A state lawmaker’s fight to keep 9-1-1 from failing

  Since the first 9-1-1 call was made 50 years ago, not much has changed about how Maryland’s 9-1-1 system functions. As a result, there are times when 9-1-1 doesn’t work. That’s what happened to Carl Henn on July 25, 2010. The 48-year-old was having a picnic with some friends at a park near his…

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State Lawmakers Seek to Give Tampons to Prisoners

Female inmates at the state prison in Jessup, Maryland — the state’s only women’s prison — say getting feminine hygiene products, like pads and tampons, while they’re incarcerated can be challenging, sometimes even impossible. “On the first of the month, when they’re supposed to get the supplies, they will go through and in every cell…

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General Assembly prepares for a contentious 90 days

  The opening day of the General Assembly session is always filled with platitudes about bipartisanship and displays of camaraderie. Along these lines, Gov. Larry Hogan urged cooperation in his opening remarks to legislators on Wednesday, the first day of the 2018 legislative session. “Over the next 90 days, our goal is going to be…

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Maryland poor get little help on childcare

    Thirty-seven-year-old Tara Herbert entered a classroom at the Little Flowers Early Childhood and Development Center in West Baltimore, where she’s a teacher. Five one-year-olds sat around a small table while a movie played nearby. Another teacher was spoon feeding one of the toddlers. “Yeah, they all sleepy. It’s almost their lunch time,” Herbert…

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When addiction treatment means decades on Methadone

Odell Jones describes himself as a “working addict.” For decades, he maintained a career in social work and politics, as well as a family — four children and a wife — while using and selling heroin. ”An individual would not know that I was a drug user, or a drug dealer, for that matter, unless…

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How Medicaid fits into Maryland’s opioid crisis

How Medicaid fits into Maryland’s opioid crisis

Sixty-four-year old Johnnie Davis has been treating his heroin addiction at the Bon Secours New Hope Treatment Center in West Baltimore for nearly 20 years. “When I came here, I didn’t have no insurance,” he said. “And if I wasn’t here, I could imagine where my life would have turned because I was known for…

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Taking a break on Sine Die to break matzah

  This is Del. Sandy Rosenberg’s 35th year representing northwest Baltimore in the House of Delegates, and it’s the third time in those 35 years that the first night of Passover, when Jewish families traditionally gather for the ritual Seder, has fallen on Sine Die, the last night of the Maryland General Assembly session. The…

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Maryland legislator fights for kids’ right to pinball

  Seventeen-year-old Julia Francis was playing pinball with her older brother A.J. Francis at Crabtowne USA in Glen Burnie. “I’m just trying to prove myself better than this guy,” said Julia, a junior at nearby Old Mill High School. “Never happens,” her brother, a defensive lineman for the Washington Redskins, said from one pinball machine…

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Thousands protest immigration ban at BWI

Roughly 2,000 people packed BWI Airport’s international terminal Sunday night to protest President Donald Trump’s recent executive order restricting immigration. People came from across the Washington and Baltimore metro areas. There were families with young children, and people of all races and religions. Shakeela Shabbir came to the protest from Ellicott City with her husband…

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