Around Maryland

Maryland’s top lawyer announced Wednesday afternoon that the state had reached settlements with Walgreens, Walmart and two opioid manufacturers that are expected to add $238 million to its efforts to fight the opioid crisis over the course of 15 years. The settlements follow multi-year investigations of the roles of the opioid manufacturers and chain pharmacies in fueling Maryland’s opioid crisis, the Office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said in a news release.

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.

Baltimore County’s school board approved a $2.58 billion operational budget Tuesday for fiscal year 2025 with investments in teacher compensation and early education. The proposal also eliminates vacant positions and changes class sizes. The school board signed off on Superintendent Myriam Rogers’ budget in a 9-3 vote. Board members Rod McMillion, Julie Henn and Maggie Litz Domanowski voted against it over concerns about larger classes and teacher transfers. The Baltimore County Council will now review the plan before voting in May.

There won’t be an early voting center in Hancock this year, but there will be one in Smithsburg. If you missed the Hancock early voting center saga, or if you’ve lost track, here’s a recap: Last year, the Washington County Board of Elections recommended the board headquarters on Virginia Avenue and the Hancock Town Hall as its two required early voting center sites for this year’s election. A third alternative, authorized by the county commissioners, was the American Legion in Boonsboro.

The Frederick County Council is considering a bill that would raise the taxes some county residents pay for street lighting in their neighborhoods. According to County Budget Director Kelly Weaver, the county has three electric lighting districts — one in Braddock Heights, one in Libertytown and another just outside the Brunswick town limits. During a meeting on Tuesday, Weaver told the council that the electric lighting districts were created by groups of residents who wanted street lights installed in their neighborhoods, but had no homeowners’ association to carry out the task.

An ambitious plan to transform the Harbour House and Eastport Terrace public housing communities in Annapolis has cleared an important hurdle. The city and the housing authority announced in a news release this week that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had approved their detailed redevelopment plan. The Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant Initiative leverages public and private funds to support and create locally driven strategies to help transform struggling neighborhoods with public or HUD-assisted housing, according to the CNI website.

West Baltimore is on the brink of opening a new multi-million dollar community space. The plan is to restore the historical Public School 103 on Division Street, which served as Thurgood Marshall’s elementary school. The building has sat vacant in the Upton community for decades. Come this summer, its new life will begin as the Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center. “I have my historic consultants there,” said Dr. Alvin Hathaway.

Standing in front of a 40-foot electric bus, Gov. Wes Moore asked the crowd gathered inside the Kirk Street Depot to take a deep breath. The hum of an industrial fan some 50 yards away and camera shutter clicks filled the silence. “That’s the power of this progress — the fact that we are standing right in front of an active bus and we hear nothing. The fact that we’re standing right toward the tail end of an active bus, and we smell nothing,” Moore said.

Barbara Smith decided it was time. After years of attending the CIAA Basketball Tournament in Charlotte, the North Carolina native made the five-hour drive on Sunday from Durham to Baltimore. “It gets in your blood, and you can’t get it out,” Smith said the following day in her seat at CFG Bank Arena for the tournament’s opening night. As a DJ warmed up the crowd with songs by Ice Spice and Pop Smoke, Smith showed off her heather gray 25th anniversary CIAA Tournament sweatshirt as the women’s teams of Bowie State and Winston-Salem State ran up and down the court.