Around Maryland

About two decades before the sweeping educational reform known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, there was a different commission that laid the foundation. This was even before what was known as Kirwan. It was the Maryland’s Commission on Education Finance, Equity, and Excellence also known as the Thornton Commission, named after chair Alvin Thornton. In a recent interview with WYPR, Thornton shared how the Blueprint’s funding formula was created.

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates will consider a $6 million settlement next week to end a federal lawsuit over the 2010 death of a man who was struck by a driver being chased by members of the corrupt Gun Trace Task Force. The settlement will close one of the most notorious incidents that involved the Baltimore Police Department task force, in which plainclothes officers pursued two men who fled in their vehicle and struck another car, killing the driver, Elbert Davis Sr.

Jen Corbin and Steve Thomas drove into Washington on Tuesday. She got to see President Joe Biden deliver the State of the Union address and the unruly Republican response. Thomas, an Anne Arundel County police lieutenant, checked in on U.S. Capitol Police officers as part of a peer support group. Corbin, director of crisis response for Anne Arundel County, introduced herself to Maryland’s new governor, Wes Moore, also a guest in the gallery. She preached the value of the county’s collaborative approach to mental health, addiction and crisis response, which brings together judges, prosecutors, public defenders, police, firefighters, medical experts, hospitals and nonprofits.

A small earthquake happened off the Atlantic coast on the Virginia-Maryland coast Wednesday night. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded about 19 miles east of Chincoteague, Virginia. According to USGS data, the earthquake happened just before 8:30 p.m. and the depth was 11.2 km. An earthquake of this magnitude is typically not felt, but it can be recorded by a seismograph.

Baltimore County police have launched Maryland’s first website for tracking sexual assault kits within the department. The initiative is called Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence – Inventory, Tracking, and Reporting program. In addition to tracking sexual assault kits within the county, the website also includes information to assist victims and links to additional resources.

Baltimore-based developer P. David Bramble is tasked with redeveloping Harborplace in the Inner Harbor. What once drew tourists in 1980 when it opened has dissipated with time; the Inner Harbor now has vacancies and an outdated feel. Bramble said he wants to hear from the public about what they think the next iteration of the popular tourist site should be. He wants the Inner Harbor to be a place that all Baltimoreans can enjoy. So, we want to hear from you.

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates is poised to approve a $6 million settlement with the family of a man killed during a police chase by Gun Trace Task Force members, an amount that, if approved, would become one of the most substantial settlements related to the rogue police force to date. The lawsuit, filed by Shirley Johnson, stems from a crash more than a decade ago that claimed the life of her father Elbert Davis Sr. Davis and his partner Phosa Cain were driving in the Grove Park neighborhood of West Baltimore on April 28, 2010 when their car was hit by two men fleeing city police.

When the time came for Gale Livingstone to buy farmland, the familiarity and prestige of Prince George’s County called. It was consequential, majority-Black and it used to be home for Livingstone, 50, a Largo High graduate who is known as “Farmer Gale.” After about a year of searching for land while driving around the county and writing letters inquiring about plots for sale, she would eventually “luck up” on 53-plus acres in Upper Marlboro that was once prime tobacco farming land in another era of the county. It’s been hard since. The pandemic added fresh stress, and new debt left Livingstone with doubts about the choice to launch Deep Roots Farm. Still, she wants to farm.