Around Maryland

The University of Maryland College Park on Friday lifted a blanket suspension on most fraternities and sororities and a ban on their social activities involving alcohol and new recruitment. The campus update came as many students left for Spring Break and as the school faced a new lawsuit over the suspension. The university has not detailed exact allegations, but said five chapters remain under investigation.

The former superintendent of public schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, is receiving $1.3 million as part of her separation agreement with the school board. Monifa McKnight also agreed not to sue the school board over anything that occurred before she signed the deal. Last month, McKnight said she was stepping down from her post after she “mutually agreed to separate” with the school board.

Frederick County and the city of Frederick should look at how to make existing homes cheaper to buy, to help ease the problem of affordable housing in the county, a city alderwoman said Wednesday. Alderwoman Donna Kuzemchak said during a meeting between the aldermen and the Frederick County Council that making it easier for people to buy current houses would help more than for the county or municipalities to waive fees on new construction.

For the first time this year, the county budget includes the value of “in-kind” sponsorships to various agencies that receive county funding. In-kind transactions are not cash payments; they represent material or services the county provides to an agency. In these cases, the in-kind transactions are for the use of county-owned buildings, said Washington County CFO Kelcee Mace. They’re being included in Washington County’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget per Governmental Accounting Standards Board and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles requirements, according to budget document notes.

Nearly nine years after former Gov. Larry Hogan shuttered the old Baltimore City Detention Center, a new centerpiece facility for the city’s pretrial jail population is poised to rise from its ashes. But it’s going to cost you. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which has run the city’s jail system for decades, is pushing ahead with ambitious plans for the Baltimore Therapeutic Treatment Center — a sort of hybrid jail, hospital and mental health and substance use treatment facility for people facing criminal charges.

Lutherville Station, a now-abandoned shopping center in Baltimore County, has become ground zero for a prickly debate about who gets to say what kind of development happens in a community. Adjacent to a light rail stop, and formerly the home of a Caldor’s, a Borders, a warehouse store for Best Buy, and other now-defunct establishments, Lutherville Station sits mostly vacant. But a developer wants to change that. Mark Renbaum, principal of MLR Partners, has proposed converting the site into a mixed-use development, with new retail, office space, and, most controversially, up to 450 rental apartments.

Candidates for the Anne Arundel Board of Education discussed their views on book banning, student arrest rates and critical race theory and other topics at a forum Tuesday in Annapolis. The Caucus of African American Leaders’ Education Committee hosted 11 of the 19 candidates who filed for the Nov. 5 election. The candidates were given an opportunity to articulate their vision for and commitment to addressing the pressing issues facing the county’s increasingly diverse student body.

Lyft drivers and users in downtown Baltimore are getting a big lift from a new and growing program. St. Frances Academy, a historic Catholic high school in midtown Baltimore, last year became the home of 100 Lyft electric vehicles, complete with 17 high-speed chargers. The changes, made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, are part of an effort not only to cut down on vehicle admissions but to expand electric vehicles and charging into low-income areas. “We’re celebrating growth, we’re celebrating infrastructure and we’re celebrating progress on the journey of electrifying Maryland,” Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena Mcilwain said when the chargers were unveiled at Saint Frances Academy late last year.