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Around Maryland

Chesapeake Bay lighthouse auctioned, with strings attached
October 4, 2022 -

The federal government has sold off a rather inhospitable lighthouse in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay for a six-figure sum after a bidding war at auction. The Hooper Island Lighthouse, located west of Middle Hooper Island in Maryland’s Dorchester County, at first drew little interest, The Washington Post reported. But then five potential buyers drove up the price from a starting bid of $15,000 to the winning bid of $192,000. Will Powell, a spokesman for the U.S. General Services Administration, told the newspaper the lighthouse comes with strings attached.

Read More: Frederick News Post
Photo of person holding graduation cap and diploma
Minority students make up a small fraction of those who hold STEM doctorates. A new Johns Hopkins program aims to change that.
October 3, 2022 -

A new Johns Hopkins University scholars program is attracting more doctoral candidates to the Baltimore school specifically from the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. The Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative welcomed its first 20 doctoral students this fall, ushering in a program designed to help remedy the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, collectively known as STEM. All of its scholars come from either HBCUs or other minority-serving institutions. According to 2019 data from the National Science Foundation, Black and Latinx students earned 3% and 7%, respectively, of new engineering, math, physical sciences and computer science doctorates. At Johns Hopkins, 11% of the doctoral candidates in STEM fields are from historically underrepresented minorities, university spokesperson Jill Rosen said.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
‘It means everything:’ How the Juvenile Restoration Act has provided a second chance for people sentenced as children to prison in Maryland
October 3, 2022 -

For 30 years, Anthony Fair said, he prepared for the day when he would be released from prison in Maryland. On Jan. 20, 1993, Fair shot and killed Rodney Ross, 17, and William Fortune, 38, in the basement of a stash house in Sandtown-Winchester — a decision, he said, he immediately regretted. He was later found guilty in Baltimore Circuit Court of first- and second-degree murder and use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole — plus 20 years. He said he never had a doubt, though, that someone reviewing his case would eventually give him a second chance. And on Sept. 20, Fair walked out of the Patuxent Institution, a prison in Jessup, a free man.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Linking Jones Falls, NCR trails would create a protected bike path from the Inner Harbor into Pennsylvania. A study is proposed.
October 3, 2022 -

A new study could evaluate connecting the Jones Falls Trail in Baltimore City with the Northern Central Railroad Trail in Baltimore County, creating a protected route for hikers and bikers from the Inner Harbor about 50 miles up into Pennsylvania. At a meeting Monday, the Baltimore County Council will vote on whether to help fund the study, which could represent a meaningful step forward for the idea, long discussed by cycling advocates — though it still has a long way to go. After the study, a final design would need to be completed and funding obtained for its construction.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Black Baltimore couples look to transform farmland to honor Black foodways
October 3, 2022 -

It started with Linda Taliaferro’s simple desire to have a Black-owned farm where her three children could enjoy a pumpkin patch outing. It turned into the purchase of 68 acres in Baltimore County, a history lesson involving the War of 1812, and the vision of providing a series of experiences revolving around Black foodways. “Every year we take our kids to the pumpkin farms,” she said. “It exposes our kids and is a fun activity. But we realized there were not any Black-owned farms that we knew of. There wasn’t one focused on Black families and Black communities. None dedicated to the Black culture and history.”

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Latin American culture, diversity celebrated at Hispanic Heritage Festival
October 3, 2022 -

As performers danced to and played music from numerous Latin American cultures during a Hispanic Heritage Festival on Saturday, many people were drawn to the tables under a large tent. There, as they escaped the rain, they found Damaris Ponciano-Jackson and her students helping people craft piñatas, pinwheels and flashlights. Ponciano-Jackson is the director of the Éxito STEAM Summer Program at Centro Hispano de Frederick, which hosted Saturday’s festival. The Éxito program includes lessons in STEM, arts, English and Spanish language, and general life skills.

Read More: Fredrick News Post
three round gold-colored coins on 100 US dollar banknotes
Access to some college savings funds will be curtailed until at least Oct., official says
September 30, 2022 -

Families enrolled in a popular college savings plan will face additional delays in accessing their funds, the official in charge of Maryland’s “529” programs said on Thursday. Anthony Savia, the head of the Maryland Prepaid College Trust and the College Investment Plan, said his team has made “significant progress” in its efforts to fix an error in how interest for trust account holders is calculated. But he declined to commit to a “date certain” for resolving the issue completely. “We are committed to doing this right and fixing an ongoing problem,” he said. Savia, who took the reins of the program over the summer, spoke during a virtual “town hall” meeting at which he provided an update on efforts to set accounts straight.

Read More: Maryland Matters
Johns Hopkins’ second town hall on police force ends in protest. Again.
September 30, 2022 -

Following protests that disrupted last week’s first town hall presentation of Johns Hopkins’ draft memorandum of understanding with the Baltimore Police Department, the university shifted its second town hall Thursday evening to a livestream-only format. Nevertheless, that event ended in protest, too, and also was moved to an at-home-only platform. Attendees were told in advance that they could watch Thursday’s panel at home on video or in Turner Auditorium on Hopkins’ East Baltimore campus, which was originally set to host the second town hall completely in person. Regardless of the format change, which excluded live input from community members, protesters arrived with signs and whistles.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Some Baltimore City students still aren’t vaccinated against childhood diseases. It could become a costly problem for the district.
September 30, 2022 -

Every public school in the state on Friday morning will take an official count of how many students are sitting in their classrooms, a crucial annual census that will be used to determine how much money school systems and individual campuses will receive from the state and federal governments next year. Not counted will be children whose parents don’t have health insurance and can’t afford to have their kids immunized against standard childhood diseases, such as mumps and measles, quickly. The Baltimore City health department, which has held free clinics for vaccinations, has no available appointments for weeks.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Advisory committees created to help assess subject areas in Blueprint education plan
September 30, 2022 -

As work continues to implement a multi-billion-dollar education reform plan, some educators, public school administrators and students are meeting to offer suggestions on it. They are organized into four advisory committees to provide expertise for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board. Each committee met virtually Wednesday to address four particular subjects: early childhood education, high-quality and diverse teachers and leaders, college and career readiness and more resources for students to be successful.

Read More: Maryland Matters

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