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Around Maryland

‘What a wonderful life’: Christmas tree farmer Ronnie Sewell reflects on career after his property is annexed by Taneytown
September 12, 2022 -

To Ronnie Sewell, owning a Christmas tree farm is the best job in the world. “I have everything I possibly want here,” says Sewell, 80, who loves the glossy, sparkling finish his trees’ needles get after a strong summer rain. “It’s so rewarding.” “In today’s busy world of getting up and driving a half hour to work and putting up with traffic and spilling coffee, what glorious world I live in,” Sewell said. “I can walk out the door, feed the cats and ride around the farm and it’s a definite inspiration.”

Read More: Carroll County Times
Marylander Frances Tiafoe, who plays Friday in US Open semifinal, offers hope for present and future of U.S. men’s tennis
September 9, 2022 -

Frances Tiafoe’s run to the U.S. Open semifinals is, first and foremost, about Tiafoe himself, a 24-year-old from Riverdale in Prince George’s County who took up tennis because his father was a janitor at a junior training center, a player who never won a match past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament until now, who owns one career ATP title and a sub-.500 career record, and whose ranking ranged from 24 to 74 over the past two seasons. “A Cinderella story,” to use his phrase. Tiafoe’s tale — which already includes a victory over 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal along the way to Friday’s matchup against No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with a berth in the final at stake — is about so much more, too.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Morgan State to open a medical school — first at a historically Black university in decades
September 9, 2022 -

Morgan State University is one step closer to opening the first new medical school affiliated with a historically Black college or university in nearly 50 years after winning state Board of Public Works approval to lease space for the school on its Baltimore campus. The proposed Maryland College of Osteopathic Medicine at Morgan State has two primary goals, the founders say — increase the number of Black doctors entering the profession and, in turn, increase Black Baltimore residents’ access to physicians that look like them. Fewer than one in 10 medical school graduates today are Black, American medical college data shows.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Governor hopefuls Dan Cox, Wes Moore help distribute water in West Baltimore
September 9, 2022 -

Four days into West Baltimore’s water contamination situation and the ensuing boil advisory, the two candidates for Maryland governor hustled just a few neighborhoods apart Thursday to distribute fresh water bottles to residents and talk about the need for accountability during what has been called a health crisis. “God bless you,” Wes Moore said to nearly every person as he leaned into their front passenger windows or opened their trunks to give them a 24-pack of water bottles outside Wylie’s Funeral Home in Harlem Park. Moore, a Democrat who lives in the city, wore a Home Depot apron and handed off the bottles paid for by the company.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Anne Arundel teachers’ working conditions, pay increases set by labor relations board order; school board adopts plan
September 9, 2022 -

Working conditions and pay increases for members of the Teacher’s Association of Anne Arundel County are set for the school year after an impasse in negotiations was resolved by a mediator. The union and Board of Education were unable to reach an agreement for the current school year before the prior contract expired June 30. The Public School Labor Relations Board, an independent quasi-judicial state agency, determined negotiations were at an impasse on July 10, according to AACPS. Mediation was ordered but was unsuccessful as of July 29, when the mediator offered a settlement to both parties.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
History calling: Baltimore artist adorns abandoned phone booths across the city
September 9, 2022 -

Juliet Ames pulled her blue hatchback into a Remington gas station, heading past the pumps to the far corner of the lot. There, scrawled with graffiti and streaked with rust, was her target: a pair of long-forgotten pay phones. “I do this part in the car so that it’s a quick hit,” said Ames, 42, sticking a thick strip of double-sided tape to a sheet of bright yellow corrugated vinyl. “People don’t usually say anything to me. I’m actually normally a rule follower.” With a quick glance to see if anyone was watching, Ames sprang out of the car and affixed the yellow sheet inside one of the phone booths. She stepped back to admire her work.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Queen Elizabeth II’s death reverberates across Baltimore, a city that played a role in her ascension to the throne
September 9, 2022 -

When Queen Elizabeth II visited Baltimore in 1991 to see an Orioles game, then-Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke escorted her to a reception at Memorial Stadium. As the queen entered the room, the guests — team owners, local business leaders, coach Cal Ripken Sr. and his player-sons, Cal Ripken Jr. and Billy Ripken — grew silent, intimidated by the presence of a monarch. The queen then turned to Schmoke and asked in a stage whisper, “Must one be named Ripken to be on this team?” “That broke the ice,” said Schmoke. “She had a certain lightness of spirit the public didn’t always see. She gave you the sense that you were important to her at that moment, and that’s a real gift as a leader.”

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Baltimore government was ‘stuck in the ’90s.’ City administrator Christopher Shorter was hired to shake things up
September 8, 2022 -

A long list of urgent needs sits before Christopher Shorter as he leads Baltimore’s executive team through a weekly Zoom leadership meeting. A city report on how local tax credits are both inefficient and unfair will publish soon: What solutions are available? Residents are reporting that squeegee kids are scamming motorists via Cash App: How can leadership help victims and prevent future thefts? The city is digitizing payroll and expense reports: How will workers be onboarded?

Read More: The Baltimore Banner
Anne Arundel school board hears about transportation challenges from former president
September 8, 2022 -

Every morning Julie Hummer brings as many students as she can with her on the journey to Meade High School, making sure they arrive on time so they don’t miss instruction. She can’t depend on the Anne Arundel County school bus to get the kids there in time for the bell, she says. To make the new bus schedule for her neighborhood work, Hummer said, the system would need to hire the fictional teacher Ms. Frizzle, a cartoon character who took students on flying adventures in the ‘90s TV show “The Magic School Bus.”

Read More: Baltimore Sun
City to conduct traffic calming study on Orleans Street
September 8, 2022 -

The Baltimore City Department of Transportation is looking for ways to ease traffic along the busy and congested Orleans Street corridor after years of complaints from residents.Liam Davis, the legislative affairs manager for the department, said the city is committed to implementing some traffic calming measures and conducting a six-month study of the corridor. The study, which will focus on traffic patterns from Washington Street to Ellwood  Avenue, is set to start in either late October or early November, according to the department.

Read More: The Baltimore Banner

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