Around Maryland

Debate over the constitutionality of Maryland’s Child Victims Act, long argued in the legislature and, more recently, in legal filings, is set to take place in a courtroom for the first time this week. The landmark law allows people sexually abused as children to sue those responsible, no matter how much time has passed. It was enacted last spring, with abuse survivors championing the measure as a long-overdue avenue to hold perpetrators accountable on the victims’ timelines.

Music Director Jonathon Heyward and acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma will open the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-2025 season in September, the BSO announced Thursday. The classical season, “Music that Resonates,” will open in two back-to-back gala concerts in September at Strathmore in Bethesda and the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore. Ma, one of the best-known classical musicians and a 19-time Grammy Award winner, has played cello since he was 4.

Deserved or not, Leakin Park has a reputation. Scores across the country know it as the site where Hae Min Lee was buried in a shallow grave, a case probed years later on the podcast “Serial.” Locals better know Leakin Park as the densely overgrown expanse in their backyards with a host of possibility but also insufficient staffing, illegal dumping and safety concerns. Recently, however, there has been movement to improve Leakin Park’s circumstances, making it more of an asset for the historically disinvested West Baltimore neighborhoods that surround it.

Baltimore’s government-subsidized public housing sites are failing federal inspections at a higher rate than the national average, a Banner analysis of inspection records found. The most recent round of Real Estate Assessment Center Inspections, which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development uses to assess the quality and safety of housing, revealed a number of health and safety violations inside of Baltimore’s conventional public housing stock, including cockroaches, fire safety hazards and mold and mildew.

The state of Maryland has about a month to decide whether it will continue to do business with YesCare Corp., a correctional health care provider that has drawn a flurry of lawsuits from currently and formerly incarcerated people over alleged malpractice. Meanwhile, a cascading series of events over the last week in a related Texas bankruptcy case has thrown the viability of YesCare into question.

A state mapping project shows areas in Maryland that could be susceptible to sea level rise in the future. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources worked with George Mason University and The Nature Conservancy on the project, which shows viewers the areas that could become wetlands. By sharing which places could become affected by rising sea levels, DNR conservation resilience planner Sara Coleman hopes people will be able to adjust before it gets too late.

Ocean City’s commercial harbor may be on the brink of a significant transformation as offshore wind company U.S. Wind sets its sights on establishing a presence in the resort town. The Federal Government has been informed of U.S. Wind’s intentions to construct a new pier in the West Ocean City Harbor, stirring both anticipation and concerns among locals. The proposed project includes the development of a new pier, forming part of an operations and maintenance facility.