Around Maryland

Over the last two weeks, Barb Ripani has seen a change in the clientele who walk into Potato Valley on State Circle in Annapolis. From January to April, Ripani corrals hordes of politicians, lobbyists and legislative aides who crowd into the popular lunch spot she’s co-owned for 27 years. She knows about half of their orders by heart, she said. But after Monday, nearly all of those regular customers will disappear when the 2022 Maryland General Assembly session adjourns.

With the Masters wrapping up at Augusta National on Sunday, the golf world will turn its eyes toward the next tournaments on the Professional Golfers’ Association’s slate. One of them will be in Montgomery County, Maryland, and it will be the first PGA event in the D.C. area since 2018. This May, the best golfers in the world will be teeing off at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac, Maryland, for the Wells Fargo Championship. The last tour event the club hosted was the 2018 Quicken Loans National.

Even when the coronavirus pandemic is over, courthouses across Maryland should continue carrying out a significant portion of their work virtually, according to recommendations released this week by a judicial task force. The task force, created by Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Joseph Getty, evaluated changes that have been made within the state’s court system over the course of the pandemic. The report was made with input from judges, attorneys, courthouse employees and members of the public, said Matthew Fader, the task force’s chair and the chief judge of Maryland’s Court of Special Appeals.

Reporters were informed today that the media will have limited access to a key hearing next week on State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s motion to dismiss the federal charges against her. Stringent rules were set forth by a court official in a conference call with reporters that brought immediate protests from media organizations, including The Brew. The chief deputy clerk for the U.S. District Court of Maryland, David E. Ciambruschini, said the press will be allotted three seats in the courtroom and seven seats will be made available for members of the public. The seats would be available to credentialed reporters on a first-come, first-served basis.

Most Black and Hispanic children in Maryland lived in homes that were dealing with financial hardship even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a report from the United Way of Central Maryland and its research partner shows. The report, prepared by the United Way and United For Alice, found that 61% of Black children and 68% of Hispanic children in 2019 were living in households that struggled to meet basic needs. By comparison, 31% of white children lived in similar conditions.