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Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater said Monday that her proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 will include a 4.7% increase in the county’s property tax rate, a change intended to help fund school construction projects. The proposed tax-rate increase from $1.06 per $100 of assessed value in fiscal year 2024 to $1.11 per $100 of assessed value in fiscal year 2025 would mark the first change in the county’s property tax rate since the charter model of government took effect in 2014.

Some Montgomery County Council members aim to eliminate the county’s office vacancy rate by providing a financial incentive to encourage businesses to rent or expand their local footprint. “We have 76 million square feet of office space and we want to make sure that as much of that is used as possible,” councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) said while promoting proposed legislation Monday during a press conference at the Preserve office building at 2600 Tower Oaks Boulevard in Rockville. “Filling that space is good for all of us.”

Baltimore City is taking legal action against entities it deems responsible for the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and the FBI has opened an investigation into the disaster. The bridge crumbled nearly three weeks ago after its support column was struck by a malfunctioning cargo ship in the early morning hours of March 26, sending eight construction workers into the Patapsco River below, killing six of them.

As her four sisters sat quietly near her in a room at the Baltimore Immigration Court, the 8-year-old girl played with a green bendable toy bunny given to her by an attorney — “Bendy,” children before her had named it. The bunny came out of a drawer filled with other toys meant to calm nervous children. “We have some superheroes,” Cate Scenna told the youngest girl, her hair in pigtails with pink hair clips.

At an anti-bullying presentation March 14 at Westport Academy, former NFL player Joel Gamble and children’s book author Stephen McGill read from their respective books: “The Justice Duo” and “The Electrifying Adventures of Mr. Powers.” Students were asked to use characters from the books to identify signs of bullying and learned what their “superpowers” were, such as speaking with a school liaison.

Parts of the mid-shore, including Dorchester and Talbot counties, were inundated overnight as flooding covered streets in low-lying areas. Residents in Oxford accustomed to periodic flooding found themselves grappling with what they described as increasingly frequent occurrences. Dave Carroll, who resides in Oxford, recounted the challenges of navigating the high waters, even having to carry his dog through his flooded property.

The Prince George’s County Council passed new restrictions aimed at limiting where cannabis dispensaries can operate. But one state lawmaker from a neighboring jurisdiction is unhappy with the new ordinance and the council that passed it. The county law might not stand for very long anyway.

The Unified Command team used the crane barge Chesapeake 1000 for some heavy lifting Sunday at the wreckage site of the Key Bridge in the Patapsco River. The Chesapeake 1000 is the largest floating crane on the Eastern Seaboard. The crane is being used to move a large piece of supporting steel from the bridge that will assist in opening a limited access channel that will allow one-way ship traffic to the Port of Baltimore.