Around Maryland

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury said he intends to stay in the role, and he gained a show of support from the Maryland State Board of Education president during the board’s Tuesday meeting. Choudhury told The Baltimore Sun that he is committed to staying in Maryland for a 10-year period. “I meant that,” he said. “I’ll fulfill my promise and commitment.”

More than one month after Baltimore City officials unveiled a plan to enforce a youth curfew, not a single child has been taken to what officials are calling a Youth Connection Center. Bryan Doherty, a spokesman for Mayor Brandon Scott’s office, said that shows that the city’s outreach efforts are working. But Doherty declined to say how many youth have been found in violation of the curfew or to specify how exactly officials are engaging with young people.

Maryland college programs do a poor job preparing new teachers with the necessary skills to teach their students to read, according to the findings of a review from research nonprofit the National Council on Teacher Quality. For the review, released June 13, the organization analyzed almost 700 college teaching programs across the country, looking at how well they did at educating prospective elementary school teachers on how to teach reading.

The City police department is planning on stepping up its efforts to slow the number of car thefts in Baltimore. Car thefts are up 95% in Baltimore since this time last year, with thefts of Kias and Hyundai making up 40% of all vehicle thefts. It's part of a nationwide problem. Acting police commissioner Richard Worley said they are working to provide a steering wheel lock free to city residents to help prevent thefts.

Jason M. Stanek, chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), Monday announced he will depart the commission at the end of his term on June 30. Chairman Stanek was appointed to the commission in July 2018 by former Gov. Larry Hogan. During his tenure, Stanek served as a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), including co-chair of the Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission, vice chair of the Commission Chairs’ Council, and vice chair of the Electric Vehicle Working Group. He also served on the Board of Directors for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and the Keystone Energy Board.

As his mother aged, Skip Boyles would drive her to the eye doctor, where she underwent treatment for a little-known eye disease that eroded her vision and added extra burden to her later years. He had hoped to avoid the same fate — but after Boyles’ father contracted the same debilitating disease near the end of his life, the younger Boyles began waiting for age-related macular degeneration to knock at his door, too.

This weekend, hundreds of municipal officials from throughout the state will gather at the annual Maryland Municipal League leadership conference for four days of workshops, seminars, presentations, networking and training. The Maryland Municipal League was founded in 1936 by Annapolis Mayor Louis N. Phelps to help Maryland municipalities obtain funds from the Work Progress Administration under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.