Author Archives: George Barnette

Plans to develop the area around the Bowie State University MARC train station are progressing as Prince George’s County officials have applied some pressure. Earlier this month the County Council established the Bowie State MARC Station Development Board, which is charged with recommending companies for development, redevelopment and financing of the county-owned property in the […]

Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) is trying to fight back at a determination by the Department of Labor (DOL) that says the school system erred in compensating teachers in its H-1B temporary foreign worker visa program. PGCPS Superintendent William Hite, who said the county will appeal the decision, acknowledged mistakes were made, but said […]

Controversy over the liquor license application process in Calvert County has African-American officials in the county furious. The county’s branch of the NAACP is upset over language in the license application process it believes contributes to discrimination. On March 14, the NAACP asked the liquor board to remove the requirement for applicants to disclose their […]

Prince George’s County Public Schools is still trying to figure out what it will do with its busing service after a letter from the Maryland attorney general’s office said it was illegal to ask parents to pay to bus their kids to magnet programs outside of neighborhood boundaries. Del. Jolene Ivey, D.-Dist. 47, requested that […]

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker had high praise for the City of Bowie in his April 7 State of the County address. Baker says the economic development experienced should be the model for the rest of the county. “I think its fitting that I’ve arrived here in Bowie where you’ve faced some of the […]

A fight for more funding for the county’s nonprofits has turned into a power struggle of just who is in control of the county’s nonprofits. Sandy Pruitt, leader of People for Change of Prince George’s County organized a meeting for April 1 for all of the county’s nonprofits, under a new umbrella organization name of […]

There aren’t many positive things coming out of the Prince George’s Department of Corrections (DOC). But its barber school, which is helping to reduce recidivism, is proving to be an exception. “We don’t blow our own horn enough,” said Mary Lou McDonough, director of DOC. “This is one of those programs where you can count […]

The city of Bowie ended its four-month-long search for a new police chief when it took the interim tag off John Nesky’s title. Nesky, a 20-year veteran of law enforcement and the city’s first deputy police chief, is eager to start on some of the initiatives that he sees as beneficial to the department’s future. […]

Mortgage fraud wasn’t the only deceptive practice plaguing Marylanders. Lamondes Williams, 51, of Baltimore along with Erica Brown, 28, of Laurel, Md., are accused of falsely promising people with bad credit to rent vehicles with an understanding that rental payments would go towards the purchase of the vehicle. The indictment says Williams was the mastermind […]

Prince George’s County Councilwoman Leslie Johnson, D-Dist. 6, will have her day in court May 4 on witness and evidence tampering charges. Johnson was arrested Nov. 12 along with her husband, former Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson, after FBI heard a wiretapped conversation between the two. In that conversation, Leslie Johnson told her husband […]

Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker joined leaders nationwide last week to encourage Congress to provide more Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, which is in jeopardy because of the current economic crisis. “The CDBG program is critical for our local economies,” said U.S. Conference of Mayors President Elizabeth Kautz in a statement. “Not only […]