Around Maryland

Maryland is counting on private child care providers to take part as the state expands its pre-K program — but many providers don’t plan on becoming involved. In a spring survey of the state’s child care providers conducted by the Local News Network, only 12.9% of respondents said they plan to or were already involved in the pre-K program created under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s expansive education reform plan.

The Maryland Transportation Authority is heightening its watch over what kinds of materials are passing through Baltimore’s tunnels on trucks since the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in late March. The loss of the bridge has rerouted trucks to tunnels, including the Fort McHenry Tunnel along Interstate 95 and Baltimore Harbor Tunnel along I-895.

Students at a Baltimore County magnet school may have to retake Advanced Placement tests after the agency that oversees the college-level standardized tests lost the answer keys to six exams. Principal Jewell M. Ralph of the Western School of Technology and Environmental Science in Catonsville notified parents this week that the College Board, which administers and scores AP tests, “could not locate” answer sheets for six tests students undertook on May 23.

Six new solar-generating farms are proposed for agricultural land in Carroll County, even though solar farms are prohibited on farmland in the county’s zoning code. The Board of Carroll County Commissioners will now be forced to address the issue again. The commissioners have voted to keep solar farms off agricultural land, but the state has the final say on such projects.

Florida tried to warn other school systems about Dazhon Darien back in 2016. Thanks to a national clearinghouse for screening teachers, hundreds of school districts would have known to ask more questions before hiring Darien, the high school athletic director who was arrested in April and accused of framing a Pikesville principal using artificial intelligence.

Members of the Fort Washington, Maryland, community came together Saturday to remember those who died in crashes on Maryland Route 210 in Prince George’s County. Residents gathered with elected leaders, state officials and advocates of highway safety to express support for stepped up enforcement against speeding drivers.

Maryland transportation officials are expecting in the coming weeks to solicit proposals for the last of three major contracts for rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge and to receive a large insurance payout for the disaster. Transportation officials have yet to determine which company will design and build the new bridge, though they’re hoping to award that contract by Labor Day.

An updated bay license plate is now available for Maryland drivers — and it’s expanded beyond the Chesapeake Bay. The new plate bears the same design, featuring the Bay Bridge and a blue crab, as the design that was introduced in 2018. But now, in addition to imploring people to “Protect the Chesapeake,” it calls for the Chesapeake and Maryland’s coastal bays to be protected.

The Baltimore Community Foundation partnered with national nonprofit Community Solutions and Thursday announced a $1 million investment in the Mayflower Apartments, helping provide more housing resources for individuals exiting homelessness or in need of affordable housing. The Mayflower Apartments, at 4004-4012 Biddison Lane in the Pen Lucy neighborhood of east Baltimore, is one several multifamily complexes nationwide under Community Solutions’ Large Cities Housing Fund, a social-impact private equity fund addressing the country’s housing gap challenge.