Maryland Law

Why doesn't Baltimore's schools CEO need teaching experience, like other superintendents in the state? It was a question on the mind of many education observers last week, after hearing that the city's schools chief is not bound by the same requirements. It was also an issue of confusion for city school officials who, early in the day Tuesday, believed Tisha Edwards, 42 - who will soon become the city's interim schools CEO - would need to apply for a state waiver because while she has been a principal, she has never been a teacher.

A Marylander has died of rabies for the first time since 1976, state health officials said Tuesday. It is not yet known how the person contracted the virus, which is found in animals across the state. Officials are exploring how and where the person was exposed to the virus and assessing the risk of rabies exposure to those who had direct contact with the individual. That risk is thought to be minor, as rabies is usually passed through a bite from an infected animal. Health officials are not releasing any further details on the individual, citing privacy reasons.

The Maryland Senate approved a sweeping gun-control bill Thursday that would give the state one of the strictest firearm laws in the country. The contentious issue moved immediately to the House of Delegates, where the chamber's first public hearing on the bill and a rally by supporters are expected to draw thousands to Annapolis on Friday. The Senate's 28-19 vote in support of Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill came after more than 12 hours of often-emotional debate Wednesday and Thursday.

Lawyers for a Harford County teen accused of killing his father last year attempted to convince a judge Friday that it would be unconstitutional to try the 17-year-old as an adult. Robert C. Richardson III's attorneys also said the boy is suffering from the effects of isolation at the county jail, asking at a motions hearing for their client to be transferred to a facility for juveniles. They said he is being held in solitary confinement at the Harford County Detention Center. "The jail in Harford County does not have the capability to address the needs of juvenile offenders and juvenile inmates," lawyer Kay Beehler said at a hearing Friday in Harford County Circuit Court.

The Howard County Council adopted a $923.5 million general fund spending plan Thursday that increases allocations for schools and police while not raising income or property taxes. The council voted 4-1 to approve the budget, roughly $2.7 million higher than the proposal made a month ago by County Executive Ken Ulman. The dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Greg Fox, the council's lone Republican, who criticized spending practices several times during the two-hour session. Fox wrapped up his remarks after the vote with a display of black, pointy wizard hats, each representing a new fund that he said appears suddenly, as if by magic, every year in the budget while some basic needs go unfunded.

When Whitney Watts of Columbia agreed to bear twins on behalf of an infertile Boston couple two years ago, she entered a murky area of Maryland law. Nothing forbade her from signing a contract to carry babies conceived through in vitro fertilization and implanted in her uterus. But neither were there guarantees that Maryland courts would enforce the contract if something went wrong. To this day, such questions are left up to individual judges. Watts' experience had a happy ending, despite serious complications that arose midway through her pregnancy.

Last Sunday in Baltimore's St. Vincent de Paul Church, its longtime pastor, the Rev. Richard T. Lawrence, delivered a thoughtful and nuanced argument for support of the Question 6 ballot referendum. This, of course, was news in Roman Catholic circles — an opinion from the pulpit fully at odds with the hierarchy of a church that has devoted much time and money to voter rejection of a Maryland law that allows couples of the same sex to wed. Lawrence is the most eloquent homilist I've ever heard.

A task force appointed last year by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to study the city's speed and red-light camera program violated Maryland law when it met behind closed doors in March, the state Open Meetings Compliance Board ruled this week. The task force also violated the open-meetings law by not giving reasonable advance notice of meetings and by failing to take proper minutes, the board said in the ruling published Monday. While the decision carries no penalty, a judge could assess a $100 fine on members who "willfully" participated in the meeting.

State lawmakers have passed legislation pushed by Maryland doctors that will change the state's child safety seat laws. The law requires children under the age of 8 to sit in a child car safety seats unless they are 4'9" or taller. The bill, pushed by doctors group MedChi, did not include requirements that kids stay rear facing until age 2 or ride in the backseat until age 13 as the doctors group had wanted. Maryland law still recommends that kids under age 13 sit in the backseat.

The owner of Middle River's Bengies Drive-In Theatre is appealing a judge's decision to set aside a jury award of $838,000 in a case involving lights from a nearby Royal Farms store. An attorney for Bengies owner D. Edward Vogel said the appeal of Baltimore Circuit Judge Robert Cahill's ruling was filed this week. In his Sept. 13 order, Cahill dismissed a jury's finding that light from the Royal Farms store interfered with operation of the 56-year-old Bengies. In his opinion, Cahill said Vogel and his attorneys did not provide enough evidence to back up such a claim.