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State extends the child care scholarship freeze indefinitely

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Greg Morton @invisibae.bsky.social · 7d

NEW INVESTIGATION:

Investors have spent years falling in love with the 'debt service coverage ratio' loan.

The loans have allowed access to vast sums with few conditions, and now make up 40% of mortgage dollars in Baltimore.

Now they're going bad.

(Story below ⬇️)

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Maya Lora @mayaklora.bsky.social · 9d

The child care scholarship is the main way Maryland families get help with child care. Since many can't afford it otherwise, day cares and preschools rely on vouchers to fill spots. So what happens when the program gets frozen - and doesn't come back when predicted? www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

The state projected getting back down to 40,000 child care scholarships by September. But the program is still thousands of vouchers over budget.

As music festivals worldwide struggle, All Things Go keeps getting bigger

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Julie Bykowicz @bykowicz.bsky.social · 13d

Great @thebaltimorebanner.com story on the business of music festivals

Hayes Gardner @hayesgardner.bsky.social · 14d

NEW | This year alone, 100 music festivals worldwide have folded — even more than 2024, which NPR dubbed "the year the music festival died."

But nobody seems to have told All Things Go, which is rapidly expanding.
www.thebanner.com/economy/all-...

This year, All Things Go, the independent festival named for lyrics to a Sufjan Stevens song, will host acts like Noah Kahan, Lucy Dacus, Doechii and Kesha.

Unearthing history: Maryland's new state park celebrates Black triumph

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · 18d

For more than 60 years, the dense forests of Patuxent River State Park have cradled a secret.

Vines and tall grasses hid the homes of a Black family who triumphed over the horrors of slavery, built a thriving community and launched the AFRO-American newspaper chain. buff.ly/5h0i22V

A historian digging around land records rediscovered the Howard properties and built excitement among other state workers. Around the same time, the executive director of Afro Charities came across a…

Unearthing history: Maryland's new state park celebrates Black triumph

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Julie Bykowicz @bykowicz.bsky.social · 21d

Enoch George Howard bought his freedom, and hundreds of acres of Montgomery County land. Read about this remarkable Marylander, and the new state park that will tell his story. Beautifully written by @juliemore19.bsky.social @thebaltimorebanner.com
www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

A historian digging around land records rediscovered the Howard properties and built excitement among other state workers. Around the same time, the executive director of Afro Charities came across a ...

Shooting at US Naval Academy leaves midshipman injured, triggers lockdown

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · 27d

UPDATE: A midshipman was shot at the U.S. Naval Academy and flown by helicopter to a hospital on Thursday, according to a law enforcement source. www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

A midshipman was shot at the Naval Academy Thursday evening, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the shooting.

How loud are those Locust Point ships? We went to some noisy spots to find out.

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Greg Morton @invisibae.bsky.social · 27d

IT'S CENSUS DAY at @thebaltimorebanner.com!

The release of new 1-year ACS data told us a lot about the changing demographics and living experiences of counties across the country.

Here's what we learned about Maryland:

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Greg Morton @invisibae.bsky.social · Sep 3

Locust Point residents have had to live all summer with a constant hum, about the volume of a vacuum cleaner.

How does their neighborhood compare to the loudest places in Baltimore?

We took to the streets (with a mic!) to find out!

www.thebanner.com/community/cl...

The plight of Locust Point residents who must live with constant noise from two military cargo ships got us wondering: How does the racket there compare to other noisy spots?

Under Trump, an increasingly isolated life for kids in immigrant families

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Maya Lora @mayaklora.bsky.social · Aug 6

Head Start, the child tax credit, extra English help: These are all things undocumented and kids in mixed-status families stand to lose under the 2nd Trump admin. Anti-immigrant rhetoric & increased deportations are eating away at kids' mental health www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/ea...

As deportation efforts and anti-immigrant rhetoric ramp up, kids are feeling more isolated, losing benefits and risking long-term detriments.

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Julie Scharper @juliemore19.bsky.social · Aug 5

Thanks, Ann! It was a pleasure spending time along the river to report this story.

They speak for the Gunpowder River. That includes warning about E. coli.

Julie Scharper @juliemore19.bsky.social · Aug 5

Tubing down the Gunpowder River is the perfect way to spend a summer day— except when E. coli levels are soaring, as they have frequently this year. I spent time with the Gunpowder Riverkeepers to see how they’re working to protect the river. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/gunpowder-ri...

Volunteers with the Gunpowder Riverkeepers are uncovering dangerously high E. coli levels in parts of Baltimore’s beloved river, raising concerns about water safety, pollution and what’s at stake for ...

With at least 9 heat deaths, summer is off to a deadly start in Maryland

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Cody Boteler @codyboteler.bsky.social · Jul 8

Heat is the deadliest form of extreme weather, responsible for thousands of deaths annually.

Read more in @thebaltimorebanner.com w/ @adampwillis.bsky.social

At least nine people, including two children, have died from heat-related illness so far in 2025 — more than twice as many as this time last year, according to Maryland data.

With at least 9 heat deaths, summer is off to a deadly start in Maryland

Reposted by Julie Scharper

Cody Boteler @codyboteler.bsky.social · Jul 8

At least 9 people have died from heat-related illness this year in Maryland so far — more than the entirety of some recent past summers.

27 died of heat in Maryland in 2024 — but only 4 by this point in the summer.

At least nine people, including two children, have died from heat-related illness so far in 2025 — more than twice as many as this time last year, according to Maryland data.

Infamous Cockeysville home heading to market

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Julie Scharper @juliemore19.bsky.social · Jul 2

In 2008, a teenage boy killed his parents and brothers in this Cockeysville home. In 2023, a man shot a police officer there, touching off a 3 day manhunt. Now the house is about to hit the market. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/economy/real...

A Baltimore County home, known for the Browning murders and David Linthicum incident, is listed for sale in Cockeysville.

Prosecutors won’t retry Severna Park Elementary teacher in sex abuse case

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Dylan Segelbaum @dylansegelbaum.bsky.social · Jul 1

Prosecutors won’t retry Severna Park Elementary teacher in sex abuse case. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Prosecutors in the case against Matthew Schlegel, 45, of Severna Park, concluded there was “not a path forward at a second trial.”

This is the most crucial, unanswered question about the West Baltimore police shooting

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · Jul 1

New: Before fatally shooting a 70-year-old woman, BPD officers breached the door of her home, where she was inside and reportedly armed with a knife. De-escalation experts and the department's own crisis response policy call that action into question. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...

Baltimore Police’s fatal shooting of a 70-year-old woman highlights the department’s struggles to train its officers in de-escalation.

Baltimore sheriff probes courthouse employee for allegedly inviting ICE to detain someone

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Dylan Segelbaum @dylansegelbaum.bsky.social · Jun 30

Baltimore sheriff probes courthouse employee for allegedly inviting ICE to detain someone, @conarck.bsky.social reports. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

ICE agents detained a man at the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse last week, sparking an investigation of a corrections department employee.

Police officer charged with solicitation of a minor, possessing child sexual abuse images

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Cody Boteler @codyboteler.bsky.social · Jun 30

NEW: A Frederick police officer, under investigation since August 2024, was charged today with possessing child sexual abuse material, solicitation of a minor and more.

A Frederick Police Department corporal has been charged in Pennsylvania for possession of child sexual abuse material, soliciting a minor and related charges.

Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar is a log cabin in the woods

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Dylan Segelbaum @dylansegelbaum.bsky.social · Jun 27

By Sapna Bansil: Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar — and one of the last — is a log cabin in the woods. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

The Lodge, a longstanding Boonsboro watering hole that resembles a log cabin, is Maryland’s oldest rural gay bar.

Former Greater Grace pastor indicted for child sexual abuse

Reposted by Julie Scharper

Dylan Segelbaum @dylansegelbaum.bsky.social · Jun 27

Former Greater Grace pastor indicted for child sexual abuse, lawsuits pile up, Jessica Calefati, @juliemore19.bsky.social and @justinfenton.bsky.social report. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Former Greater Grace Pastor Eric Anderson, 80, is facing two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child.

It’s not just late buses: Baltimore kids face serious safety risks

Reposted by Julie Scharper

Greg Morton @invisibae.bsky.social · Jun 23

NEW: Baltimore students told about their experiences with violence and harassment on the way to school in the state's only district without yellow bus service for middle and high schoolers.

@lizbowie.bsky.social and I on what students are facing every day

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-...

Baltimore students have been followed, harassed, assaulted and held up at gunpoint while crisscrossing the city on public transit to get to and from school.

Should local police help ICE agents? They're increasingly put in the middle

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Reposted by Julie Scharper

Ben Conarck @conarck.bsky.social · Jun 20

New: When Baltimore residents surrounded an ICE agent's vehicle after he arrested two members of their community, he called 911. Baltimore Police, who are by policy prohibited from immigration enforcement, cleared his way. Was it their "duty" or a "test?"
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/cr...

The tensions surfacing in the Baltimore area are unlikely to ease anytime soon.