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Around Maryland

Baltimore’s homeless youth eligible for thousands of dollars each through new program

Baltimore youth experiencing homelessness will be eligible to receive thousands of dollars each through a new program. GreenLight Fund Baltimore, the local arm of a national nonprofit that focuses on inclusive initiatives, invested in youth homelessness nonprofit Point Source Youth to scale its Direct Cash Transfer program to Charm City. Young Baltimoreans will get a one-time $3,000 cash transfer, as well as $1,000 monthly over the course of two years. “As leaders and members of our community, it is our responsibility to support the young people who are the future of our city. By demonstrating that their struggles are our own, we can provide the guidance and resources needed to ensure their success,” said Mayor Brandon Scott in a news release.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Baltimore County schools propose cutting 162 vacant teacher positions

The Baltimore County Public Schools system is proposing to cut over 160 vacant teaching positions to save millions. Staff from the budget office say it’s to match declining enrollment numbers, but union leaders and the school board chair still find it concerning. The proposed cuts were explained in a 62-page document in which district staff answered dozens of board members’ questions about the district’s budget for fiscal year 2024. The answers revealed ways the system aims to save money in a spending plan the county executive called “unrealistic,” but also points to areas where they may invest more, such as all-day pre-K.

Bruce Springsteen to play at Camden Yards, the venue’s third major stand-alone concert since 2019

“The Boss” is coming back to Baltimore. A few months after he plays an April show at the newly renamed CFG Bank Arena in downtown, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at Camden Yards on Sept. 9. It will mark the ballpark’s third major stand-alone concert ever, after Billy Joel in 2019 and Paul McCartney last year, as the Orioles and their landlord, the Maryland Stadium Authority, seek to bring more non-baseball events to the park. Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos said in a statement that “as a lifelong fan of Bruce Springsteen and of my hometown, it’s an honor” to announce the concert.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Chocolate fudge
The history of fudge: Did a mistake create a sweet treat?

Food historian Joyce White says fudge is based on a recipe for chocolate caramels, which was very similar. “What probably happened is that there was someone in Baltimore, messed it up, or ‘fadged’ it,” she said. “Fadge is a word that means you messed up. I fadged it, or I fudged it. Nowadays, we use a different F-word to say that, right?” By 1888, that Baltimore recipe was passed along to a student at Vassar College (then all women) in Poughkeepsie, New York. “Women would make fudge in their dorm rooms,” said White, “doing something against the rules, in the late evenings and trying to get away with something not condoned in the rulebook.”

Read More: CBS News
person holding paper near pen and calculator
With tax season underway, officials hope more Marylanders will check off ‘easy enrollment’ box to get health insurance info

As Marylanders are filling out their tax returns this year, state officials and advocates are hoping they’ll take an extra half-second to check a box to start the process of enrolling in health insurance. Maryland was the first state in the country to establish a tax-based “Easy Enrollment” program in 2019. Since then, more than 100,000 people have checked a box on their tax returns to get more information about health insurance plans available to them — often at low or no cost.

Internal emails detail pressure state police troopers faced to drive up traffic ticket numbers

Last year, as summer gave way to fall, a Maryland State Police barrack commander in Charles County didn’t like what he was seeing from his troopers. The barrack’s supervisors had agreed to require at least 100 traffic stops per month, as well as a handful of arrests, from every trooper. But the La Plata Barrack commander wasn’t getting the results he wanted, and he demanded more: more traffic stops, more citations, more arrests for driving under the influence.

Baltimore residents who lose homes after tax sales often don’t see excess funds they’re owed from auction

Millions of dollars owed to individuals and entities that have lost their Baltimore properties through tax sale foreclosure has sat untouched in city coffers— some of it for years— with few of those entitled knowing of its existence. More than 2,100 of those who lost properties after becoming delinquent on city taxes are currently owed a share of the $6 million pot of money, according to a Baltimore Banner analysis of Department of Finance records.

Annapolis seeks to dismiss $75 million wrongful death suit; Renardo Green’s family must respond by Wednesday

The family of Renardo Green, a former Annapolis employee whose 2021 death in police custody was ruled a homicide, has until Wednesday to respond to the city’s request to dismiss their $75 million lawsuit. The federal complaint, filed in December on behalf of Green’s wife and four children, lists 20 counts against the city, including gross negligence, excessive force and wrongful death. In the early morning of June 1, 2021, Green was in Annapolis Police custody, restrained face down on a stretcher, when he suffered cardiac arrest. He was placed on a ventilator before dying in the hospital three days later.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
A trip to Maryland’s Eastern Shore lets you retrace the journey of Harriet Tubman

Summer may be the best time to visit the beach, but winter is my favorite time to visit Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Through the loblolly, many of them becoming spindlier by the day because of intruding saltwater, drivers can see the creeks, necks and rivers that define this landscape. They are the waters from which many men and women eked out a living, and which provided the tools to camouflage an escape to freedom.

In battle for new FBI headquarters, Maryland and Virginia differ on criteria as they prepare to make final cases

Virginia lawmakers are making their final push to build a new FBI headquarters in their state, while Maryland officials try to persuade the federal government to put it in Maryland. The Washington Post reports that the jockeying is happening as the General Services Administration gets closer to a decision in the decade-plus-long effort. In a letter to the GSA and FBI submitted Feb. 3, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and most of the Virginia congressional delegation made a detailed case in hopes of swaying the federal government to prefer a site in Springfield, Virginia, instead of locations in Landover and Greenbelt in Maryland.

Read More: Baltimore Sun

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