Maya Lora

To afford raises, Baltimore County schools is cutting jobs, likely growing class sizes The Baltimore County school board voted 7-4 on Tuesday night to adopt a budget that raises staff salaries at the expense of nearly 600 jobs and likely larger class sizes.

To afford raises, Baltimore County schools is cutting jobs, likely growing class sizes

Did you look up your senator? Did their answer surprise you? Drop me a message. DMs open. Email brenda.wintrode@thebanner.com

When immigrants can’t leave their homes, this reading expert comes to the door Amid a federal immigration crackdown, scared families are avoiding public spaces and staying home. Norma Montesino is one of the few people they’ll let in.

A little bit of happy for your Wed. morning: We've been reporting for months that the federal immigration crackdown is keeping some scared immigrant families from venturing outside their homes. Norma Montesino is the bilingual Santa Claus bringing reading to them. www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

How a rediscovered Baltimore Bible provides a glimpse into Black history In September 1885, Winnie Harris wrote her last will and testament in the pages of a leather-bound, gilded Bible. About 140 years later, that Bible, now an official government record, was rediscovered...

A snow day read: Who is Winnie Harris? She wrote her will in the pages of a Bible. It became a state record, $ now it lives at the Maryland State Archives — where what she wrote & other records give a glimpse into Black life in Baltimore shortly after emancipation.
More in @thebaltimorebanner.com

As a former resident of downtown (who would literally never go back), this story and its accompanying videos are such a delight.

How do you define downtown Baltimore? Draw it and show us. Depending on how you draw its boundaries, downtown Baltimore is either a depressing and increasingly empty collection of tall buildings, or it’s a dynamic and diverse community poised for success.

No one seems to agree on what "downtown Baltimore" actually is.

Is it a narrow strip of land near the harbor? Does it include Mount Vernon? The @thebaltimorebanner.com office?

Help us figure this out!

Use our new tool to draw what you think of as downtown:

www.thebanner.com/economy/grow...

YMCA employees wanted pay raises. They got a food pantry instead. The YMCA of Central Maryland opened a food pantry for workers asking for pay raises. Meanwhile, its CEO is one of the region’s highest-paid nonprofit leaders.

From @briaovers.bsky.social: YMCA employees wanted pay raises. They got a food pantry instead. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Toddlers will invade the Baltimore Symphony for a Peppa Pig show The Muddy Puddles Orchestra tailors its show for kids ages 18 months and older.

Peppa Pig is coming to Baltimore! www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

How schools will respond to rumored ICE ramp-ups Rumors of an influx of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents coming to Maryland have put communities on edge.

With rumors and anxieties swirling over a potential uptick of ICE activity near Baltimore, you may be wondering what happens if ICE shows up to your school or college. We rounded up the answers for Central Maryland. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

How schools will respond to rumored ICE ramp-ups Rumors of an influx of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents coming to Maryland have put communities on edge.

How Maryland schools will respond to rumored ICE ramp-ups

The Dish: This North Charles Street cafe wants to talk about sex A cafe focused on free expression and intimacy has come to North Charles Street in Baltimore City.

The Dish: This North Charles Street cafe wants to talk about sex

How a trip to New Orleans unseated one of Maryland’s longest-running school leaders The calls for Sean Bulson’s ouster started long before questions about that night in New Orleans.

ICYMI: Harford County's school board voted to fire its superintendent on Monday. His ousting had been years in the making.
www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Aspiring teachers thought they were getting a full ride. Then the bills came. The Teaching Fellows for Maryland Scholarship is advertised as covering all tuition and fees, but it didn’t work out that way for some students.

My latest story: "Aspiring teachers thought they were getting a full ride. Then the bills came."

Students are accusing the state's higher education commission of bungling scholarships for the second time in six months. This time, for teacher education.

www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Super Bowl-night ads will push BGE’s agenda to build and run power plants in Maryland Baltimore Gas and Electric has called on Maryland leaders to pass legislation allowing the utility to build and own power plants — an ask it’s underscoring with ads during NBC’s Olympics and Super Bow...

New: In ads to run ahead of Super Bowl kick-off & during post-game, BGE will push its legislative agenda to build and own Maryland power plants, a reversal on decades of state regulatory policy. $150K ad buy includes spots in Super Bowl-night & Olympics coverage
www.thebanner.com/community/cl...

Some of Maryland’s brightest immigrant students can’t go to college Some undocumented immigrants can’t get in-state tuition in Maryland, making college unaffordable.

New: Maryland grants in-state tuition to undocumented students if they submit three years of tax returns. But now the IRS is working with ICE, and students fear they'll be deported. It means that some of Maryland's best students aren't going to college.
www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Hundreds pack hearing on Howard County measure to ban immigrant detention facilities Howard County Council is considering two measures aimed at blocking a private immigrant detention center in Elkridge.

Hundreds pack hearing on Howard County proposal to ban immigrant detention facilities

Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund

If you'd like to support my friends and colleagues who lost their jobs at The Washington Post today -- www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...

Make no mistake, the layoffs at the Post hurt readers the most. I grieve for my sports colleagues that helped describe the societal fabric sports reveal. But on a basic level of holding institutions and power accountable, and uplifting the stories and problems of everyday people, this is a travesty.

We are so incredibly thrilled to receive this honor.

Working on this project was one of the highlights of my career and I could not be more grateful to @ire.org and my entire team.

Thank you to all my colleagues at @thebaltimorebanner.com and all of our readers and supporters.

Iced sidewalks, no buses: How Maryland School for the Blind finally reopened Reopening was complex for the Maryland School for the Blind in Northeast Baltimore, where over 200 students with visual disabilities, some of whom use wheelchairs or canes to get around, go to school.

Thought it was hard for your school to reopen after the storm? The state's only school serving blind students had to de-ice thousands of feet of sidewalk while stuck beholden to surrounding districts' closure decisions. Plus, they're not allowed to go virtual. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

This Maryland program opened nearly 300 day cares in 3 years Maryland’s Growing Opportunities for Family Child Care program is expanding in-home day care, adding thousands of affordable child care slots statewide.

ICYMI this weekend: A huge part of the child care crisis in Maryland is the hundreds of family day cares the state has lost since the pandemic. But there's a program that's trying to fix it by helping women open in-home day cares. And it's working. www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

Most Baltimore County teachers are ready to teach science of reading. What about yours? The phonics-forward method backed by brain science is what education leaders hope will bring Maryland back to its heyday.

Maryland wants to get all kids reading by 3rd grade, and a big part of that mission is getting educators ready to teach the science of reading. Two of Maryland's biggest school districts are at odds: One has trained 98% of teachers. The other: Just 24%. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Most Baltimore County teachers are ready to teach science of reading. What about yours? The phonics-forward method backed by brain science is what education leaders hope will bring Maryland back to its heyday.

Most Baltimore County teachers are ready to teach science of reading. What about your district?

NEW w/ @halliemiller.bsky.social:

There is a growing divide between Maryland's recent homebuyers and more tenured owners.

The most recent group of buyers face median mortgage payment 47% higher than those who bought pre-pandemic.

How did this happen?

Read ⬇️
www.thebanner.com/community/ho...

This Maryland program opened nearly 300 day cares in 3 years Maryland’s Growing Opportunities for Family Child Care program is expanding in-home day care, adding thousands of affordable child care slots statewide.

This Maryland program opened nearly 300 day cares in 3 years

School background checks are law but educators slip through the cracks Three Maryland school districts admitted they don’t regularly screen applicants.

Three Maryland school systems do not regularly screen their job applicants, despite a state law requiring them to do so.
www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Random junk marks the spot in Baltimore’s snow parking wars To chair, or not to chair? Baltimore residents turn to children's kitchenettes, tiki torches and good, old lawn chairs to preserve hard-won parking spots as the dig-out from Storm Fern continues.

Household items are making their way outdoors in Baltimore. Do you save your parking spot after a snowstorm?

www.thebanner.com/community/tr...

Ginny wrote such a beautiful story here that you should read! Getting out to a few Girls Who Walk Baltimore meet-ups (not the same group featured here) was one of the highlights of my 2025, and Ginny captured the community that forms around "hot girl walks" so wonderfully.

Is this Morgan State policy a threat to free press? For years, current and former editors said, reporters at The Spokesman, the HBCU’s student newspaper, have hit a wall getting the information they need to cover the news.

📝Morgan State University, Maryland's largest HBCU, is being accused by multiple national advocacy orgs of censoring its student newspaper. I spoke with experts, current and former student journalists and faculty about the policy. Here's what you need to know:
www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Redistricting commission to vote on new congressional districts Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s redistricting advisory commission plans to vote Tuesday afternoon on new boundaries for the state’s congressional districts.

NEW: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's redistricting commission plans to meet at 4 p.m. today to vote on recommending a new map of Congressional district boundaries.

The meeting is not open to the public.

www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...