Around Maryland

A public hearing is scheduled in Thurmont next week to discuss a proposal to expand the town’s boundaries to include a 16.7-acre property encircled by Apples Church and Graceham roads. The parcel is zoned for agricultural use by the county. If the town votes to annex the land — and the county approves the change — it would become zoned for high-density residential use.

Former WBAL-TV reporter Omar Jimenez will co-anchor the CNN show Early Start beginning Monday, Jimenez announced Sunday on Twitter. Early Start begins at 5 a.m. on weekdays. Jimenez will be joined by co-anchor Christine Romans in his first time anchoring for CNN. Jimenez was a reporter at WBAL-TV, Baltimore’s NBC affiliate, from 2015 to 2017, according to the station’s website. At WBAL-TV, he received an individual Emmy nomination for his general assignment coverage and covered the trials of the police officers charged with Freddie Gray’s death, according to CNN’s website. Jimenez joined CNN affiliate Newsource in 2017 and became a CNN correspondent in 2019.

The boys of Dunbar High School’s championship football team were preparing Friday night for a pre-season scrimmage the next morning when the news spread among the team. Federal authorities were investigating their popular, longtime football coach, Lawrence Smith, over his timecards and possible overtime fraud, news articles reported. FBI agents had visited the payroll office of Baltimore school headquarters. The boys showed the articles to their moms. “It would be a huge loss to the community. I’m hoping it’s not the case,” said Nkenge Williams, the mother of a sophomore lineman. “I’m staying positive and hoping nothing shakes out.”

The sounds rang out like shotgun blasts in Bowleys Quarters Friday morning, before the iconic towers of the C.P. Crane Generating Station toppled to the earth. From hundreds of feet away, crews detonated 688 linear-shaped charges placed strategically throughout the old power plant, said Mark Loizeaux, owner of Controlled Demolition Inc. The explosives generated about 3 million pounds of pressure per square inch, he said, and in under 20 seconds, the structure fell to the ground in a cloud of dust and debris.

Experts say the best thing people can do to help after a natural disaster is to donate money that will be distributed by a responsible, local nonprofit. Hours after a tornado spun through tiny Smith Island on Aug. 4, hitting 17 buildings and severely damaging three, that’s exactly what began to happen. Jay Fleming, a photographer and frequenter of the island, started a GoFundMe campaign the night the tornadic waterspout struck. So far, about 1,200 people have donated that way to the island’s relief efforts. The money will soon be controlled by Smith Island United, a tax-exempt charity on the remote island in the Chesapeake Bay.

Baltimore Police Department leaders and the federal judge overseeing efforts to reform the agency met Thursday for a quarterly review of the city’s implementation of its 2016 consent decree. Baltimore Police entered the agreement following a federal report that found widespread violations of constitutional rights, excessive use of force and racially-biased enforcement.

Anne Arundel teachers’ union leaders are calling on the county school board to cancel contracts signed earlier this year to temporarily fill special education positions and to instead invest more in existing employees to support retention and recruitment. But school officials say the contracts are needed to fill important classroom roles as the school year nears. The first day of school is Aug. 29.

A pair of newly expanded federal programs will nearly double the number of electric buses on US roads in one grant cycle alone — if domestic manufacturers can keep up with the demand. On Tuesday, the Federal Transit Administration announced a record $2.2 billion in competitive grants under the Buses and Bus Facilities and the Low- and No-Emissions Vehicle Programs, which collectively received a staggering 600-percent boost when the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed.