Around Maryland

Howard County has launched the 2023 “HoCo Holiday” lights map for residents and visitors to locate the best and brightest commercial and residential holiday light displays in the county. Since the map was created in 2021, nearly 150 decorators from Cooksville and Hanover to Laurel and Woodstock have registered to share their seasonal spirit, according to a Tuesday news release. “Many of us have family holiday traditions of walking or driving around our neighborhoods to enjoy the festive holiday lights and experience the joy they bring,”

In Montgomery County, there are approximately 900 individuals who are suffering homelessness, according to a report by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). The Stepping Stones Shelter in Rockville opened its doors in 1982 with the mission to provide emergency shelter, food and case management services to families experiencing homelessness. In 2023, the property has a capacity for 25 beds to house up to six families with their own bedroom.

The 12,000-square foot warehouse in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is buzzing on a Monday afternoon, with staff and volunteers at Manna Food Center packing food boxes as cars pull up to distribute donations at local schools. In the center of it all is Jackie DeCarlo, CEO of Manna, who says hunger isn’t just a holiday issue; it’s a year-round problem, and it’s been getting worse.

Baltimore County educators rallied Monday night to ask the school district to act fast in order to slow a wave of resignations. Cindy Sexton, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, said Nov. 28 is the final scheduled meeting between union and Baltimore County Public Schools bargaining teams, and that the two sides are not yet actively engaged in over half the union’s demands for a new agreement for next school year. The current bargaining agreement expires at the end of June.

The Thanksgiving table can be a battlefield. For all the familial love and intimacy that can come with the holiday, it can put those who have chosen Baltimore as their homes on a collision course with “concerned” and “well-meaning” family members dead set on trashing our beautiful city. This year, we’re helping cut down on the time you have to spend preparing for combat. Call it data as conversational ammo.

A line of cars twisted and turned around the parking lot of Harry Grove Stadium on Tuesday, with people in ponchos and rain jackets passing bags of food and turkey to people in the cars. The City of Frederick’s Department of Housing and Human Services’ turkey distribution event has been going on for decades, said Michele Ott, the assistant director of Community Action Agency, which is a division of the department.

A major donor is suing the One Love Foundation, claiming that the Baltimore-based nonprofit, which has educated 2 million young people about relationship violence, has breached an agreement and is in “disarray” due to the actions of one of its founders. The lawsuit asserts that founder Sharon Love fought against One Love’s “outreach to LGBTQ and minority communities” and threatened to fire board members who disagreed with her, prompting nearly all board members and the organization’s CEO to resign earlier this year.

MTA Administrator Holly Arnold didn’t mince words. With information panels proudly displayed around an expansive exhibition room, Arnold acknowledged that she’s gotten a clear answer to the question of what many Baltimoreans want the future Red Line to be. “There’s a strong preference for light rail” over Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, Arnold said, taking a break from mingling with Baltimore residents inside the University of Maryland’s downtown School of Nursing building.

The Baltimore County Fire Department will contract with an outside consultant to help it comply with a new oversight agreement it reached with the federal government this fall after settling for $275,000 with 11 female firefighters over sexual harassment claims. The Baltimore County Council voted Monday to approve a $430,250 contract with Progressive Management Resources, a Pasadena, California, company that specializes in helping companies comply with employment, fair housing, public accommodation and consumer protection laws, according to its website.