Maryland

Paul Monteiro, who was national director of AmeriCorps VISTA, will be the first person to lead the new Department of Service and Civic Innovation that Gov. Wes Moore established on his first full day in office in January. Moore hopes Monteiro will be confirmed by the Maryland Senate before the end of the General Assembly session next Monday.

NASA on Monday named the four astronauts who will fly to the moon by the end of next year, including one woman and three men.

What exactly are community schools? How are they funded? How are they different? And how well do they work? Maryland is spending almost $4 billion a year to convert public schools to the community school model, and Baltimore Banner reporters Hallie Miller and Kristen Griffith join Aaron to visit some community schools and see how it’s going for students and their families.

Sharon Murphy, who retired as director of the veterans home in 2021, will serve as interim director while the department looks to hire someone new.

The Orioles reliever worked his way up from independent ball and spent off-season months digging pools as he waited for his chance.

April is here. What's in the stars for you in this first week of April?

Shawna Stepp-Jones, who has degrees form Morgan State and Johns Hopkins, has created Spundle, a fast, no-heat hair dryer for wigs and extensions. She’ll debut the product April 4 at Demo Day for Techstars Equitech Accelerator, a program for members of underestimated communities or developing technologies that increases access and equity across society.

How Lamar Jackson saga will play out is anyone’s guess. So The Banner reached out to a few people connected to the pro sports space from sports agent Leigh Steinberg to NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith to former Raven Willy Williams to get their thoughts about the drama or predict what they think is next.

The Orioles’ starters have combined to pitch 12 innings thus far, and they’ve conceded 15 earned runs between them for an 11.25 ERA. Baltimore didn’t allow eight earned runs in three straight games throughout the entire 2022 season.

Jorge Mateo can’t stop running. Then again, neither can Cedric Mullins or the rest of the Orioles' baserunners. All that running has left its mark, both on Mateo’s finger and the Major League record book. Through the Orioles’ first two games of the season, they set a major league record with 10 steals.

Segregation remains a reality in Baltimore County schools, a parent of a county school student says; lack of an effective inclusionary housing policy reinforces a system that subsidizes segregation in Baltimore, a policy analyst says; families can take steps to ease the transition of people with developmental disabilities into adulthood, a services coordinator says.

Maryland is still on track to set up a marketplace for recreational cannabis sales beginning July 1, but House and Senate lawmakers have differences to work out.

Maryland lawmakers quietly added $2 million for emergency rental assistance in the final hours of budget negotiations on Friday — a fraction of what housing advocates have said will be necessary to avoid a mounting eviction crisis in the state.

This weekend, Bowie State University will name the theater at its performing arts center after the music icon.

A boisterous crowd gathered at the State House to celebrate significant progress this year — a new law will expand coverage for gender-affirming care for people with Medicaid insurance — but they noted that much more work is ahead in making the state safe and inclusive for trans Marylanders.

On Thursday, delegates and senators wouldn’t meet face-to-face to hash out differences on education spending. By Friday, they’d reached a deal.

As a condition of the 43-4 confirmation vote in the Maryland Senate, lawmakers will withhold a small portion of the budget for Butler’s office until he submits reports on his progress toward reform.

The Child Victims Act will lift all age limits and time limits for filing lawsuits against institutions such as churches and schools for enabling child sexual abuse. And it undoes a tricky legal maneuver called a “statute of repose” that some believe was snuck into a prior bill, which had the effect of actually insulating institutions from older legal claims.

Maryland has a long history with rye whiskey.

Ready to dig in the dirt this spring? Make sure you’re planning ahead for warming summers with this climate-conscious resource and tip sheet informed by some of the mid-Atlantic’s best gardeners and educators.