Around Maryland

State energy officials are bracing for a wave of applications for clean energy rebates expected as part of recently enacted federal programs. Mary Beth Tung, director of the Maryland Energy Administration, said federal rebate programs could double the number of applications her agency handles annually. “Our interest in these new federal programs, as you can imagine, is as strong as yours are,” Tung told members of the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday. “Rolling out these new programs is going to take quite a lot of effort on the part of everyone to make sure that it is done right.” Included in those programs is the home residential rebate program and the high-efficiency electric home rebate program.

The historic B.F. Shriver Cannery building in Sykesville’s South Branch Park is getting a new life, thanks to a $2 million grant from the state. The grant money is intended for infrastructure improvements needed to reuse the now-empty building. The funding will also be used to improve pedestrian access to South Branch Park.  “This funding will go a long way in helping Sykesville achieve our long-desired goal of seeing the cannery building put back into productive public use,” Sykesville Mayor Stacy Link stated in a news release. “The town will work diligently to develop options in the future reuse of the building, while ensuring that the public plays a part in the final say.”

Havre de Grace and Aberdeen were two of 18 municipalities recently honored at the Sustainable Maryland awards ceremony on Oct. 11 at the Maryland Municipal League’s annual fall conference, according to the University of Maryland’s Environmental Finance Center. “The Sustainable Maryland certification is an honor for the City of Havre de Grace, as our municipality makes a conscious effort to bring sustainability concerns into our policy and planning decisions,” the city’s mayor, Bill Martin, said of the award, according to a news release from Sustainable Maryland. In order to achieve a Sustainable Maryland certification, municipalities must form a “Green Team,” made up of local citizens, community leaders and municipality staff members and officials.

Tiya Otugo had just finished playing basketball in Montebello Park on a sweltering night in July. He was hanging out with his brother and a group of friends the next block over, on East 29th Street, when gunshots rang out. As he and other teenagers fled, Otugo was struck by a single bullet and fell to the ground. By the time his mother, Erica Otugo, arrived, he was being treated inside an idling ambulance. Tiya was transported to Johns Hopkins hospital, but his heart stopped before he arrived.

Maryland’s new Emmett Till Alert System released a “severe” warning Sunday night that involves threats of possible violence against Black child care centers. Providing more information at a news conference Monday afternoon, African American leaders sounded an alarm intended to heighten awareness and increase vigilance in Maryland and across the country.

The judge overseeing the Baltimore Police Department’s federal consent decree called police on Sunday afternoon to report a brief and nonviolent encounter with two squeegee workers in the Bolton Hill area. He said one of the workers gave him the middle finger and spat on his vehicle, while another used used soap suds to call him racist, according to a police report obtained by The Baltimore Banner. The incident comes just two months after Judge James Bredar was discussing the city’s tactics when it comes to policing squeegee work at a federal consent decree hearing. 

The Howard County teachers union and public school system reached an agreement earlier this month to provide paid administrative leave to staff who test positive for COVID-19 this school year, marking the continuation of a key pandemic-era support policy. The previous leave policy was discontinued at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, as both the school system and union waited to see if there was a change in COVID conditions during the summer.