Around Maryland

A hum of soothing voices filled a conference room at Baltimore City Public School’s headquarters Sunday afternoon. The murmurs rose from six volunteers who cradled phones on their shoulders as they dialed number after number, trying to reach more than 1,300 families of students who have missed school this year. The Super Outreach Sunday phone bank is a push by district employees to get in touch with students who have 10 or more unexcused absences or have yet to attend school since it started four weeks ago Although Sunday’s phone bank is a first for the district, Baltimore City Public Schools use multiple methods to reach absent students daily.

Silver Spring resident Brian Savoie began setting aside money for his son’s college tuition nearly 20 years ago, when his first-born, Caleb, entered kindergarten. Now, facing a fall semester tuition payment, the Savoie family cannot access all of the money in their account due to a glitch in one of Maryland’s tuition savings programs. Administrators of the Maryland Prepaid College Trust acknowledge the problem. They say that during a switch-over to a new vendor, an audit raised concerns as to whether interest earnings were being calculated accurately. That led to the interest portion of accounts like the Savoies’ to be frozen.

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its efforts to hire and retain staff. The Board of Carroll County Commissioners unanimously approved Thursday acceptance of a $63,500 Police Retention and Recruitment grant from the state to help the sheriff’s office in those efforts. The grant will be used to assist with outreach, advertising and marketing efforts including using billboards, social media and job search sites, said Vicky McDonold, director of administrative services with the sheriff’s office. McDonold said the sheriff’s office plans to create a recruitment video and offer referral bonuses to staff for bringing in new candidates. The sheriff’s office is also exploring health and wellness initiatives to offer, such as trial gym memberships for staff.

Librarians and their legislative allies are pushing publishers of electronic books to lower their prices and relax licensing terms, an effort that could make it easier for millions of library users to borrow the increasingly popular digital versions of books. Supporters say the e-book lending legislation in several states would allow libraries to offer more digital material and shorten waitlists for popular titles. Over the long term, the measures might shore up libraries’ core mission in an increasingly digital environment.

The Baltimore resident who won three games of “Jeopardy!” raised some eyebrows among the trivia show’s fans for his messy handwriting on Monday’s show. Emmett Stanton, 34, who won Friday, Monday and Tuesday before losing Wednesday, is a freelance writer who lives in Mount Vernon. In response to the clue, “The Governor of Massachusetts wrote, it ‘is a poor document, but a mighty act…wrong in its delay till January, but grand & sublime after all,’” Stanton wrote an answer that host Ken Jennings deemed correct: “what is the Emancipation Proclamation?” Stanton wagered all his money, $8,000, on the Final Jeopardy! question in the category Historic Documents.