Around Maryland

In March of 2021, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Jason Hardebeck as the director of the newly-created Mayor’s Office of Broadband and Digital Equity. The appointment and office’s creation were seen as major steps forward, as well as proof of the city’s commitment to closing the digital divide. A year and a few months later, as part of our third Racial Equity in Tech Month, we circled back to ask community stakeholders — and Hardebeck himself — how much progress the office has made.

The former head of fiscal services for the Baltimore Police Department, who was fired in April after officials realized he was a person of interest in a homicide investigation, has been federally indicted for wire fraud and money laundering related to COVID relief loans. Dana Hayes, 37, was arrested Wednesday night after a federal grand jury handed up the indictment last week. In addition to COVID relief fraud, Hayes is also charged with stealing the identity of a tax preparer.

The dimly lit room on the top floor of the brick building in Southwest Baltimore hums with sounds of clacking keyboards and the slow, low voices of the call center operators. It’s early Monday morning and already the calls to Baltimore Crisis Response, Inc. are flowing in at a steady clip. “Baltimore Crisis Response: here to help,” the counselors say into the phone.

Baltimore County School Board is fighting to ensure that Chief Auditor Andrea Barr’s last day remains June 30. The school board filed a motion for dissolution of the temporary restraining order that currently requires the board to renew Barr’s contract. Barr originally filed a lawsuit claiming her contract was terminated unlawfully by the school board, which voted 6-0 to renew her contract on May 17.

A local nonprofit filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Baltimore City Law Department, alleging the department is conspiring with the Baltimore Police Department to obstruct access to public records of police misconduct. The Baltimore Action Legal Team, also known as BALT, is a civil rights-focused nonprofit that provides legal support. The organization is representing three plaintiffs: Open Justice Baltimore, a nongovernmental organization; Alissa Figueroa, a journalist in residence at Morgan State University; and reporter Brandon Soderberg.

Montgomery County Public Schools’ new social studies framework will expose fourth- and fifth-graders to more American history — particularly Black history — at a younger age. The new curriculum will incorporate anti-bias and anti-racist content and local history about Montgomery County, according to Tracy Oliver-Gary, the district’s social studies supervisor. It was presented to the county school board this week and received unanimous approval.

Three law enforcement agencies in Maryland and Baltimore City Police have entered into an agreement to provide concurrent jurisdiction over Interstate 83 and Route 295 into Baltimore City. The Maryland State Police, the Maryland Transportation Authority and Maryland Capitol Police will extend patrol responsibilities beginning at midnight Friday, according to a state police news release.

In-person Independence Day celebrations, with explosive fireworks displays, are coming back to many places after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of live events — especially those with large crowds. But while some cities will welcome throngs of people looking for anything to do outside of the house, others are running into surprising obstacles with supply, labor and pricing. Some cities, including College Park and Ocean City, have canceled their fireworks shows or had to come up with alternative plans.

Every day, Maryland schools lock up students for misbehaving, often keeping them in closet-sized, padded rooms monitored by an adult watching through a small window or by video camera. Sometimes they lock up children as little as kindergarteners. And sometimes, those children, desperate and scared, try to harm themselves inside. This long-standing practice of seclusion will be banned in the state’s public schools when a new state law takes effect on Friday.