By KARA THOMPSON, Capital News Service ANNAPOLIS, Maryland — Gov. Wes Moore’s plan for a year of service for the state’s youth began to take shape this week with the introduction of a bill to establish and fund the program. HB 546, the Serving Every Region Through Vocational Exploration Act of 2023, was introduced Thursday. […]
Author Archives: Capital News Service
Posted inAfro Briefs
Maryland lawmakers propose choking off invasive running bamboo
By DOROTHY HOOD, Capital News Service ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Running bamboo grows so fast and is so invasive that it’s rooting up headstones in cemeteries, crossing neighborhood property lines and becoming a “major issue” in Maryland parks. Bamboo overgrowth was so bad for one Maryland resident that the constituent contacted Del. Linda Foley, D-Montgomery, for […]
Posted inMaryland Government
Maryland’s Van Hollen wants Congress to address medical debt practices
By Grace Yarrow, Capital News Service Sen. Chris Van Hollen, (D-MD), hopes to reform medical debt practices with the introduction of legislation that would curb unfair policies and protect consumers. Van Hollen and co-sponsor Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, announced the bill Nov. 30. The Maryland lawmaker and Murphy first sponsored the legislation in 2020. The […]
Posted inBaltimore News
Baltimore City teachers salaries fall to lowest in state
BY TIMOTHY E DASHIELL, Capital News Service BALTIMORE — In Baltimore City, the Maryland community with the highest numbers of needy students and the most demand for experienced teachers, the salaries of teachers with a master’s degree decreased from 2010 to 2020 to the lowest in the state, according to data from the Maryland State […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Library group: book titles targeted for banning tripled in 2021
By Kate Seltzer, Capital News Service The number of books people tried to ban from schools and libraries nearly tripled between 2019 and 2021, according to data from the American Library Association (ALA). The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to 1,597 separate book titles in 2021. That’s up from 377 challenges to […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
White House holiday theme: “We the People”
By Hunter Savery, Capital News Service The White House has unveiled its 2022 holiday decorations. This year’s theme, “We The People,” brings a distinctively homespun feel to the White House with an emphasis on decorations that people could make at home and a sense of shared national values. Decorations include ornaments drawn by children in […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
D.C. Metrorail system shortages grow as ridership increases
By Hanna Zakharenko, Capital News Service The scale of the D.C. metro system shortage is a little hard to see. Metro ridership struggles to reach what it used to be pre-pandemic and trains are more crowded, according to Metro officials. The reason? Metro officials say ridership has been increasing at a rate that has outpaced […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
Late vote count topples five conservative school board candidates
By Jenna Bloom and Danielle Hodes, Capital News Service Five socially conservative school board candidates in Maryland who were leading just after Election Night ended up losing when the counting of mail-in and provisional ballots was concluded this week. Those changes meant that 20 of the 41 socially conservative candidates identified by Capital News Service […]
Posted inU.S. Government
With narrow House majority in divided Congress, GOP signals more conflict than consensus
By Courtney Cohn and Ekaterina Pechenkina, Capital News Service While the anticipated Republican “red wave” did not materialize, the GOP-controlled House will impact President Joe Biden’s policy agenda and increase the chances for possible investigations when the divided 118th Congress convenes in January, analysts say. “One-party Democrat rule in Washington is finished. We have fired […]
Posted inTechnology
Artificial Intelligence in art underlines deeper implications for workers
By Matthew Wynn and Kyle Russo, Capital News Service Artificial Intelligence — it’s the thing of sci-fi movies and dystopian novels. It’s also present and real, impacting laborers and professionals across industries. Recently, a man used the AI image generator Midjourney to enter a fine arts contest for the Colorado State Fair under the “Digital […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
The future of democracy worries some voters
By Kate Seltzer, Hunter Savery, Destiny Herbers and Nolan Clancy, Capital News Service Maryland voters participating in the first major election since the Jan. 6 insurrection are expressing concerns about the state of American democracy, but what Democrats and Republicans worry about differs significantly. “I do believe that democracy is at stake. I think we’re […]
Posted inPrince George's County News
Democracy, inflation, political dissatisfaction drives Marylanders to polls
BY EMMETT GARTNER, ABBY ZIMMARDI, SHANNON CLARK AND TIMOTHY DASHIELLCapital News Service SILVER SPRING, Md.—The line of voters inside the Silver Spring Civic Building snaked around the lobby on Election Day Tuesday morning but never got long enough to spill into the brisk fall day. The wait time, around 20 minutes, was a little longer […]