Around Maryland

A day after a Baltimore City judge overturned Adnan Syed’s murder conviction, a new episode of the hit podcast “Serial” that first made his decades-old case famous details the decision to free him. The approximately 17-minute episode, “Adnan is Out,” opens with Syed attempting to make collect call from prison before fading out to news reporters announcing, “a major development” and “a stunning reversal” in his murder case. Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacated Syed’s conviction for the 1999 killing of ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee and ordered his release Monday after prosecutors found there were alternative suspects and unreliable evidence used at his trial.

With plans to add two schools and replace six others over the next five years, Anne Arundel County Public Schools will consider redistricting nearly half the county to balance attendance as capacity is added. The system is also replacing several aging school buildings. Replacements for Quarterfield and Rippling Woods elementary schools will open in 2023. A renovated Meade High School will open in September 2024, as will a replacement for Old Mill Middle School South. A replacement for the Center for Applied Technology North will open in September of 2026, as will a replacement of Old Mill Middle North.

The U.S. Golf Association has tapped Baltimore Country Club to host two tournaments — the 2026 U.S. Senior Amateur and the 2031 U.S. Women’s Amateur. The club last snagged a USGA tournament in 1988 when it hosted the U.S. Women’s Open, the fourth time it has attracted one of the golf organization’s championships. Tuesday’s announcement by the private Baltimore County club comes a year after Caves Valley Golf Club’s successful BMW Championship, part of the PGA Tour, and has local golf officials touting the region’s golf-friendly reputation.

The Annapolis City Council settled a prolonged dispute between a community activist and a major Anne Arundel County nonprofit Monday night by taking away city-owned office space from a third group and awarding it to the activist. Shirley Gordon, founder of the community support services Street Angels Project, will be returning to Stanton Community Center, but she said the pyrrhic victory comes only after she made repeated public information requests and threatened to sue the city for civil rights violations.

New data on the condition of Maryland school buildings shows a startling gap between Baltimore City and the rest of the state, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Public health, education and medical experts at Hopkins released the findings Tuesday of their study comparing the condition of Baltimore City Public School facilities with those in other counties using data provided in spring 2022 by the Interagency Commission on School Construction.

Maryland insurance regulators said health insurance rates will rise in 2023 but not as much as insurers wanted. Those who buy their own health insurance in Maryland will pay an average of 6.6% more next year, about 4.4% less than the carriers requested, according to the Maryland Insurance Administration, which approved the increases. State agency officials said in May when insurers asked for the increases that they expected coronavirus pandemic-related costs to push up the price of health insurance offered in Maryland by the three carriers under the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare.