crafted for Ocean City after an event organized on social media called H2Oi started showing and causing problems there.
Study: Md. will need massive investment in low-income housing retrofits to meet aggressive climate goals
As Maryland moves tentatively toward meeting aggressive goals over the next several years to combat climate change, the state will have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit homes and apartment buildings occupied by low- and middle-income residents. That’s the conclusion of a report issued this month by a coalition of national and state-based environmental groups. If the state doesn’t make the necessary investments to convert the homes of its poorest residents away from fossil fuels, Maryland will fall well short of its climate goals, the study found — and could accelerate a public health crisis in low-income dwellings.
Coppin awarded $4M to broaden high-speed internet access
Coppin State University is among 12 minority-serving colleges and universities that will receive $33.5 million in federal money to expand broadband internet access to underserved communities, officials said Monday. Federal, state and university officials made the announcement at a ceremony at Coppin, which will receive nearly $4 million as part of the program. “The internet and mobile technology are critical tools for accessing and sharing information every day,” said Coppin State University President Anthony L. Jenkins. “Socioeconomic status should not determine access, or opportunities for individuals or our communities, in Baltimore or anywhere else.”
Rodricks: Angelos Agonistes, the Mosby Matter and the stuff of Shakespeare
The Shakespeare canon would not exist had the deeds of its many characters — mad kings, rivalrous offspring, treacherous lords, treasonous courtiers — never been exposed or imagined. We would be deprived of understanding much of human nature had Shakespeare’s storytelling been restricted, by some supernatural force, to the fanciful and Arcadian, that is, no hatred, no tragedy, no “fall of man.” But, as the bard said, “All the world’s a stage,” and the thing that animated any of Shakespeare’s tragic plays — jealousy, prejudice, love, revenge, egomania, lust for power — remains alive right here in 21st century Baltimore. For evidence look no further than to spectacles playing out in our courts: Angelos Agonistes and the Marilyn Mosby matter.
Political Notes: House leadership moves, Hoyer’s new role, Cardin’s SOTU guest, and more
Alonzo Washington’s exit from the House of Delegates for the Maryland Senate has prompted yet another series of changes on State House scorecards. Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery) will replace Washington as vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee, House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) announced Tuesday. Wilkins, the recently elected chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, had been the House parliamentarian, but Stephanie M. Smith (D-Baltimore City) now steps up to that position, Jones said. Smith, who chairs the Baltimore City House delegation, is chair of the Appropriations Committee’s Education and Economic Development Subcommittee.