Baltimore County Public Schools educator Lloyd Allen pulled up to the school system’s board of education meeting Tuesday night with two empty egg cartons. The average price of eggs has skyrocketed, making Allen’s cartons a visual and financial reminder of the rising inflation. And yet, Allen pointed out, Superintendent Darryl L. Williams’ budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 does not include a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for staff. The omission left Allen “quite surprised.” Teachers Association of Baltimore County President Cindy Sexton echoed Allen’s public comment and pointed out other Maryland counties, such as Anne Arundel and Prince George, that have already thought to provide COLAs for staff.

The Wittig family of Sykesville brought into the world a new baby girl and a new cocktail bar within the span of a few months. The Local Motive, the Wittigs’ new cocktail bar on Main Street in downtown Sykesville opened on Jan. 12. Juniper Wittig was born in late September, as her parents, Colleen and Tyler Wittig, were deep in planning mode for their new venture. Tyler and Colleen Wittig, both 30, met while attending Liberty High School in Eldersburg. They graduated in 2010, then reconnected at college, working together as bartenders since 2015. The two worked at Market Tavern in Sykesville for about 6½ years and when that establishment’s owners decided to move to Taneytown, the Wittigs decided to jump on the opportunity and take over the popular location, giving it a new spin.

With lawmakers facing a July 1 deadline to provide a framework for the legal use, possession, and sale of cannabis after voters approved full legalization in November, it’s clear, just a week into the General Assembly session, that the task won’t be straightforward. While the public is generally enthusiastic about legalization, which passed with 67% support and received more votes than new governor Wes Moore, legislators have a lot of work to do to build a legal market that fulfills their commitments on issues like equity, public safety, and taxation and revenue. “The people of this state have spoken and they have spoken loudly,” said Moore at a press conference Thursday. “We cannot, we will not, repeat the mistakes that the state has made when medical cannabis was legalized…we have to get this right from day one.”

On the banks of the Susquehanna River, the town of Perryville is home to a veteran’s hospital and a casino, and attracts history buffs learning more about the town’s role in the American Revolution and Civil War. For the most part, though, when you think of this Cecil County community, you don’t think of resort-style family fun. Until now. Perryville’s reputation as a sleepy pass-through could change in August when Chicago-based resort developer Great Wolf Lodge opens its 20^th – and largest – resort. The $250 million project is expected to attract more than a half million visitors a year to the 48-acre site. Most will come from the Mid-Atlantic region and travel less than two hours. It’s more than a three-hour drive from Baltimore to the chain’s closest resorts in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Wes Moore’s inauguration speech hit the notes a lot of us have been waiting a long time to hear from the governor of America’s wealthiest state — that Maryland should also be one of the safest, best educated, healthiest and most progressive in the country. “We know it is unacceptable that, while Maryland has the highest median income in the country, 1 in 8 of our children lives in poverty,” Moore said. “We do not have to choose between a competitive economy and an equitable one. We should not tolerate an 8-to-1 racial wealth gap, not because it hurts certain groups, but because it prevents all of us from reaching our full potential. … This can be the best state in America to be an employer and an employee.”

Early last week Ivan Bates was sworn in as the new state’s attorney in Baltimore City. His first announced change to the office once headed by Marilyn Mosby was to do away with his predecessor’s policy of not prosecuting low-level criminal offenses, such as marijuana possession and prostitution. Bates has made clear that prosecuting these types of cases will be discretionary rather than having a total ban on prosecution. We agree with this rational approach to prosecuting even what may appear to be minor crimes in the city. While we applaud Bates for this change to his office, we do encourage him to keep two units created by Mosby that are truly critical: the Sentencing Review Unit and the Conviction Integrity Unit.

As expected, the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee selected Del. Alonzo Washington on Saturday to fill a vacant seat in the Maryland Senate. The committee will forward Washington’s name to Gov. Wes Moore (D), who will have up to 15 days to make the appointment official. Washington, 39, was the only person who came before the committee to seek the vacant seat. He will serve the remaining four-year term after all 188 legislator seats in both chambers were up in the November election. “I just want to thank everybody that came her today. I look forward to really working with all of you,” Washington, joined by his wife and their one-month daughter, said to dozens of supporters at the Glenarden Municipal Center.

A key gauge of family poverty, children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals in public schools, is skyrocketing in Baltimore County. Roughly 66% of the children in the county school system currently qualify for either free or reduced-price meals, according to statistics on the school system’s website. That’s up from about 44% just five years ago. Advocates say it shows that more families in the county are struggling and that school meals should be free for all children. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, all public-school children across the country were offered free meals. The federal government ended that program last summer. Now families have to apply for free and reduced-price meals.

Maryland 529 board chair Peter Tsirigotis turned in his resignation Friday, one day after facing withering criticism from state lawmakers for the agency’s handling of problems with one of Maryland’s college savings plans. Tsirigotis, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment, appeared before the Maryland House Appropriations Committee on Thursday to explain why hundreds of families have been unable to access all of the money in their Maryland Prepaid College Trust accounts. “As a parent of college-age children, I can relate to and share the frustrations expressed by the account holders,” Tsirigotis told lawmakers. “We are focused on resolving the issues for the account holders as swiftly as possible. However, we realize in retrospect that more could have been done to provide account holders with updated information.”