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Court Filing Seeks Hundreds of Millions for Baltimore Schools

"A generation of students have been denied the education that they deserve under the Maryland constitution.”

WYPR News

Rachel Baye

Anne Rowe was diagnosed in 2001 with Von Willebrand disease. It’s a genetic bleeding disorder, meaning her blood doesn’t clot well. The Prince George’s County resident told the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday afternoon that, fortunately, there is a treatment.

“For us to be treated prophylactically only, it could cost us $288,000 annually with no insurance or medications,” she said.

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The state Senate voted Tuesday to ban the sale of foam food and beverage containers. If the measure passes the House, Maryland would be the first state to pass a statewide ban on the products.

The ban covers expanded polystyrene cups, plates, takeout containers and egg cartons.

Rachel Baye

Legislators in Annapolis will have their first chance to weigh in on recommendations by the Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education — better known as the "Kirwan Commission" — which is studying ways to improve K-12 education in Maryland. A bill reflecting many of those recommendations is to go before a Senate committee Wednesday afternoon.

John Lee

When you first see Perry Hall Mansion, you notice something odd. Sean Kief, who is on the board of Historic Perry Hall Mansion, points it out.

 

“You’re looking at basically half a house,” Kief said.

 

More than 200 years after the founding of a new American church within its halls, the bare bones of the Baltimore County mansion remains. 

 

But there are questions about its future

 

 

Much of the action in Annapolis this week moves to the floors of both chambers where agendas are frequently determined on a day to day basis. Lawmakers are working to beat the deadline known as cross-over day--March 18 this year--when bills must cross from one house to the other to be guaranteed full consideration.

In addition, legislative leaders are trying to get some of the more controversial bills, like the minimum wage increase, to Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk in time for a potential veto override vote before March 29. That’s the date Sen. Will Smith, a Montgomery County Democrat and Naval Reserve officer, leaves to deploy to Afghanistan.

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Out of the Blocks

Working behind the Wall: Conversations with Jailers

If you heard the last episode of the podcast, you’ll remember we spent some time on the block where the release door of the Baltimore Jail lets out onto the street. We met some guys who’d been locked up in the jail multiple times, we talked a lot about the jail, but we didn’t talk with anyone who actually works in there. Well, that’s what this episode is about: Conversations about work and life with the warden, two correctional officers, and the commissioner of pretrial detention and services at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

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WYPR, NPR, AND REGIONAL NEWS

In the midst of a presidential budget proposal destined to generate controversy for its expected drastic spending cuts, White House senior adviser and first daughter Ivanka Trump wants to have a conversation about increasing the availability and affordability of child care.

NPR has learned that the 2020 White House budget set to be released Monday will call for increased spending on child care and propose an initiative to address shortages.

The Packhorse pub sits in the tiny village of South Stoke in the west of England amid rolling hills dotted with sheep. For more than a century and a half, it played a crucial role in the village and marked milestones in the lives of local families.

Gerard Coles, who was born half a mile from the pub and now brews cider nearby, started coming to the Packhorse when he was 15 and underage, sometimes with his school teacher for lunch.

All Hipsters Don't Look The Same, OK?

6 hours ago

Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Given that approximately half of humanity menstruates at some point in their lives, Aida Salazar says it's a real testament to the patriarchy that women feel shame or embarrassment about their periods.

Salazar wanted better for her daughter's generation, so she wrote The Moon Within, a coming of age novel written in verse. The story centers around Celi Rivera, an 11-year-old girl growing up in Oakland, who is mortified that her mother wants to celebrate her first period with a moon ceremony.

When Erin Gilmer filled her insulin prescription at a Denver-area Walgreens in January, she paid $8.50. U.S. taxpayers paid another $280.51.

She thinks the price of insulin is too high. "It eats at me to know that taxpayer money is being wasted," says Gilmer, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes while a sophomore at the University of Colorado in 2002.

The diagnosis meant that for the rest of her life she'd require daily insulin shots to stay alive. But the price of that insulin is skyrocketing.

Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Asad Khan, says India is hastily and unfairly blaming his country for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing that killed more than 40 Indian security force members in the disputed Kashmir region.

"India pointed the finger at Pakistan within minutes. The Indian government and media went into overdrive, whipping up war hysteria against Pakistan," Khan said recently in Washington.

When high school senior and wrestler Brendan Johnston realized he had to face Jaslynn Gallegos, a high school senior, and Angel Rios, a high school junior, in last month's Colorado state wrestling championship, he knew his shot at a state title was over.

Johnston refused to compete against Rios and Gallegos because they are both women.

Gallegos went on to place fifth place in that tournament and Rios was fourth — marking the first time girls have placed at a Colorado state wrestling tournament.

Andrew Ridker, still in his twenties, has uncorked a lively, tragicomic debut novel, a probe into questions that never get old: What constitutes a good, moral life, and how do you pull it off in this world?

The House on Friday approved a sweeping measure that would, among many others things, expand voters' access to the polls. But Senate Republican leaders say that chamber will not take up the bill, calling it a power grab.

Updated at 11:32 a.m. ET

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed Sunday morning shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the airline said.

The plane had 149 passengers and eight crew members on board, the airline said. There were no survivors.

The cause of the crash remains unknown. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it will send a team to help with the investigation.

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