Grant

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

A group of black men with visions to improve Baltimore were awarded grants between $10,000 and $20,000 for youth job training, the development of a debate camp at Morgan State University and teaching former prisoners to urban farm. The grants, collectively worth nearly $200,000, were announced Tuesday by BMe, a network of black men working with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Open Society Foundations to strengthen communities. "BMe is based on a simple truth, that there are thousands of black men who are assets to their communities - and if the rest of us got behind people like these, the city would have more to celebrate," said Trabian Shorters, founder of Black Male Engagement, or BMe. "They are men from all walks of life.

Up to half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease by the time they are 25, yet many don't seek testing because it may be difficult, costly or embarrassing. Public health officials nationally and in particularly affected cities like Baltimore, however, say they've found a method that seems to address the major hurdles — a website that supplies free in-home testing kits for three of the most commonly reported STDs. "The highest prevalence is in young adults, and we knew we had to reach these kids," said Charlotte A. Gaydos, a professor of infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Apparently, private colleges are finding that there's just so far you can push families to pay for tuition and fees. Schools have been increasing their grants to lure students. A study released today by the National Association of College and University Business Offices found that the so-called tuition discounting - how much school grants make up of tuition and fee revenue - reached an all time high of 44.3 percent for incoming freshman in 2011. And the group said that level is expected to reach 45 percent for 2012.

Harford County has won a $750,000 federal grant to improve emergency communications. Officials said the funding, announced Thursday at the county's Emergency Operations Center, would pay for upgrades to communications used by first responders, including several hundred volunteer firefighters. They said the technology would help police, fire and emergency medical services workers share videos, images and data securely. "This technology will allow our volunteer fire departments to communicate better with our own county agencies, like public works," said Rich Gardner, spokesman for the volunteer fire departments.

Harford Community College was recently awarded a $46,690 Developmental Math Course Redesign Grant by the Maryland Higher Education Commission. The state is partnering with Complete College America to support the redesign of developmental math courses to improve completion rates at state colleges and universities. Harford's project, Reshaping Classroom Instructional Delivery Mode to Shorten the Developmental Math Course Sequence, focuses on developmental (remedial) math, which can be a major roadblock to student persistence and advancement to college-level math courses.

The Belair Edison neighborhood was awarded $31,100 to develop a design for a heavily traveled portion of Erdman Avenue to green the street and control polluted runoff. The neighborhood will work with partners, including business owners, residents and environmental groups on the plan for the grant, administered through the Chesapeake Bay Trust, an independent grant-making organization chartered by the state. The program, paid for by the Trust and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was created to support street greening projects by urban communities.

The Orioles granted Chad Moeller 's request for an outright release Thursday, allowing the veteran catcher to become a free agent. Moeller was beaten out this week for the backup catcher job by Craig Tatum . The Orioles had hoped that Moeller, a popular figure in the clubhouse, would go to Triple-A and catch some of the organization's top pitching prospects. However, Moeller told Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail that he wasn't interested and wanted to explore other opportunities.

The Goldseker Foundation has awarded a $75,000 grant to East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit that is revitalizing the neighborhood north of the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus. EBDI is overseeing redevelopment of 88 acres as a $1.8 billion community with housing, shops, offices, and life science facilities. The money will used to design a permanent school for grades K to 8 and an East Baltimore stop on the MARC train line within EBDI's boundaries. - Edward Gunts

The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of UPS, recently awarded the Hospice of the Chesapeake a $25,000 grant to support the organization's youth programs and services including their bereavement camps for children and teens, Camp Nabi and Phoenix Rising. The foundation is committed to funding programs that make a meaningful difference in supporting children and teens experiencing grief and loss.

Harford Community College has received a $25,000 grant from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield to support development of an electronic health records system that will bolster training of the institution's nearly 2,200 Nursing and Allied Health students. The grant for Harford's Emerging Technologies Project -- Electronic Health Records will enable HCC to acquire the high-tech equipment necessary to launch the project across the Allied Health and Nursing curricula and provide state-of-the-art education in a crucial workforce skill for the health care industry.

The Baltimore School for the Arts can boast its first nomination for a Tony Award -- thanks to graduate Shalita Grant, whose debut Broadway bow has won her a nod for Best Featured Actress in a Play. "Graduates have been nominated for Grammys and Emmy Awards in the past, but this is our first Tony," says Donald Hicken, chairman of the school's theater department. "Shalita is over the moon. She's an amazingly gifted actor and this was clear from her audition for entrance as a 9 th grader at BSA. One of our trustees kind of begged me to audition her. Ordinarily, I wouldn't see her because it was outside our regular audition week.

President Barack Obama has named an Annapolis man to head the multibillion-dollar grant program through which the Federal Emergency Management Agency helps local governments prepare for disasters. Brian Kamoie, 41, will oversee a vast portfolio of federal grants used by states and cities to prevent and respond to terrorism and other disasters, the White House said. Kamoie was most recently senior director for preparedness policy on the White House national security staff. Kamoie takes control of the FEMA grant program as the Obama administration pursues a controversial consolidation of $2 billion in preparedness funding it says will streamline a system that grew unwieldy following the attacks of Sept.

Five air traffic control towers in Maryland that had been scheduled to shut down in June as a result of federal budget cuts are now expected to remain open, lawmakers said Wednesday — easing fears that the closures could back up flights at BWI Marshall Airport. A provision tucked into a high-profile bill approved by Congress last week to end furloughs of air traffic controllers — and the flight delays they caused — also leaves more than $30 million available for towers at 149 small airports nationwide, lawmakers said.

The United Way of Central Maryland will provide nearly $3 million in community grants intended to provide financial stability to families, quality education to children and healthy alternatives to individuals, the organization said this week. In all, 71 nonprofit programs will receive funding to change the lives of impoverished Marylanders. The money is expected to help offset a loss in services some may experience as a result of federal sequestration. "Our region is simultaneously experiencing increases in poverty rates and government cuts to critical social programs," said Dominique Moore, chairwoman of the local United Way's Baltimore City Partnership Board.

A $1.5 million federal grant will help pay for rebuilding the downtown Annapolis City Dock, including upgrades to stormwater management controls to reduce frequent flooding. "City Dock is arguably the city's most important asset, and first and foremost, we need to be responsible stewards of the assets we have," said Annapolis Mayor Josh Cohen. An overall $12.5 million rehabilitation project for the dock involves stabilizing and rebuilding 700 linear feet of City Dock's bulkhead, as well as the stormwater measures and upgrading slips used by transient boaters who visit Annapolis.

Enterprise Community Partners, a Columbia affordable-housing nonprofit, said Thursday that it has received a $300,000 grant for community revitalization work. E TRADE Savings Bank earmarked the donation for Enterprise's work in financing affordable housing, rebuilding communities and responding to the blighting effects of foreclosures in neighborhoods.

Seeking to solidify its membership following Maryland's decision to depart for the Big Ten, the Atlantic Coast Conference said Monday that 15 current or future members have signed documents granting the conference their media rights for the foreseeable future. The agreements, effective immediately and extending until at least 2027, according to reports, were viewed by ACC members as a powerful means of promoting stability. Like many conferences, the ACC has been rocked by the imminent departure of a member - Maryland is leaving next year - and rumors that more defections could occur.