MOST PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO HIT $60,000 BASE TEACHER PAY, SOME THROUGH CUTS: The majority of Maryland’s 24 public school systems met a July 1 deadline to boost their starting teachers’ pay to a minimum salary of $60,000, but for some smaller districts the higher salaries came at the cost of cuts elsewhere in their budgets. William Ford/Maryland Matters.
TEEN PREGNANCY PROGRAMS SCRAMBLE AFTER FEDERAL GRANTS YANKED: The federal government’s abrupt termination of teen pregnancy prevention funding last month means the loss of more than $3 million to Maryland-based programs, which are scrambling to see if they can still offer programming for young people without federal support. Danielle Brown/Maryland Matters.
- The Trump administration has a new plan for teenagers learning about pregnancy: Beginning this summer, it will steer millions of dollars toward organizations that focus on anatomy, fertility tracking, hormonal production and “reproductive goals counseling.” The plan will also emphasize abstinence from sex and the importance of marriage. Kelcie Moseley-Morris/Maryland Matters.
STATE TO GET $13M SETTLEMENT FROM OPIOID MAKERS: Maryland will receive more than $13 million from seven opioid manufacturers as part of a new settlement announced Friday by state Attorney General Anthony Brown. Maryland has already won hundreds of millions of dollars from lawsuits against opioid companies. The funds will be earmarked to combat the ongoing overdose crisis, which killed more than 1,400 people in the state last year. Alissa Zhu/The Baltimore Banner.
AS CHESAPEAKE TEMPS RISE, SO DOES WORRYING MICROBE: Cases of Vibrio vulnificus infection – a flesh-eating bacteria — are relatively uncommon but their number is increasing because of climate change, scientists say. And, as the Chesapeake Bay warms, its mildly salty and nutrient-gorged waters offer prime habitat for the potentially deadly microbe. Timothy Wheeler/The Bay Journal.
BAY FOUNDATION PLANTS MILLIONS OF SPATS, BUT OYSTER POPULATION STILL LAGS: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation planted 3 million oysters in a Severn River sanctuary Thursday as part of its three-year restoration initiative in partnership with the Severn River Association. So far, the nonprofits have planted 19 million oysters and are on track to meet their goal of planting 30 million by the end of the year. The planting comes after state leaders and organizations exceeded oyster restoration goals in 2025. However, the bay’s oyster population is still far below historical levels. Tanisha Bhat/The Baltimore Sun.
CHANGES IN WES MOORE’s ADMINISTRATION: Changes are coming to the second floor as a longtime State House aide leaves and the former regulator of the state’s cannabis industry moves in. Gov. Wes Moore (D) Friday named Will Tilburg, the former director of the Maryland Cannabis Administration, as his new chief legislative officer. Tilburg will replace Jeremy Baker, the current chief legislative officer,who is moving to become acting director of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency. Bryan Sears/Maryland Matters.
AFTER THE VOTE, WHAT HAPPENS TO ‘ELECTION TRASH?’ Every election season, Maryland political campaigns blanket voters with paper mailers, plastic yard signs and campaign literature. After the votes are counted, much of that material becomes trash — waste that few agencies track and almost no candidates campaign on reducing. Some ends up in landfills or is burned at trash incinerators, while other campaign signs linger along roadsides for weeks after Election Day. Yet despite the volume of campaign materials produced each election cycle, Maryland does not track how much ultimately becomes waste. Tinashe Chingarande/The Baltimore Sun.
ELLICOTT CITY’s HUGE FLOOD FIX STILL ISN’T FINISHED: Howard County promised a $140 million plan to protect Ellicott City from catastrophic flooding after three people died in 2016 and 2018. Ten years after the first deadly flood, the price has nearly tripled to $386 million — and the county’s largest public works project still isn’t finished. Kiersten Hacker/The Baltimore Sun.
KLAUSMEIER IN FAVOR OF EXTENDING DATA CENTER MORATORIUM: Extending the data center moratorium in Baltimore County past the end of the year is all but a done deal. Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier is joining those who want it to happen. John Lee/WYPR-FM.
COPPIN’s COST GAMBLE IS PAYING OFF: When Anthony Jenkins took over as president of Coppin State University in 2020, the long-struggling historically Black university was losing half its freshmen every year and having trouble recruiting more. The financial situation was dire for the institution on Baltimore’s North Avenue, Jenkins said. So he made a bet: Rather than raising tuition to bring in more revenue, he slashed it, wagering that a more affordable college would draw more students. And so far, it’s paid off. Ellie Wolfe/The Baltimore Banner.
ON OPPOSITE ENDS OF POLITICAL TABLE, TWO UNITE TO RUN FOR CARROLL SCHOOL BOARD: One by one, on a February night in 2025, the parents gathered around Lisa Maisano’s kitchen table and shared their political parties: Maisano, a Sykesville mother of three, was a Democrat. Julie Walsh, a two-time PTO president, was a Republican. They were united in convincing Maryland lawmakers that their gripe with state-mandated education reform wasn’t partisan. Now Maisano and Walsh are teaming up to run for seats on Carroll County’s school board. Kristen Griffith/The Baltimore Banner.
NUCLEAR COMPANY BUILDS SMALL REACTORS FOR POWER GENERATION: As Maryland grapples with soaring electricity demand and rising energy costs, a Rockville-based nuclear company is betting that a new generation of small reactors could eventually help power the state — even as its first projects are being developed hundreds of miles away. Lorraine Mirabella/The Baltimore Sun.
#YOU ARE SERVED: JUDGE OKs TEACHER’s NOTICE OF SUIT THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA: As technology has continued to advance, judges across the United States have demonstrated a willingness to authorize service of lawsuits through social media after traditional methods were unsuccessful. Such is the case of Alexa Sciuto, a Baltimore teacher, stand-up comic and LGBTQIA+ advocate, who won court permission to serve her defamation lawsuit against Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik through social media after exhausting other traditional methods. Sciuto filed her lawsuit in 2025 against Raichik, five Republican delegates and the chairs of the Carroll County and Talbot County chapters of Moms for Liberty. Dylan Segelbaum/The Baltimore Banner.
