Around Maryland

Baltimore officials were not able to say when weekly recycling curbside pickup services will resume, citing low-staffed crews and growing amounts of recycling materials as obstacles at a Department of Public Works oversight hearing on Wednesday. In January, after widespread complaints of irregular and missed recycling services, DPW leaders shifted weekly pickups to every other week.

The Harford County Public Schools Parent Academy and the HCPS Safety and Security Office, in partnership with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, presented a safety and security virtual town hall on Wednesday evening, focused on the importance of safety in local schools. Topics included mental health, bullying prevention and school safety and security.

Maryland’s second-largest school system reached a tentative agreement with its teachers union this week, after a roughly two-month impasse. The Prince George’s County Educators’ Association — which represents about 10,000 educators — announced the agreement in a statement Wednesday. The union characterized the deal as making “strides on empowering educators to lead the district,” but there was little information shared about the agreement’s details. A spokeswoman for the union said further details will be released in September, when the contract is ratified.

Tucked into the corner of an East Baltimore impound lot teeming with discarded lampposts and street signs, four Confederate-linked monuments have sat for five years since they were removed from public parks around the city in the middle of the night. Ever since that night Aug. 17, 2017, when they were hauled off to the lot and hidden away, city officials and historians have debated what to do with the bronze statues erected to honor Confederate figures.

The first time William Richardson, Jr., entered Wilde Lake Middle School, in Columbia, he was a sixth-grade student. On Saturday, about 30 years later, he walked through the building’s doors again, this time as an adult looking for a job at a Howard County Public School System Hiring Fair. “I called a buddy after the first job fair and said, ‘Man, it looks nothing like it used to,” Richardson, 44, said of the school. “It looks nice, but just totally different.” As a student, Richardson was in the school system’s Black Student Achievement Program. Now, he’s looking for a job in the program as a liaison.

In just under 10 days, a favorite statewide celebration of the end of summer returns to the Maryland State Fairgrounds. The Maryland State Fair is back for its 141st edition beginning Aug. 25, and like everything in the pandemic era, it’s less like the before times and more like, well, something new. The fanfare is pretty much the same, with flashy carnival midway rides and live horse racing and those adorable 4-H contestants with their sweet, prized pigs. The details are a little different. You’ll still be able to head to the brew garden to drown your tears at giving up on a career as a lumberjack.

Jacob Selmer, of Taneytown, combines his love for metal working and his passion for history to make tools and decorative steel products. Selmer’s Iron Works is one of five finalists in this year’s Carroll Biz Challenge, an annual “Shark Tank”-style competition. This year 44 applicants, all local entrepreneurs, pitched their business ideas in the hopes of winning a $10,000 grand prize and additional awards. Finalists will make live pitches to a panel of judges during a finale Thursday in Westminster.