Candace and Tom celebrate FIVE YEARS of podcasting by hosting a live interview with Howard County Council District 4 candidate Janssen Evelyn. He addressed why housing is one of his top priorities and the way in which art infuses itself into his life. Janssen also recounts some stories from the field as he works to become the first person of color to represent Downtown Columbia on the County Council.

The subject during the Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday was wetlands licenses, but Comptroller Peter Franchot brought up the thing that everyone was actually thinking about – the boat. Ever Forward, the enormous container ship stuck in the Chesapeake Bay that has been a nearly one-month headache for the U.S. Coast Guard, the Port of Baltimore and the Department of the Environment, had become a concern for the governor, the comptroller and the state’s treasurer.

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.

In a first-of-its-kind arrangement for a public university, the University of Maryland will temporarily house Afghan refugees on its College Park campus. Under a partnership with the International Rescue Committee, Afghan families evacuated through Operation Allies Welcome, as well as special immigrant visa holders, will live on the campus for up to a year while IRC helps them find permanent housing. It will also help them find employment, education, counseling and other social services.

Baltimore’s multimillion-dollar climate change lawsuit against about two dozen fossil fuel companies belongs in state court rather than federal court, a U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday in a defeat for Big Oil. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court rejected the companies’ argument that federal courts have jurisdiction over Baltimore’s claim because the city’s allegations of environmental harm are national in scope and involve not just state and local law but the federal Clean Air Act.

Carroll County residents may be able to take advantage of a new federal grant program to receive up to $2,000 to prevent disconnection of water or sewer services. At Thursday’s Board of Carroll County Commissioners meeting, commissioners approved a request from the Department of the Comptroller to participate in the federally funded Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program.

Baltimore’s Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved Morgan State University’s purchase of several land parcels including the former Lake Clifton High School where officials hope to build the university’s first modern satellite campus. Morgan State officials pledged spending $200 million to convert three city-owned parcels of land into a new campus about a mile south of the university’s main campus that would expand its footprint in East Baltimore.

Johns Hopkins University is reinstating temporary COVID-19 mitigation measures after almost 100 undergraduates tested positive for the virus within the last six days. Kevin Shollenberger, Hopkins’ vice provost for student health and well-being, announced the university is responding to the spike in cases by testing all undergraduate students twice per week from now until April 22. Testing may be extended following evaluation. Masking will be temporarily required in common areas in residence and dining halls, adding to the already existing mask mandate in Hopkins’ classrooms.

Students who are isolated from school due to testing positive for COVID-19 will no longer receive live virtual instruction while away from school, Superintendent George Arlotto told the Board of Education on Wednesday. He said a low number of cases among students and Anne Arundel County’s low community spread prompted him to make the change, effective April 19. Students will be on spring break April 11-18, and when they return on the 19th, the system will no longer offer “direct synchronous education for isolated students,” Arlotto said.