For my first story of 2026, I dug into the numbers defining a trend that has exploded in Maryland since the pandemic: homeschooling. There's been a 50% uptick since the 2019-20 school year, holding steady as public school enrollment declines www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

By @kris10griffith.bsky.social: Baltimore teacher by day, lawyer by night — and a lifeline for his students. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Maryland is boosting the share of foster kids living with family&loved ones, progress experts lauded, but the state still lags behind the national average. Have a story to share in Maryland foster or kinship care? I'd love to talk with you: [email protected] www.thebanner.com/community/fa...

Rob Reiner, the award-winning Hollywood actor and director, and his wife, Michele, were found dead in their home on Sunday in Los Angeles. Officials said they were investigating the deaths as homicides. Here's what we know.

NEW: Entrepreneur David Trone wants his seat back – in the U.S. House of Representatives that is – and plans to challenge U.S. Rep. April McClain Delaney in the 2026 Democratic primary, according to his campaign. www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

For over a decade, tensions have risen between charter schools and their supervising school districts over how charters are funded. The state is trying to clarify the process - but charters say the rules as written could bankrupt them. w/ @lizbowie.bsky.social www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

What appears to be the only locally owned toy store in Baltimore City has always run on the power of friendship: Its founders, BFFs Sharon and Nancy, are why "Shananigans" is spelled that way and a new(ish) dynamic duo are leading the toy store's 3rd decade www.thebanner.com/economy/shan...

SCOOP in @thebaltimorebanner.com — (1/2) The Annapolis city attorney is out of a job — effective "immediately" today. It's not unusual for a new mayor to select new staff, but the attorney in question does not have a permanent replacement yet. And just yesterday...

Priced out of pro-wrestling: Local WWE fans can’t afford John Cena’s last match, @kris10griffith.bsky.social and @tramonlucas.bsky.social report. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Who will be the next speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates? Meet 10 delegates who could contend for the top job: www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

High schoolers in pre-K classrooms? Whether as unpaid interns or paid aides, it's happening in Maryland. And those running preschool programs say it's a way to recruit (and then hopefully retain) a dwindling workforce as the state races to expand public pre-K www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

In journalism we’re used to pointing out problems, not solving them. This was a chance to think differently and offer Baltimore kids and parents solutions. Take a look and tell us what you think. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

For more than a decade I’ve heard Baltimore students and parents complain about the messy and sometimes dangerous process of getting to school. And for more than a decade school leaders have ignored the problem.

NEW: Thousands of Baltimore students can’t get to school on time because of unreliable transit. The city's school choice system complicates creating a yellow bus network for all. A new plan proves it can be done. w/ @lizbowie.bsky.social & @ajv.bsky.social www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Exclusive to the @thebaltimorebanner.com: Johns Hopkins has spent nearly double this year on federal lobbyists. The university has spent $1.3 million so far, with money going directly to an associate of Trump to lobby to the Executive Office of the President: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Baltimore City is offering up to $5,000 over two months to help essential federal workers and families on SNAP with child care costs. But there are already hundreds of families in line. Here's how you can join them: www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

Gov. Moore promised to send more police to Baltimore. What happened?

State school board says Harford County’s book ban shouldn’t have happened

Baltimore County dominates Maryland’s top 10 schools of 2025

The quality of Maryland public schools is getting better. That’s according to the star ratings released by the Maryland State Department of Education today. Search our database, created by @invisibae.bsky.social, to see how your school performed. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

In a shocking reversal, Trump said federal food benefits won’t be distributed during the shutdown, despite a court order

Baltimore County gym teacher awaiting trial on sex abuse charges fights termination. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Ex-Pikesville High principal impersonated in racist AI case settles lawsuit. (w/ @kris10griffith.bsky.social) (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Happy Halloween! Since I can trace my horror fascination back as far as I remember, I wanted to find the Maryland kids who love all things scary, strange and creepy. They really didn't disappoint. www.thebanner.com/community/fa...

Morgan State University President David Wilson got a mysterious phone call at the start of October: a confidential high profile donor was interested in giving to the HBCU. Two weeks later, $63 million was in the university’s bank account. Here’s what happened: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

White's Ferry is more than a quaint historic site. For the Poolesville, Md. community, it was an economic and transit lifeline. It's been closed for five years due to a dispute between two Va. landowners, and business owners and residents are hurting. My latest: www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

How ‘driving while Black’ persists in Baltimore County

Baltimore County school gun detection system mistook a bag of chips for a weapon, @kris10griffith.bsky.social reports. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Had fun thinking out loud about the Baltimore harbor's huge, maybe historic? pistachio tide with Lindsay Smith Rogers at Johns Hopkins. A year ago, Lindsay did a deep dive into Baltimore's progress toward a swimmable harbor. Things have felt different the last few weeks...

A man who was pardoned by President Trump on charges related to his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot was arrested last week after allegedly threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York).

This story is the kind of reporting that brought me to The Banner. When @kris10griffith.bsky.social and I found out we were both interested in the efficacy of inspector general oversight of school systems, it was a dream collaboration. Check it out: www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Do you ever get so overwhelmed at work you need to take a walk to clear your head? It happens to kids, too, which is why they should go outside, play and learn naturally from the world around them. Click for the cute pictures, keep reading for the brain science www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

“This is very much an all-hands-on-deck sort of battlefield triage,” Earl Stoddard, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer, said of cuts to federal grant programs www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

Fox News, the former employer of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, has joined a near-unanimous outpouring of news organizations rejecting new rules for journalists based in the Pentagon.

HAPPY SUBWAY BUILDER DAY We have spent the week playing with the game that has captured transit nerds' hearts. We spoke with Colin Miller, the game's creator, about why he built the game and how it can help us dream about better transit in Baltimore. www.thebanner.com/community/tr...

NEW: A few weeks ago, @muckrock.com shared the Brady list for Baltimore County. Scanning it, I noticed the police chief was on there. I then spent weeks trying to figure out why. But no one — not the state's attorney, nor the police department — is explaining it. www.thebanner.com/community/cr...

Scoop: Heidi Anderson, president of the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, is accused of plagiarizing parts of her 1986 dissertation. Read about the accusation against the HBCU president, and see a side by side comparison, only in @thebaltimorebanner.com: www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Missing paychecks, incorrect payments and withholding errors have burdened hundreds of Baltimore County Public Schools educators in the last month, reports @kris10griffith.bsky.social: www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

The child care scholarship is the main way Maryland families get help with child care. Since many can't afford it otherwise, day cares and preschools rely on vouchers to fill spots. So what happens when the program gets frozen - and doesn't come back when predicted? www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

Howard County kids lose access to Dolly Parton’s free books program amid funding woes

Overall, 438.9 positions were eliminated to save millions, school officials reported. Just over 300 of those positions came from inside schools. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

The national Blue Ribbon program has come to an end. @mayaklora.bsky.social wrote about what Maryland educators had to say about it. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

It's been over five years since the onset of COVID-19, which means the babies born into the pandemic are off to pre-K 4 and kindergarten. How exactly can teachers support these kiddos, who spent their earliest years in isolation? I dug into it: www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

Maryland is one of more than a dozen states that still criminalize adultery. It's a misdemeanor — punishable by a $10 fine. Since 2015, at least eight people have been charged with the offense, according to data from the Maryland Judiciary. (🎨: Yifan Luo) (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

The top Democratic leaders of the Maryland General Assembly – House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson – were both targeted by bomb threats at their homes today. www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

Informative read by @kris10griffith.bsky.social & Nori Leybengrub

Censure of Baltimore County school board member 'defies reason,' state rules www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Want to know how your kid's school performed? Check out this database created by @thebaltimorebanner.com's data team: www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

English Language Arts continues to be Maryland’s strongest subject. The same can’t be said for math, where just over a quarter of students are considered proficient, but test-takers still managed to move the needle. www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

Hardest secret I’ve ever had to keep — today is my first day as the Montgomery County Government and Politics Reporter for Baltimore Banner’s new Montgomery County bureau! I couldn’t be more excited to join this incredible team while continuing to cover the county. Stay tuned for our launch date! 🗞️