At Broadneck High School a mural is in progress in a school bathroom with a silhouette, flowers and a statement: “You spend most of the time in your mind, make sure it is a beautiful place to be.” The painting began last year as part of a community project for the school’s Student Alliance for Flourishing, a new initiative in Anne Arundel County Public Schools funded by the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Now in five high schools and three middle schools in Anne Arundel, the alliance uses a scale with six determinants of well-being or flourishing: happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships and financial and material stability.
Wellness alliance is ‘flourishing’ in Anne Arundel County Public Schools: ‘It’s a springboard into living life’
As Baltimore’s next state’s attorney, Bates will keep police, conviction integrity units
Ivan Bates ran for Baltimore state’s attorney on a promise to bring change as the city’s top prosecutor. In the Democratic primary, Bates pledged to pursue gun cases more aggressively and said he would resume prosecuting low-level offenses that his opponent, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, eschewed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy worked: Bates, a former defense lawyer and prosecutor, defeated Mosby in the primary and is headed into the general election unopposed. His victory was widely viewed as a rebuke of Mosby, who is under federal indictment and has inspired strong opinions during her two terms. But Bates, who is set to take office in January, also plans to preserve some core elements of his predecessor’s administration.
In Black professionals, Wes Moore finds strong support and generous donors
Dia Simms sees potential in Wes Moore. Maryland’s first Black governor, and, maybe, the country’s second Black president. That’s why the Howard County businesswoman has hosted six fundraisers across the state for the Democrat. “I have supported Wes’ vision and humanity since the day I met him,” said Simms, who is president of the Lebron James-backed tequila Lobos 1707. “Coming from the point of view as a Black professional, a divided nation is bad for business … He’s a problem solver. He has the experience of being on the front line — not figuratively; literally. He brings something we haven’t seen from our politicians.” Maryland’s upwardly mobile Black professionals, like Simms, are organizing like never before to elect Moore, an achievement that two prior Black candidates ― Anthony Brown in 2014 and Ben Jealous in 2018 ― could not accomplish.
Opioid-related deaths may be dropping in Maryland, but experts say larger epidemic persists
Fatal drug overdoses dropped in the first half of the year around Maryland, including in Baltimore and five surrounding counties, reversing some of the jump during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, a state health official told a group of treatment providers and policymakers who gathered this week in Baltimore. The data was preliminary and could change but brought a bit of welcome news during what’s been a trying time for people with substance use disorders. There is still the problem, however, of the large number of people dying from overdoses. More than 1,200 died with opioids in their bodies between January and June in Maryland. Nationally, the opioid epidemic now claims more than 100,000 lives annually.
Republicans seek to retake county executive posts in Anne Arundel, Howard counties
While Democrats are widely expected to fare well in statewide races this month, contests for the top jobs in two Baltimore suburbs are shaping up to be more contested. In both Anne Arundel and Howard counties, where local seats have flipped between Democrats and Republicans in recent elections, county executive races have pitted Democratic incumbents against GOP challengers. Economic concerns and crime appear to be the dominant issues — the same issues that are driving leads in the polls for Republicans across the country. In Anne Arundel County, Democratic incumbent Steuart Pittman — a South County horse farmer and trainer who was elected county executive in 2018, in his first run for public office — faces Republican challenger Jessica Haire, a one-term County Council member who is married to the chairman of the Maryland Republican Party.
Opinion: Bertha’s history with Baltimore would be hard to leave in the past
What a strange situation: Bertha’s, the very much beloved corner bar — the corner-est of bars of Baltimore, actually, if you consider its location — sits like a rock on Fells Point Square, still very much with us. The green walls are still bowed and glowing inside, but the occasion of its apparently imminent auction tempts me to wander into past tense as if this beautiful, above-surface submarine vibe of a drinking establishment is already gone. But it’s not. You can go right now down to the bar, get a pint, and contemplate the 18th century derriere image hanging behind the bar, painted by the late great trickster/historian Bob Eney.
Johnny Olszewski has tried to undo inequity in Baltimore County. Challenger Pat McDonough says it’s made things worse.
For most of his first term in office, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski has focused on correcting historic wrongs that have defined the county’s history: housing discrimination, disparate policing of Black communities and a dearth of resources that have left low-income families, especially non-English speakers, struggling to access social services. Those issues are front-and-center in Olszewski’s reelection bid, buoyed by a national movement to reform longstanding systems that treat people of color inequitably. With half of Baltimore County residents now Black, Asian, Hispanic or Latino, Indigenous or multiracial, according to 2020 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the need to become more representative is striking.
Montgomery County launches smart energy bus depot microgrid
AlphaStruxure, an Energy as a Service (EaaS) company, and Montgomery County officials celebrated the launch of the Brookville Smart Energy Bus Depot microgrid Tuesday, an integrated electric bus charging infrastructure project in Silver Spring. AphaStruxure led this project, a joint venture with Schneider Electric and global investment firm the Carlyle Group, which will power 70 electric buses, providing sustainable transport for Montgomery County residents. The Brookeville depot is the first microgrid to power electric buses in the greater Washington region. The 6.5 MW microgrid includes bus-height solar canopies, renewable natural gas-ready on-site generation, battery energy storage, and over 4.14 MW of charging capacity.
Baltimore’s supply of water treatment chemical reached ‘critically low level’ this June due to contract dispute, inspector general finds
Baltimore’s supply of a chemical needed to treat the city’s drinking water became dangerously low earlier this year as a result of a dispute between the city and a vendor, putting the city’s drinking water at risk of being undrinkable, according to a report released Tuesday by the city’s inspector general. According to the report, an unnamed vendor threatened to halt deliveries of the unspecified water treatment chemical to the city in June due to a disagreement about a proposed price increase. At the time, Baltimore owed more than $77,000 to the company in unpaid invoices, according to the report.
Montgomery County Council passes antisemitism resolution amid pushback
The Montgomery County Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to pass a resolution to address and combat antisemitism that had been delayed several months because of pushback from community groups over the resolution’s definition of antisemitism. The vote came the same week as Jewish advocates emphasized the need to take a stand against antisemitism following recent derogatory comments about Jews by the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and former president Donald Trump. Council member Andrew Friedson (D-District 1) had introduced the resolution back in July, prompted by an increase in antisemitic incidents in the county and nationally, but despite widespread agreement that the county should denounce antisemitic hate, the vote was postponed after some groups said the definition of antisemitism being used was too broad.