Maya Lora

ICE sent Maryland detainees to Arizona before congressional oversight visit For months, the overcrowded, bleak conditions on the sixth floor of the George H. Fallon Federal Building have drawn attention from Maryland lawmakers, a federal judge and the state’s top prosecutor.

NEW: When Maryland's congressional delegation visited ICE's overcrowded holding rooms in downtown Baltimore Monday, they found the place unexpectedly empty.

What happened to all the people being held there? We figured it out.

Story for @thebaltimorebanner.com: www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

Baltimore’s queer hidden histories galvanize a new generation As the Trump administration and conservative legislatures around the country attack rights secured for LGBTQIA+ people, Baltimore historians say sharing the stories of queer ancestors has never been m...

Historians, scholars and artists are working to unearth, record, preserve and share Maryland’s LGBTQ+ history— work they say is all the more urgent as the Trump administration and conservative legislatures try to roll back the rights of queer people www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

Everyone has seen Baltimore’s missing boy. So why can’t authorities find him? Tristan King ran from a caseworker in Baltimore and has been missing since September. Brooklyn residents have seen him, but authorities can’t find him.

A series of incidents left 9yo Tristan King homeless and dodging help. His case was compounded by slow responses and missteps by officials.
Will he be found?

A heart-wrenching story from @leeosanderlin.bsky.social @jessicagallagher.bsky.social & Jessica Calefati:
www.thebanner.com/community/lo...

Want to teach little kids in Montgomery County? You can earn a degree for free. The school district wants to turn support staff into the fully certified teachers it needs.

Montgomery County needs more pre-K and early elementary teachers. Paraeducators are already in the classroom, but modest salaries can prevent them for chasing a higher education. Local universities and the public school system have a solution: free degrees www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

No detainees held at Baltimore detention center during congressional visit The visit follows a federal judge’s Friday order to limit the number of detainees in the Baltimore facility to 56 across all five holding rooms.

The hold rooms at Baltimore's ICE field office are empty, according to Maryland Congress members who toured the facility Monday.

Their visit comes days after a federal judge imposed a limit on the number of people that could be held there.

tinyurl.com/4apnefss

Johns Hopkins’ D.C. real estate portfolio just got even bigger Johns Hopkins University bought a second building in D.C., continuing its expansion into the nation's capital.

Johns Hopkins University has its eyes on D.C.

The elite university just bought a second building in the nation's capital, bringing its total D.C. footprint to almost 600,000 square feet. Inside Hopkins' Bloomberg Center + the university's D.C. ambitions:
www.thebanner.com/education/hi...

Anne Arundel County got caught off guard by ‘devastating’ development moratorium Elected officials, economic leaders and other analysts were all caught off guard by a potential five-year development moratorium in the part of Anne Arundel County surrounding BWI, Arundel Mills and j...

There's a stretch of Maryland that's next to BWI and just north of Fort Meade. It holds housing, the Arundel Mills mall and has been targeted for growth and development.

And it's under a complete development moratorium that seems to have come without warning. Read more in @thebaltimorebanner.com —

How a Hopkins professor’s mushroom trip led to 1,000 paintings of cigarettes While participating in a Johns Hopkins Medicine study on mushroom-derived psilocybin, and the drug’s ability to curb addictive behaviors, the local writing professor discovered he loves to paint cigar...

By Wesley Case: All the smokes: How a Hopkins professor’s mushroom trip led to 1,000 paintings of cigarettes. (via @thebaltimorebanner.com)

Baltimore’s top educator wants to end the iPad kid epidemic Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises announced strict screen time limits for kindergarten through second grade students.

Kids in the "iPad generation" have grown more reliant on screens at home and in school since the pandemic.

The head of Baltimore's public schools has had enough. She introduced screen time and digital device limits, though she doesn't think they go far enough.

www.thebanner.com/education/ea...

Hundreds of Panamanian golden frogs are breeding in a closed-to-the-public section of the @marylandzoo.bsky.social in an effort to save them from extinction. Soon, zoo workers plan to bring some back to Panama…

Parents worry schools aren’t pushing kids to read Parents across Maryland, and the country, are questioning whether students are reading enough books — classics or otherwise — in English classes.

Books are fading from kids’ lives. Parents want schools to do more.
www.thebanner.com/education/k-...

First Eddie’s, now The Brewer’s Art. Why Mount Vernon isn’t panicking — yet. Mount Vernon, once a Baltimore nightlife destination, has struggled in recent years, with losses seeming to accelerate in the past year: Eddie’s grocery store isn’t coming back anytime soon, and The B...

Assuming Mount Vernon with its stately public square and other amenities can’t have its share of problems is like assuming a pretty person can’t ever be sad.

For several weeks, we asked residents and business owners what’s stalling the neighborhood’s potential.

www.thebanner.com/economy/moun...

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.