Around Maryland

A regional veterans court has been approved for Frederick and Washington counties, and a presiding judge is hoping to start hearing cases this summer. “I’m very excited. I’m very happy,” said District 11 Administrative Judge Eric Schaffer. “It’s been a long process.” Last year, Schaffer, an Army veteran, studied the need for a veterans court in District 11, which is Frederick and Washington counties.

After about a year of negotiations, Baltimore’s teachers will get significant pay increases — worth about $50 million — under a tentative contract approved by city schools and teachers union negotiators on Tuesday. If ratified by a vote of the entire teachers union and approved by the city school board in February, the new three-year contract would give the greatest increases to both ends of the scale — veterans and the least-experienced teachers.

As the filing deadline approaches for Anne Arundel County school board races, four incumbents are seeking reelection while three others haven’t filed to run, meaning there might be a few fresh faces on the board after the November election. As of Wednesday, 10 candidates had filed or announced their attention to run for seven seats in the purple county, where Democrats control the top offices. Interested persons have until 9 p.m. on Feb. 9 to file.

Frederick County elected officials advocated before the state's Budget and Taxation Committee on Wednesday for a bill they argue is a first step toward a more equitable formula for school funding. Senate Bill 385, sponsored by state Sen. Karen Lewis Young (D-3), initially included alterations to the formula that would have aimed to eliminate what officials call a "funding lag" that hurts growing districts.

So the Orioles are heading to new ownership, with John Angelos agreeing to sell the team to Baltimore native David Rubenstein and a group of investors that includes Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. Rubenstein will be the “control person” overseeing the the operation of the franchise and communications with Major League Baseball. John Angelos took over the role in 2020 for his father Peter, the team’s majority owner, due to the patriarch’s declining health.

Baltimore’s water wheels collected more than 1 million pounds of litter and debris from the city’s waterways in 2023, though the amount of trash in the water is actually decreasing, the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore announced Wednesday. 2023 was the second consecutive year that the Waterfront Partnership operated four trash wheels in Baltimore’s waterways — Mr. Trash Wheel, Professor Trash Wheel, Captain Trash Wheel, and Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West — which made the collection process more efficient.

Since May, over 245,000 Marylanders have lost health care coverage from Medicaid, an insurance plan aimed at low-income residents, during a eligibility review period often referred to as “Medicaid unwinding.” Eight months into the unwinding period, a new report from Maryland Department of Health shows that some areas in Maryland are retaining Medicaid coverage while some populations are losing it. The department says it will use the data to target harder to reach populations in the remaining four months of the unwinding period.

Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones, a 38-year veteran of the department, will retire in July, he announced Tuesday. Jones, 59, has held the post since 2019. He commands a staff of about 1,300 sworn officers and 650 support personnel that protects the busy Washington suburb and the most populous county in Maryland. “It has been an honor to lead such a dedicated and talented department of officers and professional staff,” Jones said in a statement. “I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished together.”