Around Maryland

It has been five months since the Environmental Protection Agency outlined why they had “no confidence” in the Conowingo Dam cleanup plan, and Maryland’s $25 million commitment hopes to change that. Matthew Rowe, assistant director in the Water and Science Administration of the Maryland Department of the Environment, noted the lack of funding sources by all the impacted jurisdictions was behind the agency’s doubt in the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan. Jurisdictions include the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Aside from the $25 million already set aside prior to the EPA’s January letter, Maryland also earmarked $6 million for Conowingo dredging solutions.

Screeches of plastic against hardwood fill the room as a sweat-drenched skater flies around the edge of the track. Colorful makeup radiates above and below her eyes. With her left hand behind her back to preserve momentum, she sweeps through a long section of the track and comes up behind eight skaters. A referee skates beside her with their right arm pointed toward her and left arm raised up in the air. She skates up to the pack, where four skaters match her in blue and another four look ready for battle in bright orange.

For a project that never actually broke ground, the Baltimore Red Line has had a rather busy afterlife. In the seven years since its abrupt cancellation by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, the 14-mile proposed east-west rail link between Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital in Southeast Baltimore and the Social Security Administration and Centers for Medicaid Services in the western Baltimore County suburb of Woodlawn has sparked a federal Title VI investigation into its demise, served as a flashpoint for multiple election cycles and inspired both state and federal legislation.

Baltimore police have released a draft map with the first boundary changes to the department’s nine districts in decades. Under the proposal, some of the biggest changes would come to the Central, Eastern and Southeastern districts. The Eastern would lose several neighborhoods to the Central (Johnston Square, Oldtown and Penn-Fallsway) and Southeastern (Middle East, Madison-Eastend and Biddle Street), while expanding into neighborhoods that were previously part of the Northeastern, such as Clifton Park, Coldstream Homestead Montebello and Berea.

A judge has ruled that Andrea Barr, the chief auditor of Baltimore County Public Schools, can keep her job, shooting down a county school board challenge over a vote that should have renewed her contract. Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Sherrie Bailey granted Barr a preliminary injunction Thursday morning after a two-day trial between Barr and the county board of education. Barr can continue working until the court can hold a trial on the merits of the case. A hearing has not yet been scheduled. The board is not allowed to retaliate against her, nor interfere with her employment.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby earlier this week commented on an Instagram post about the repeated prosecutions of Keith Davis Jr., potentially violating an order prohibiting lawyers involved with the case from talking publicly about it for a second time. Attorneys for Davis cited Mosby’s comment in a legal paper supporting their argument earlier this month that she should be held in contempt of court. The new filing brings yet more attention to a case that has become a sore spot for the Democrat, who is seeking a third term as the city’s elected prosecutor.

When Karen Yoho ran her first campaign for the Frederick County Board of Education four years ago, she checked public voting records from the previous election. The information allowed the retired elementary school teacher to see the addresses of every county resident who voted in the school board race two years earlier. They were the most likely to vote again, she figured, so she’d knock on their doors — every one she could — and ask for their support.