Around Maryland

Pretty much every item in the modest Silver Spring apartment Baktash Amini shares with his wife, Maryam, and their two young kids has been donated: the table and chairs, sofas, bedroom furniture, even the television hanging from the wall. One notable exception: a white toddler-size Bentley sports car covered in stickers that sits on the floor next to one of the sofas.

Pastor Rod Hudson said the first time he came to Baltimore to visit Ames Memorial United Methodist Church in 2007, he was shocked by how much drug activity was going on in Sandtown-Winchester. But he felt called to work there, he said, and not only took the job at the church, but became engaged in efforts and ideas to turn the neighborhood around.

Resort officials this week agreed to install 28 new digital message signs on the Boardwalk, but not before a lengthy discussion on visual clutter. On Monday, the Mayor and Council had before them a request from town’s tourism department to purchase and install 14 double-sided, or 28, variable message signs (VMS) along the Boardwalk. Tourism and Business Development Director Tom Perlozzo said the total cost of $549,815 would be paid for with dedicated advertising funds.

Erica Brooks, a graduating senior at Overlea High School in Baltimore County, had a tough high school experience. She lost her dad as a freshman and she was forced to learn virtually her sophomore year because of the pandemic. But with the help of an academic resource center, she not only bounced back but finished her classes early. She’ll walk across the stage with her peers on Wednesday.

After a lengthy negotiation process to settle on a bill that would raise the debt ceiling in order for the U.S. government to avoid default, the bill now expands the age range in which a person needs to be employed, or in a work training program, in order to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.

Nate Fleming had pulled up at a gas station in Northeast Washington on his way home when the red minivan appeared out of the corner of his eye. The van sped up and screeched to a halt next to his dark 2014 BMW sedan. Two people — masked and dressed in all black — flung open the doors of the van and jumped out. One pointed a gun at Fleming, who threw his keys and ran, while the other got into the BMW. Both cars then sped away.

In Maryland, it’s easy to forget that the Chesapeake Bay is more than just the wide, glittering body of water that cleaves the state roughly in half. The bay watershed is in fact a complicated network of land and waterways spread over six states and the District of Columbia, through a variety of topography, taking in different cultures, economies and political dynamics.

A large group of Muslim and Christian protesters gathered outside Montgomery County Public School headquarters in Rockville on Tuesday morning carrying banners stating “religious freedom” as they chanted, “Protect our children!” On the other side of the street, a smaller group of counter-protesters waved rainbow flags and danced to Lady Gaga songs playing over a boombox as they chanted back, “Protect all children!”