Around Maryland

African American studies will be offered to high schoolers in Anne Arundel County starting next fall. The class will be offered as an advanced placement course. The decision became official following Wednesday morning's board of education meeting. Students in grades 9-12 will have the option of taking the course. It will examine, in part, the diversity of African American experiences.

As of three weeks ago, Sigal Ariely’s plans for late October were set: She’d fly from her hometown of Ashkelon, Israel, to Baltimore to help the Jewish service organization she works for celebrate a major milestone. The Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership — a program that fosters personal, cultural and educational ties between Central Maryland’s Jewish community and the residents of Ashkelon, a city of about 170,000 in Israel — turns 20 this month.

Baltimore agencies have been put on notice: They could soon face a lawsuit over the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting from July. The families of the two young people killed at the gathering, along with two gunshot survivors, intend to make claims of negligence and intentional wrongdoing, according to notices of claim filed on Thursday by attorneys.

It's getting more expensive to buy a home in Greater Baltimore's most expensive ZIP codes. That's according to an analysis of data from Zillow Group Inc. and Bankrate LLC by The Business Journals. Nationally, median home prices inched up by an average of 0.67% between 2022 and 2023 — emblematic of a housing market that has retreated from the lofty gains seen during and immediately after the pandemic.

Annapolis’ Double T Diner, with its metallic exterior and neon lights, was closed for a night in early September to regular customers, instead welcoming a TikTok film crew and a performer who has over half a million followers on the video-sharing app. Inside, a few dozen family, friends and fans of Annapolis-born singer and TikTok breakout star Isabel LaRosa sat at tables with menus advertising a special performance.

Police arrested a teenager Tuesday morning suspected of stealing a car during a ride-along with Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. in Baltimore City, according to county police spokesperson Joy Stewart. Members of the Regional Auto Theft Task Force were investigating a 2016 Hyundai Sonata sedan whose owner reported it stolen from Baltimore County when the two people in the car fled the vehicle, Stewart said.

The discovery that “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, were used at the site of the new Public Safety Training Center in Westminster is forcing site plan modifications for stormwater management that will cost the county an additional $166,600. During the design process, PFAS were found to have been used in the foam product designed to cool and suppress fire, and as a result, design and site plan modifications need to be made to the stormwater management plan.

Officials at school districts across Maryland are in the process of raising teacher salaries and kickstarting a new pay structure, changes required by the state’s landmark education reform plan. But some teachers’ unions have said there is unclear guidance from state education officials on the specifics of the payment structure, called a career ladder, and whether districts can offer their current pay structure as one of multiple ways to earn a raise.