After raining all night, it’s expected to snow all day. 4-8 inches could fall before it’s over, maybe even more. Pretty much every school in the area is closed, and so are a bunch of government offices and businesses.
Baltimore City Schools CEO Gregory Thornton is explaining his plan for the school district to cover a $100M+ budget deficit that everybody only heard about a couple weeks ago. Thornton’s plan to save $60M would cut some administrative expenses, trim funding for charter schools, tweak health care benefits, and cut “surplus” teachers and staff that don’t have a permanent position in the schools. Thornton’s plan still leaves a $10M+ gap in the budget and also assumes the state restores the $35M that Gov. Larry Hogan proposed cutting.
Congressman Chris Van Hollen is the first to announce that he will run for Barbara Mikulski’s open Senate seat in 2016. Van Hollen represents MD’s 8th district, which is shaped like an anorexic Italy and includes both Bethesda and the rural area north of Frederick for some reason.
Here’s a gallery of renderings of the renovations underway at the Fells Point Recreation Pier building. Kevin Plank’s Sagamore Development is converting a building into a hotel with a restaurant, ballroom and waterfront pool.
Local retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson formed an exploratory committee for a potential bid for the White House in 2016. In a CNN interview yesterday about his possible candidacy, Carson said that he “absolutely” believes that being homosexual is a choice, arguing that prison sometimes turns people gay. Later in the day, Carson did the “I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended” routine.
Since you’re probably not going anywhere today, now’s a good time to read City Paper’s long profile of Qayum Karzai, local restauranteur (The Helmand, Pen & Quill) and influential Afghan political figure.