Around Maryland

It’s been a whirlwind of a week at Montgomery County Public Schools after Superintendent Monifa McKnight refused to step down after the Board of Education asked her to resign. Many are wondering about the next steps for the embattled superintendent who has about two more years left on her contract. “I will defend my reputation and my decades-long commitment to the students and families of MCPS and will demand that any considerations of my role as superintendent are made through a fair, legitimate, and legal process — anything less would be unacceptable,” McKnight said in a statement Monday.

The Baltimore Department of Transportation has changed how it charges fees for some work permits used by tree-planting organizations in the city. The change comes about three months after the nonprofit Baltimore Tree Trust said it was suddenly charged permit fees it had not previously been charged. The fees, according to the group, could have been as high as $12,000 for a $22,620 project in Midtown and $10,680 on a $25,577 project in Greenmount West.

A program that used social workers, peer supporters and other wraparound services to work with police to help reduce crime along the Eutaw Street corridor near Lexington Market officially opened its first office space Friday. The Embrace Resource Center, a partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore and several community organizations and city agencies, is credited with reducing crime over a three-year period, but never had its own home until it moved into the building at 55 N. Paca Street.

Baltimore’s policing consent decree was spurred in part by the death of Freddie Gray in 2015 following injuries he sustained while being transported in police custody. On Thursday, the department’s work fixing those issues became its first step toward exiting federal oversight. Federal Judge James K. Bredar, the chief judge for the U.S. District of Maryland, who is overseeing the city’s reforms, agreed with the city and federal government that the department had reached “full and effective” compliance with two sections of its lengthy consent decree: transportation of persons in custody and officer assistance and safety.

The CIAA basketball tournament will return in late February to CFG Bank Arena in downtown Baltimore, officials said Thursday. The 2024 tournament will be held from Feb. 26 to March 3. “The CIAA Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tournament is a culmination of the hard work of our member institutions and our student-athletes, as well as a celebration of HBCU culture and community,” CIAA Commissioner Jacqie McWilliams Parker said in a statement.

Each year, thousands of Marylanders who are aging or have disabilities receive health care through a family member’s help, in nursing homes, or from at-home patient visits. But a coalition of health organizations believe that those types of health care workers are often not paid adequately for their service. Caring Across Maryland, the coalition which includes health care worker union 1199 SEIU, has announced its support for bills in the 2024 legislative session aimed to support home care, nursing home workers and family caregivers.

When Howard County schools officials presented the superintendent’s $113 billion spending plan last week, they repeatedly referenced a 600-page budget book. Wanting to be as transparent as possible, acting Howard County Public School System Superintendent Bill Barnes wondered how the school system could make the budget process easier to follow, particularly the massive spending plan. Schools officials came up with a digital toolkit.

Efforts to get the enabling legislation passed that would allow Ocean City to increase the room tax rate are once again underway. On Wednesday, the Senate’s Budget and Taxation Committee held a hearing for SB 95, sponsored by Sen. Mary Beth Carozza, which would increase the maximum hotel rental tax rate cap from 5% to 6%. A hearing for the cross-filed HB 186, sponsored by Del. Wayne Hartman, is set for Feb. 1.

For years, John Lewis’ sister urged him to get an internet plan. He felt lost without it, he said, but he was stubborn and uninterested in learning to navigate something that felt so new. That changed in late November, when Lewis wandered into the community room of City View at McCulloh, the West Baltimore tower where he lives in public housing, and found officials from the housing authority signing up residents for home internet. Now Lewis has an Xfinity connection in his apartment. Soon, $30 of his monthly bill will be covered by the federal government.