Around Maryland

Two state education boards set aggressive new goals Tuesday for student achievement, attracting and retaining a diverse teacher corps and reducing chronic absenteeism. It was the second time this year that the Maryland State Board of Education and the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board held a joint meeting, and members said their decision to set higher targets is intentional.

Construction has begun on the next phase of Ellicott City’s Safe and Sound flood mitigation plan, an 18-foot tunnel that will divert 26,000 gallons of water per second from the West End to the Patapsco River. The $141.5 million Extended North Tunnel is considered not only the focal point of the plan, but it is the largest public project in Howard County’s history.

Many child care centers in Baltimore tend to cater to single mothers, requiring the center operators, often based in the neighborhood, to provide ample doses of empathy and flexibility to support young families. “You have the single parent [and the] other parent is either locked up or incarcerated,” said Yvonne Turner, who owns Old Mother Hubbard’s Child Care Center. “They’re trying to make ends meet.”

Andrew Banasik wants to repaint his new office from a peachy-orange color to white. But personalizing the office is low on his to-do list. Sitting on the corner of Banasik’s partially assembled desk − he’s waiting on the delivery of a few office necessities − is a stack of books Banasik is reading. The stack is eight or nine books high and ranges from stories of enslaved people to battlefield farmstead guides, all about the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862.

The Dali — the cargo ship that collided with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, leading to its collapse on March 26 — finally left Baltimore Monday on its way to port in Norfolk, Virginia. Traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was temporarily suspended late Monday morning by the Maryland Transportation Authority “out of an abundance of caution,” as the 984-foot marine vessel Dali passed beneath, the authority said.

The Frederick Police Department started reporting crime using a new system in mid-2022, making crime rates incomparable to previous years. But even with the change, some of the 2023 numbers could indicate an upward trend in certain types of crime. FPD switched to the National Incident-Based Reporting System in September 2022, which collects more detailed crime information, according to the FBI.

A Maryland woman embarked on a 24-mile swim starting at Sandy Point State Park near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, aiming to reach Harborplace Amphitheater in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor along the Patapsco River on Tuesday. Katie Pumphrey, an artist and ultramarathon swimmer, called the swim a love letter to Baltimore.