MediterraneanGrocery Wholesalers in Baltimore, MD

MARYLAND — Flooding from excessive rainfall is a threat for portions of Maryland on Sunday into Monday morning. A flood watch is in effect from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday, the National Weather Service said, with up to 3 inches of rain possible for much of the Baltimore-DC region, and 4 inches of rain possible near Interstate 95.

Monday morning's commute could be messy with rain still falling and poor visibility, Accuweather.com said.

The weather forecaster say locations from Richmond, Virginia and Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia and New York City are likely to see between 1 and 2.75 inches of rain during this 12- to 18-hour time frame. Locally higher amounts can occur Sunday night into Monday morning across this zone.

Wind gusts could range from 40-50 mph from areas of eastern Virginia through far eastern Pennsylvania to western Maine as the storm moves northward through Monday evening.

"This storm could snarl the Monday morning commute in the major cities from Washington, D.C., to Boston. Residents may need to give themselves a little extra time when commuting to work on Monday," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex DaSilva.

Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations. Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas. Storm drainsand ditches may become clogged with debris, the National Weather Service said. "Localized amounts up to four inches are possible along and east of I-95."

The flood watch includes: Anne Arundel, Calvert, Carroll, Cecil, Howard, Montgomery, Charles, Baltimore, Harford, Prince George's, and St. Marys counties.

A gale warning is in effect Sunday night for the entire Chesapeake Bay and lower Tidal Potomac River.

A hazardous weather outlook is also issued ffor the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay, Tidal Potomac River, and I-95 corridor through central Maryland, northern Virginia, and District of Columbia.

Moderate coastal flooding is possible during high tide Sunday evening through midday Monday, the weather service said.

A gale watch is in effect for all of the waters Monday.

Here's the latest forecast for Maryland from the National Weather Service:

Sunday: Rain. High near 57. East wind around 9 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Sunday Night: Rain before 1am, then rain and possibly a thunderstorm between 1am and 4am, then rain after 4am. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 52. East wind 8 to 17 mph becoming north after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 2 and 3 inches possible.

Monday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 55. Breezy, with a northwest wind 17 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Monday Night: A chance of showers, mainly after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. West wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 45. Breezy, with a northwest wind 17 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph.

Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 31.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 48.

The Baltimore City Public School System saw improvement in the number of schools that scored a three-star grade or above on Maryland’s school performance rating system, according to 2022-23 data released Wednesday.

The Maryland Report Card grades individual schools on a one-to-five-star scale. Over a third of city schools, about 35% of its 148 schools, scored a three or above. The district is the only one in the region that saw more schools gain stars than lose them over last year, and BCPSS has more improved schools, by number and percentage, than any of the other school system in the state.

The district has an average rating of 2.3 stars. Maryland’s overall average rating is 3.2 stars, a slight decrease from 2021-22.

This is the fourth year Maryland has used report cards and star ratings. A school’s performance is evaluated using a balance of academic and non-academic factors, such as standardized test scores and student and teacher surveys about school life.

Schools are compared using a 100-point accountability system tied to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, a bipartisan 2015 replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act.

Carey Wright, the interim state superintendent of schools, cautioned comparing last academic year’s report to previous years because some metrics that were left out in previous years have returned, such as student absenteeism. Eighth grade social studies Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program standardized test scores were also added, as required by a 2017 law.

“… we cannot make perfect comparisons,” Wright said in a news release. “However, we celebrate those districts and schools that showed success and we will continue to support those that faced challenges.”

Student absenteeism was previously removed due to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on attendance when classes went virtual. Statewide attendance has improved, but the number of students who were chronically absent for 10% or more of the school days is still worse than pre-pandemic. Schools that struggled with attendance likely saw their scores decline.

2018-19|

2022-23|

Chronic absenteeism reports the percentage of students at each school who are absent at least 10% of school days, and who are a member of that school for at least 10 days.

Source: Maryland State Department of EducationGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper

Wednesday’s report will become a baseline to compare future results, education officials said. Ratings seem to have shifted toward the middle with fewer one- and five-star scores.

In Baltimore and across the state, many schools kept the same rating they had the previous academic year from 2021-22. That means 68% of city schools had no change, 26% went up by a star, and 6% went down.

BCPSS had more room for improvement than other districts. In the region’s other five school districts — Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties — almost a quarter of schools had no possibility of improving because they got ratings of five last cycle. Only one Baltimore school, the Baltimore School for the Arts, got a five in 2021-22. The arts school held onto its five stars, joined by Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, according to the school system.

Conversely, almost one in five Baltimore schools had no possibility of regressing because they got one star last time. For the other five districts, that applied to less than 2% of schools. And among those districts’ schools, 60% had no change, 7% went up, and 33% went down.

The report card also looks at high school graduation rates, growth in middle and elementary schools, the progress of English language learners and MCAP scores, among other factors.

Performance on standardized tests, particularly math, has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Schools that changed star ratings were more than three times as likely to lose stars rather than gain them. In Anne Arundel County, 44 schools, about 38% of all schools, dropped a star. Three elementary schools saw improvement compared to the 2021-22 academic year.

Eighteen Baltimore County schools, about 11% of all schools, improved and 37 schools, or 23%, lost a star.

Manchester Valley High School is the only Carroll County school that gained a star, moving from three to four. Nineteen other Carroll County schools, about 43%, dropped a grade.

Cynthia McCabe, Carroll County’s superintendent, said administrators received the report card data last week.

“[We are] still in the process of analyzing the factors that contributed to the decrease we saw,” McCabe said in a statement. “We are hearing that there are decreases all over the state.”

In Harford County, three elementary schools and one high school improved, while 20 others, about 35%, lost a star. Four elementary schools in Howard County improved by a star while 27 others, or 35%, declined.

Ratings of schools and districts can be found online at reportcard.msde.maryland.gov.

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BALTIMORE, Md. — The highest scoring school in Maryland, and the lowest, are about 10 miles apart, both in the Baltimore area.

That's according to the state's newly released report card. Every year, the Department of Education gives schools a rating between 1 and 5, based on factors like academic achievement and student success. For more on the scoring works, click here.

Baltimore County is home to the school with the overall highest score: Eastern Technical High School, which tied with a school in Prince George's County.

But Baltimore City is home to the school with the lowest score - Stadium School.

And of all the schools in Maryland that received just one star, 60% of them are in Baltimore City.

More than half of city schools got 2 stars, and more than 10% of schools had just 1 star. Some of the schools with 1 star are schools for students with special needs.

District leadership is focusing on the improvements that it did see this past year.

"Over 25% of our schools improved. We know that 19 schools have moved from star ratings that were in level 1 up to level 2. And that 18 schools of our moved from level 2 to level 3. So we're excited to see the growth that is occurring," said Dr. Joan Dabrowski, chief academic officer for Baltimore City Public Schools. "We know we've got more work to do, but these results really confirm for us that we're on the right track."

Two schools in the city received a five star rating: Baltimore School for the Arts, and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. We stopped by "Poly" today and asked Principal Mark Sawyer what other schools can learn from their success.

"The most important thing i could say would be family engagement. [...]The other thing too, is we have always strived ourselves on presenting our children with life lessons as well as academics. In other words, the whole child."

It was that family engagement that he says helped his school improve its attendance rate.

Chronic absenteeism is an area schools across the country really struggled with during the pandemic. Sawyer learned some of those absent students were working jobs during the day to help provide for their families.

"We've put together a great attendance team. And those people are calling parents for students that are chronically absent, they are sending emails, they're sending letters, we're actually doing home visits," Sawyer said.

Across Baltimore, city schools outpaced the rest of the state in the number of schools that improved. The district says it has covid money to thank for that - Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.

"We've used our ESSER dollars in very strategic ways - high-dosage tutoring, extended learning program opportunities, more summer school opportunities than we've ever had before. Those results, we see that paying off in the star ratings and other data we're looking at."

That funding runs out in 2024.

“One of the hardest things we’re doing right now is looking closely at where we are seeing our investments that have really made a difference, and having to be strategic going forward on what we can fund. So yes, we will be losing ESSER dollars and these will be the decisions we have to make about where we’re going to continue prioritize funding, and where we’ll have to reduce or scale back because those funds are no longer there.”

Statewide, 37% of all schools got a 4 or 5, and 75% of schools got a 3, 4, or 5.

Fewer schools got a 5 star rating compared to last year, down from 215 to 85. On the other hand, fewer schools had 1 star too, down from 39 to 25.

But the department of education says it's tough to compare this year to the last few, because some things were measured differently during the pandemic. Report cards were skipped entirely for two years, and then last year, factors like chronic absenteeism were left out. This year, that measurement was brought back into the fold, and it seems to have had a major impact on schools' overall scores.

“This is a new baseline year for Maryland, in terms of where we are and where we want to be,” said Interim State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carey Wright. “Due to the difference in calculating results between the two school years, we cannot make perfect comparisons. However, we celebrate those districts and schools that showed success and we will continue to support those that faced challenges.”

Pre-COVID, in the 2018-2019 school year, 189 schools had 5 star ratings, higher than where we are now, and 24 had 1 star ratings, about the same as this year.

Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The most roach-infested cities in the country were ranked according to calls for service. Here's where a Maryland city fell on the list.

BALTIMORE, MD — As families across Maryland gather for the holidays, there is one guest that is never welcome: the cockroach.

Nevertheless, it's an alarmingly frequent visitor. Pest Gnome, a company that specializes in connecting people to pest exterminators in their area, ranked the most roach-infested cities in the United States. Four California cities made it into the top 25 cities for cockroach service calls.

In Maryland, residents in Baltimore call for help with roach infestations at higher rates than anywhere else statewide. The city ranked No. 16 among U.S. cities for its level of creepy-crawly bugs.

Overall, several densely-populated metro cities made the list, which was determined using data from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Houston topped the list, with 37 percent of homes showing signs of cockroaches in the past 12 months, the study said. Houston is known for its high heat and humidity, and Pest Gnome reported that roaches thrive in such conditions.

Find out what's happening in Baltimorewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Here's the full list:

“Cockroaches are known to transfer disease pathogens, such as the various bacteria that produce ‘food poisoning’ in humans, by contaminating food, food preparation surfaces, dishes and eating utensils,” the Illinois Department of Public Health said on its website.

Why do I have a cockroach problem?

Cockroaches typically find their way into homes while foraging for food or after being accidentally introduced from hiding in or on another object. Cockroaches that are living on your property often find their way inside through cracks in the foundation and exterior walls, spaces around utility entrances, spaces underneath doors, or through vents. Cockroaches can be brought into a home unknowingly in used appliances or furniture, packages, and potted plants.

Where will I find cockroaches?

Wherever there are people, food, and shelter, there is the potential to find cockroaches. Depending on their exact species, cockroaches often live around dumpsters or trash cans, behind tree bark, in compost piles, in gardens, in sewers, and under mulch.

To prevent roaches from roaming in your home, Pest Gnome recommends sealing any points of entry, cleaning up any stray crumbs, fixing leaky pipes and using Raid and roach motels. If all else fails, call an exterminator.

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BALTIMORE - The Maryland Public Service Commission, in a unanimous vote, has authorized a rate increase over three years of just under $408 million for Baltimore Gas and Electric Company's (BGE) proposed multi-year rate plan, inclusive of both gas and electric service.

This proposal would mean your rates are going up, which has been controversial among customers, the Baltimore City Council and the utility company.

In the first year of the multi-year plan, the Commission authorized the use of federal tax credits to partially offset the rate increases to customers in year one.

Last February, BGE applied for an increase of $602 million, which it said was necessary to cover continued investments in the electric and gas distribution systems in order to sustain safe and reliable service and to increase system resilience in the face of Maryland's increasing electrification goals," according to the Commission.

The application sought rate increases of more than $313 million for electricity and just over $289 million for gas to be implemented over a three-year period starting January 1, 2024.

BGE serves 1.3 million residential electric customers and 700,000 natural gas customers in Baltimore City and parts of 10 adjacent Maryland counties.

The approved rates, according to the Commission, will result in average year-one bill increases of $4.08 a month for residential electric customers and $10.43 per month for residential gas customers in 2024. Those average increases decline substantially in subsequent years, to 34 cents a month for electricity and $2.80 a month for gas in year three.

"We appreciate the Maryland Public Service Commission's thorough consideration in the 2024-2026 Multi-Year Plan order," BGE said in a statement. "We are reviewing the details of the order, which appears to represent a balanced and reasonable outcome that will provide many benefits to our customers and the State. Importantly, the order ensures that BGE can continue to provide safe, reliable, and affordable services to our customers, while laying the foundation for the grid of the future. We understand the importance of balancing the needs of energy affordability with the advancement of our grid infrastructure transformation. As we assess this order, we will continue to engage with the Commission and all of our stakeholders, including our customers, to ensure transparency and clarity in implementing BGE's second multi-year plan."

Baltimore City Councilman Zeke Cohen sponsored a resolution last July calling for the rejection of the utility company's three-year plan.

Cohen claimed these plans by BGE are unnecessary and costly to customers, while also arguing that the gas and electric company's plan would be bad for the environment.

"BGE is a public utility and it is a private company that has a monopoly on delivering gas and electric services," Cohen said.

BGE said that doing a multi-year rate hike to invest in aging infrastructure is a transparent process approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission back in 2019.

This story will be updated.

Adam Thompson

I was raised in Ohio, but made stops in Virginia and North Carolina, before landing in Maryland.