Around Maryland

At the Community College of Baltimore County, 85% of students attend school without paying tuition, but that could change because of proposed cutbacks in Gov. Wes Moore's budget. CCBC President Sandra Kurtinitis said a proposed cut to the state funding of community colleges may force her 48,531-student institution to roll back one of its biggest aid programs, an offer of free tuition to any student whose family makes less than $150,000 a year.

As environmental advocates begin to push an audacious plan to make polluters compensate the state for the ravages of climate change, they are now armed with a poll showing voters want policymakers to be tough with fossil fuel companies. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) released the poll Tuesday, as lawmakers start to consider legislation that would make the 40 largest emitters of greenhouse gases in Maryland pay vast sums of money to the state for environmental degradation.

In a bus lot in East Baltimore, city school officials, members of the Biden administration and school bus manufacturers braved the cold on Tuesday to cut the ribbon for 25 new electric buses for Baltimore City Public Schools. These are not the noisy, sputtering, diesel-stenched yellow behemoths of many a childhood; in fact the vehicles are practically silent when turned on.

Several local agencies have teamed up to form the Allegany County Resuscitation Committee — a groundbreaking partnership focused on improving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates in Allegany County. The committee is composed of members of the Cumberland Fire Department, UPMC Western Maryland and Allegany County Department of Emergency Services.

The Maryland State Department of Education is looking for public and private nonprofit organizations willing to serve as meal sites for the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The SFSP is a U.S. Department of Agriculture summer program that provides free, nutritious meals to children and teenagers who depend on their schools for meals while school is in session.

There’s one thing some Howard County residents do not want forgotten: The county is a farming and agriculture hub, and its flag pays tribute to that with a shock of wheat in the upper-left corner. But when the flag was designed in 1968, it was a different time. The U.S. had not yet landed on the moon and the Beatles were about to break up. The county looked a little different, too.

At the end of the summer, CentroNía Martha Gudelsky Child Development Center will open at the old Silver Spring Library in Montgomery County, Maryland. The library operated for nearly 60 years, but will now provide early learning opportunities to nearly 130 children up to age 5. CentroNía’s President and CEO Myrna Peralta said this has been nearly 10 years in the making.

Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones, 59, announced Wednesday that he will end his 38-year career on the department and five-year tenure as police chief on July 1 when he retires. MoCo360 spoke with Jones to ask him to reflect on his time as chief of police and how he addressed challenges, like increases in gun violence and juvenile, and the pandemic.

The Baltimore County executive and the county’s Education Foundation are giving up to $1 million in scholarships for people of color and women in STEM pursuing a teaching career in the district’s public schools. The Growing Our Own for BCPS Scholarship aims to attract and retain more high-quality teachers to the school system and create a more diverse teacher workforce, according to a Thursday news release from the county.