Around Maryland

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.

Nearly a year ago, a Christmas weekend storm blasted across the country, forcing utilities to cut electricity to hundreds of thousands of people in parts of the southeastern U.S. after temperatures plunged, demand spiked, large numbers of power plants failed and natural gas supply was strained. As the anniversary approaches of Winter Storm Elliott, a pair of reports released this month reveal how much worse the situation almost became and the continued vulnerability of the U.S. energy grid to frigid weather.

As he looks back on the worst of his days recovering from addiction, Jeffery Schneider says, it feels like a miracle that he’s still walking around. The Baltimore painting contractor spent many years emptying his bank account for crack cocaine. His erratic behavior alienated loved ones, doomed a family business and triggered run-ins with police. But nothing was harder for the Essex native than the annual approach of what should have been the most important day on his calendar.

Transportation Security Administration officials are predicting record-breaking passenger volume this Thanksgiving. At a news conference Monday at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, officials said they have been preparing for this travel period all year. "Thanksgiving is what we consider our Super Bowl. It is, by far, the busiest travel period of the year," Maryland Aviation Administration official Ricky Smith said. "Travelers are reminded to give themselves plenty of time for parking, airline ticketing and the TSA security checkpoint process."