Around Maryland

Anne Arundel County biking enthusiasts are celebrating a banner cycle of state grant funding for upgrading, extending and improving bike trails. Late last month, the Maryland Department of Transportation announced $35.6 million in combined state and federal funding for 53 bike and pedestrian projects. A significant chunk of the money is earmarked for projects in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, most notably, $2 million for extending the Poplar Trail from Taylor Avenue to Calvert Street.

Student success, teacher salaries, fiscal responsibility and censorship were among the topics candidates for the Harford County Board of Education discussed during a virtual forum on Tuesday evening, hosted by the League of Women Voters. Seven candidates spoke to more than 60 online viewers on issues important to them, with a pitch for why they should be elected to the school board.

Prince George’s County Schools CEO Monica E. Goldson recommended delaying the consolidation of two elementary schools Wednesday, after parents pushed back against an earlier boundary proposal that would have closed four campuses by next school year. Goldson’s recommendation came as the system reaches its final steps in revising its school boundaries in an effort to balance enrollment in different parts of the county. Some schools — particularly in the northern part of the county — have struggled with overcrowding, and more students are projected to enroll in the school system in the coming years.

“Tár,” the buzzy new feature film starring Cate Blanchett about a pioneering — and predatory — female classical music conductor, has become an unwelcome and troubling distraction for Marin Alsop, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s music director laureate. The movie is entirely fictitious, as the writer-director Todd Field makes clear.

The field is set for an intriguing Ocean City municipal election next Tuesday with four candidates vying for three open seats, including two incumbents, meaning there will be at least one new face joining the council. Mayor Rick Meehan is unopposed and will remain in his position. Councilman Lloyd Martin did not file for re-election, ending a two-decade run on the council including a long stint as council president.

A Maryland student’s dream of working as a nurse became one step closer to reality following an event that announced the opening date of Montgomery College’s East County Education Center. During Wednesday’s presentation in Silver Spring — where school officials detailed plans to offer for-credit and non-credit classes at the new center — student Nneka Ndubisi met Anthony Stahl, the CEO of Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center.

About 5,000 more Howard County households will soon be able to take advantage of the Aging in Place Tax Credit, thanks to rule changes passed last month by the County Council and signed by the county executive. The tax credit was enacted by the Maryland General Assembly in 2017 to encourage older adults to “age in place” in their longtime homes. The state law requires that a resident age 65 or older reside in the same home for a number of consecutive years in order to apply for a 20% property tax credit.

Baltimore’s supply of a chemical needed to treat the city’s drinking water became dangerously low earlier this year as a result of a dispute between the city and a vendor, putting the city’s drinking water at risk of being undrinkable, according to a report released Tuesday by the city’s inspector general. According to the report, an unnamed vendor threatened to halt deliveries of the unspecified water treatment chemical to the city in June due to a disagreement about a proposed price increase. At the time, Baltimore owed more than $77,000 to the company in unpaid invoices, according to the report.