Around Maryland

Maryland and 15 other states that want the U.S. Postal Service to buy more electric delivery vehicles are suing to halt purchases of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its mail delivery fleet. Three separate lawsuits, filed by 16 states and environmental groups Thursday in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program.

Caitlin Edmondson stepped to the podium during the Carroll County Board of Education’s public comment session earlier this month and urged board members not to adopt the state’s new health curriculum, which she said would “sexualize” young students. Other parents called the plan “sexual indoctrination.” The topic was not on the school board’s April 13 meeting agenda and no members offered comments on the issue. Jim Rodriguez, the school system’s supervisor of health and physical education, said the CCPS Family Life Advisory Committee will discuss the topic at its June 2 meeting.

Mayors from three Frederick County communities with a municipal police force would like the option to form their own Police Accountability Boards, after the county approved one. The mayors said, however, that they are satisfied with the representation their communities will have on the countywide Police Accountability Board, which will review complaints of misconduct against the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office and municipal departments in Frederick, Brunswick and Thurmont.

A program designed to get young teens involved in elections is coming to Anne Arundel County this year, according to the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections. The Election Day Page Program allows students ages 14 and 15 to work four-hour shifts on Election Day and earn service-learning credit for school. Students 16 and older may participate but are encouraged to register as election judges instead because, at that age, they are eligible.

The Maryland Board of Public Works will spend more than $5.2 million on turning a historically Black beach on the Chesapeake Bay into a public city park. The money will go towards preserving the legacy of a beach used by the Black community during a time of segregation.  The beach was once owned by the Carr Family and is close to Carr’s Beach and Sparrow’s Beach, which are popular resorts on the Chesapeake Bay.

After eight years as dean of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Donald Tobin will step down at the end of this academic year and return to teaching full time. In an interview with The Daily Record, Tobin reflected on his time in leadership at the state’s top law school, starting amid a crisis in legal education after the Great Recession. Tobin also led Maryland Carey Law through the 2015 unrest that followed the death of Freddie Gray, and saw the school through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state of Maryland has agreed to pay the first death row inmate exonerated post-conviction by DNA an additional $83,000 for his wrongful conviction. The award highlights the state’s ongoing reckoning with those who have been wrongfully convicted. It also reflects the damage done to individuals whose lives were upended by what Comptroller Peter Franchot called “an unconscionable broken system.”