Around Maryland

Principal LaWanda Wilson is an expert at making do at her tiny West Baltimore boys school. In the past year, she and her assistant principal have filled in as part-time guidance counselors, Algebra teachers and coordinators of special education when they didn’t have the money to hire them. But last January, Wilson sat down with her supervisor to confront her budget for the following school year, and she saw that Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy West would need about $1.4 million more than the city school system would give her based on her shrinking enrollment.

Leo Shorten, 18, dove into the Potomac River Monday afternoon, donning only a T-shirt, shorts and shoes. He dunked himself in the frigid river a second time and splashed water into the air. About 20 other people joined him for the 2024 Freezin’ for a Reason plunge in Brunswick, though not all of them were as keen as Shorten to submerge themselves in the frigid water.

As public school officials continue implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan, behind-the-scenes work remains on how colleges can help. The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) is an integral part of the Blueprint plan to work on strategies to assess college and career readiness, to expand dual enrollment opportunities for high school students with classes offered at community colleges and to attract more students to teaching and keep them in the profession.

Hundreds in and around the D.C. Metro area have reported feeling the effects of a small earthquake between Gaithersburg and Rockville, Maryland, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Here’s what you need to know. WTOP listeners throughout the region, including those living in Northwest D.C. and Montgomery, Prince George’s and Howard County, Maryland, reported shaking just before 1 a.m. on Tuesday.

As the head of the philanthropic arm of the NBA players union, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake attended the 2023 NBA draft at Barclays Center, the home of the Brooklyn Nets, in New York. As she watched 58 players get selected over two rounds, the 53-year-old Baltimore native felt something unexpected. “When I was at the draft and looking at all of these young people that were venturing into their lives as basketball players, I felt like a proud auntie because I realized that these young people could be my sons,” she said, adding that some of the athletes she saw in June were the same age as her 20-year-old daughter.

James Crudup has vivid memories of traveling to Seagull Beach in Charles County during his teenage years. “I remember that water being just as clear as if we were in Florida … that’s the way it was back then,” Crudup said. “Now you cannot see. Now the water is so dark and dirty and is really filthy.” For Crudup, this type of degradation hasn’t just been visible at Seagull Beach.

A three-minute viral video shows an irate Baltimore police officer berating a teenager because he ignored orders to stop skateboarding and called the officer “dude.” “Obviously your parents don’t put a foot in your butt quite enough because you don’t understand the meaning of respect,” he shouted at the skateboarder, who remained relatively calm.

The big astronomical event in 2024 is a Great North American Eclipse in April. In Maryland, the moon won’t cover the sun during the eclipse, but it will come close. Read on for viewing tips, as well as other skywatching highlights and key astronomical dates for the next 12 months. For most events, the best viewing will be from rural areas with less lighting, and during clear weather. But some can be seen despite city lights.

About an hour after the morning bell at Northwood Elementary School in North Baltimore, a boy came to the health suite looking for a mask. A few more kids streamed in with minor needs, like bandages. A second grader with butterflies pinned in her hair wanted someone to yank a wiggly baby tooth. “I gave her some ice and wrote a note home to mom,” said said Brianna Gibson, a registered nurse who says she sees about eight kids a day.