Around Maryland

Maryland will receive $820,156 as part of a nearly $50 million data breach settlement, the Maryland Attorney General announced Thursday. Blackbaud, a software company headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, settled with 49 states and the District of Columbia, excluding California, to resolve allegations that the company violated Maryland’s Consumer Protection Act and the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) when the company failed to protect consumers’ personal information during a 2020 data breach.

Maryland’s inspector general for education is investigating whether outgoing Maryland schools superintendent Mohammed Choudhury and other state education department leaders improperly shielded their communications from public records requests. A source with knowledge of the investigation told The Baltimore Banner the state watchdog is asking questions about the administration’s use of Signal, an encrypted messaging app, to discuss state business. The source spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

On the same day Maryland’s Child Victims Act went into effect, 50 people filed lawsuits against the state and two of its agencies alleging they suffered rampant and repeated sexual abuse as youths incarcerated under the juvenile justice system. The six lawsuits, filed Sunday, are part of a new wave of litigation stemming from the state’s decision to eliminate the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to file complaints against institutions they say enabled harm.

The Baltimore water task force, convened to decide the future of the area’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, came close to homing in on a single governance model at its second meeting Wednesday night: a regional water authority. In its first-ever vote, the 13-member group — made up of Maryland water and wastewater officials, as well as politicians and a labor leader — narrowed down its list of possible models.

Difficulty sleeping. Bad dreams. Stomachaches, change in appetite, feeling jumpy or irritable. These are all normal reactions after going through a traumatic event like the shooting at a Morgan State University homecoming celebration Tuesday night. School psychologists and crisis response researchers now have more than two decades of experience responding to school and campus shootings.

According to a study conducted by United Way of the National Capital Area, Maryland is the sixth state with the highest average annual childcare costs, D.C. is the first. The United Way NCA began the study by identifying the average annual childcare costs and the percentage of income spent on childcare in each state. The NCA then analyzed how the childcare cost burden changes when considering different racial groups, household compositions, and low-income levels.

Top law enforcement officials met with the Worcester County Board of Education in closed session this week after expressing school safety concerns.Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser and Worcester County Sheriff Matt Crisafulli and Chief Deputy Nate Passwaters met with the school board in a special session Wednesday.

Towson University is looking for a new arena sponsor following the end of its 10-year naming rights deal with the State Employees’ Credit Union of Maryland. The university earlier this week announced that is it hiring Legends, a company that specializes in naming rights deals, to find a new sponsor for the university arena following the expiration of its contract with SECU, the largest credit union based in Maryland.