Around Maryland

Growing up in Baltimore, Angela Crenshaw remembered hearing the names of Maryland’s African American history “titans” like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. Her school history books, however, only mentioned Tubman briefly, detailing her time spent helping slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. It wasn’t until Crenshaw began working as a park ranger at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center in Dorchester County that she truly connected with Tubman’s life and story.

Baltimore renters who have lived in the city for at least a year in one of more than 120 neighborhoods can access a grant up to $20,000 to purchase a home in any of those same neighborhoods, thanks to an expanded program from Live Baltimore. The city’s marketing arm, which operates as a nonprofit organization, said in a Wednesday news release that as many as 100 residents could tap into the funding as long as they purchase homes in “grant-eligible” areas. That includes much of East and West Baltimore, as well as neighborhoods south of the Hanover Street Bridge.

A STEM-focused charter school has inked a deal to expand in Anne Arundel County. Chesapeake Science Point Middle-High School has leased 57,000 square feet of space at a St. John Properties-owned flex building in Hanover that sits next to its current school. The charter operator recently signed a lease for the entire building at 7320 Parkway Drive near Routes 100 and 295. The school is part of a Prince George’s County-based charter network that enrolls students in pre-K through 12th grade. The Chesapeake Science Point Charter School network has a total of seven school buildings, with five in Prince George’s County.

The Office of the Inspector General revealed that the Department of Public Works’ reporting on heat-related illnesses omitted 10 cases of employees who suffered from heat-related disorders. “Six of the 10 employee-reported illnesses that were not found on DPW’s spreadsheet occurred on days when temperatures reached 90℉ or higher, with two that occurred on a 103℉ day,” per the OIG report. Of the illnesses omitted, employees reported symptoms of lightheadedness, dehydration, blacking out due to heat, dizziness and vomiting, heat stroke, fainting, chafing due to excessive heat, and cramping, according to OIG’s findings.

Expert review teams focused on career and technical education have begun to visit all 24 school districts, the start of a two-year plan to help school officials find ways to partner with local businesses and nonprofit organizations to boost high school apprenticeship programs. Under the plan, approved Thursday by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board (AIB), 26 schools in 13 school districts will be visited this school year by individuals who include members of the state’s Career and Technical Education Committee (CTE), staff with the state Department of Education and staff with local workforce development boards.

Communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore are rallying to donate emergency equipment and supplies to hurricane-impacted regions in Tennessee. On Monday, Cambridge city commissioners will vote on a proposal to donate an old, unused fire truck from the Cambridge Rescue Fire Company to assist recovery efforts. One local farmer, Jessica Tanglao from Denton, is also working independently to deliver much-needed agricultural supplies.

Overall crime has decreased “significantly” in Montgomery County, Maryland, according to crime statistics presented to the county council’s Public Safety Committee last week. According to the data for the first three quarters of this year, the number of homicides and rapes has dropped and the number of car thefts, which accelerated wildly during the pandemic, has slowed, with the actual number of auto thefts down by 2%.https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2024/10/montgomery-county-crime-downward-trends-continued-problems/