Around Maryland

Several communities in the D.C. region are food deserts — areas with little or no access to fresh food. However, some new grant money will soon help alleviate the problem. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the Reinvestment Fund, awarded more than $4About $200,000 will go to open a grocery store in the town of Indian Head in Charles County, Maryland. Agriculture Department Rural Development State Director for Delaware and Maryland David Baker told WTOP the community has no place within a 7-mile radius to purchase fresh food.

In the first meeting since Chair Juanita Miller said she’d fight her removal, the Prince George’s County Board of Education voted to select new legal representation for board business. During its meeting Thursday, the school board approved a five-year, $765,000 agreement with the law firm of Shipley and Horn. In most school districts, a vote on choosing a law firm would fail to qualify as news, but fights over hiring legal counsel is what led to the bitter wrangling among Prince George’s County school board members, and prompted the State Board of Education to notify Miller they’d voted to charge her with misconduct in office.

Last week’s decision by the Carroll County Board of Education outlining which flags can and cannot be displayed on school property has state politicians battling on social media. On Wednesday, the school board voted 4-1 to permit only American, Maryland, Carroll County flags and flags related to student achievement, sports banners and flags of other nations to be displayed on school property. The effect of the vote was to ban the display of rainbow LGBTQ+ pride flags. The vote was made after the board heard opposing viewpoints from several community members at a lengthy meeting.

The idea behind the WB&A Trail goes back nearly 30 years, and for more than a decade, parks and rec departments in Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties in Maryland have worked to make it a reality. The Patuxent River has been a sticking point since day one, but on Friday, local officials and advocates gathered to break ground on work to finally literally bridge that one dividing line. On the Prince George’s County side, the trail runs from Lanham past Horsepen Park in Bowie, and ends right on the banks of the Patuxent. In Anne Arundel County, the trail meanders through woods and new developments in Odenton and down about a mile-long incline, stopping right on the other side of the Patuxent.

A new round of bonuses could be on the way for Anne Arundel County school bus drivers — an effort to help a system that has suffered from inconsistent service in the past year. County Executive Steuart Pittman submitted a supplemental budget request Thursday for fiscal 2023 seeking to amend the $2 billion fiscal plan that he proposed earlier this year to include new federal funding for both bus drivers and crossing guards.

Annapolis City Council members plan to vote Friday on whether to restore a $5,000 community grant for Eastport United Methodist Church. While the money may be only a drop in the bucket in the city’s nearly $175 million budget, which is scheduled for adoption Friday, the grant has been cause for considerable debate. Both the church and some council members have pushed back against City Attorney Mike Lyles, who has advised against giving the Methodists money to help fund a “community coordinator” position at the church.