Around Maryland

Dozens of middle school students from Montgomery County, Maryland, were in a Rockville courtroom this week but not for a trial. Instead, they were attending a celebration. The 49 students were among the successful graduates of the county’s Truancy Prevention Program. The initiative is designed to help middle school students who’ve missed between 18-36 days of school get back to class and back on track. One of the proud graduates was 12-year-old Jaelynn Parada, a sixth-grade student at A. Mario Loiederman Middle School in Silver Spring.

In response to record heat expected this weekend, Johns Hopkin University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health will shorten it’s outdoor commencement ceremony. The ceremony is now anticipated to last around 2 hours, instead of 4 hours or longer. Due to the shortened event, those receiving their master’s degrees will not have their individual names read. Instead, the university said it will “confer master’s degrees by recognizing program cohorts by group…”

The Black-Eyed Susan cocktails were flowing, D. Wayne Lukas was telling jokes and things finally felt fully back to normal at Old Hilltop. While the Kentucky Derby winner isn’t at the Preakness, the tradition of the Alibi Breakfast returned Thursday to Pimlico Race Course after a two-year absence because of the pandemic. The event has evolved from its origins in the 1930s but still brings owners, trainers and other horsemen together for chicken and waffles in the kind of relaxed, lighthearted atmosphere the second jewel of the Triple Crown is known for after the intensity of the Derby.

Over the course of public hearings on Anne Arundel County’s proposed fiscal 2023 budget, residents raised concerns about changes to Jumpers Hole Road and higher pay for some school faculty. But to the surprise of County Council members and other leaders, the two meetings, held on May 9 and 18, were dominated by talk of building a rowing facility and providing more water access for rowers. The problem is that the rowing facility isn’t in County Executive Steuart Pittman’s proposed fiscal plan.

The Carroll Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 Thursday to allocate an additional $2 million to Carroll County Public Schools for fiscal 2023, stating that the funds would be for one-time use to support staff salaries. Commissioners Dennis Frazier, Ed Rothstein, Stephen Wantz and Richard Weaver, voted in favor; Commissioner Eric Bouchat dissented. During discussion, Frazier called the leadership on the Board of Education “dismal.”

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joined officials Thursday afternoon from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to announce the city’s plan to address homelessness. Baltimore has set a House America goal to rehouse at least 1,000 households experiencing homelessness and add at least 1,605 new units of affordable housing into the development pipeline this year. The House America initiative is a partnership in which HUD and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness work with local leaders to use American Rescue Plan funding to rehouse homeless people and stimulate the construction of new affordable housing.

A Maryland family rich in the horse racing industry hopes to one day breed a Triple Crown winner. In the 1890s, Vincent Allen said his family made their first big mark. He said it all starts with relative Dudley Allen in Lexington, Kentucky, who held a 40-year career in the horse racing industry. “My grandfather owned the horse and trained the horse that won the Kentucky Derby 1891, Dudley Allen,” he said. Dudley won with jockey Isaac Murphy and thoroughbred horse Kingman. Through the craft being passed down from generation to generation, Vincent learned the trade.