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Featured Writers

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Rayonna Burton-Jernigan

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Melena DiNenna

I am a journalist who specializes in copy editing and fact-checking. I also have experience in reporting, photojournalism, research & analysis, data visualization and basic coding & design. Navigate my …

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Aidan T Hughes

My work has appeared in Politico, The Baltimore Sun, Capital News Service and more. I'm passionate about shedding light on issues that would have gone uncovered without innovative data tools …

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Jennifer Mandato

Journalist with work featured in over 30 publications. I specialize in legal and political reporting, with additional experience covering lifestyle topics.

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Ryan E. Little

Ryan Little is an award-winning data journalist and the data editor at The Baltimore Banner. He leads a team of reporters who use computational tools to tell powerful stories about …

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Julie Depenbrock

I am an award-winning reporter and public radio producer. My work has appeared in The Washington Post, NPR, Education Week, WAMU and DCist. As a former teacher, I bring unique …

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Latest Articles

House members grill Pentagon official on the war in Iran

(WASHINGTON) – Republican and Democratic lawmakers voiced frustration with the Pentagon’s lack of communication with Congress about the escalating war in Iran during a House committee hearing on Thursday. Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of Defense, told the House Armed Services Committee that the agency is carrying out President Donald Trump’s strategy …
By Ellie Jornlin
• CNS Maryland

Washington protest marks four years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Ukrainians and their supporters came from across the country to the Lincoln Memorial to sing, pray and chant before marching toward the Russian ambassador’s residence, waving yellow and blue Ukrainian flags. “The war, Russia’s war, has had devastating consequences in Ukraine,” Jovita Neliupšienė, European Union ambassador to …
By Ellie Jornlin
• CNS Maryland

Elfreth legislation seeks to reduce domestic violence homicides nationwide

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Rep. Sarah Elfreth, D-Maryland, is pushing legislation that would support states and law enforcement agencies in preventing domestic violence related homicides across the United States. The legislation would create a national training and assistance center to standardize the use of the Lethality Assessment Program, a model that …
By Ellie Jornlin
• CNS Maryland

Maryland military facilities probing groundwater for ‘forever chemicals’

WASHINGTON — Maryland military facilities are in the early stages of remedial investigations into “forever chemicals” that jeopardize drinking water supplies in groundwater after a September report by the Department of Defense identified hundreds of military sites across the country as at risk for such chemicals. The facilities include high-profile …
By Cecelia Shilling
• CNS Maryland

Lead persists as problem in holiday gifts, environmental cost

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Lead poisoning has hit the news recently with pollution from leaded aviation gasoline, poisoning from applesauce pouches and federal lead pipe replacement projects. But some lead poisoning threats come during the holiday gift-giving season from jewelry, toys, makeup and other gifts. In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection …
By Cecelia Shilling
• CNS Maryland

Halloween beetles sneaking inside as temperatures drop. Here's how to prevent it and more

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A spooky, imported ladybug, often mistaken for a native bug, known as the Halloween beetle is preparing to migrate from gardens and into homes as Maryland heads for colder weather. And while they are extremely valuable to plant life, the little bugs bite. Halloween beetle home infestations …
By Cecelia Shilling
• CNS Maryland

Halloween beetle sneaks inside to provide a scare as temps drop

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A spooky, imported ladybug, often mistaken for a native bug, known as the Halloween beetle is preparing to migrate from gardens and into homes as Maryland heads for colder weather. And while they are extremely valuable to plant life, the little bugs bite. Halloween beetle home infestations …
By Cecelia Shilling
• CNS Maryland

Hellish tree of heaven weeds out native plants

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – As the invasive spotted lanternfly continues to spread nationwide, its proliferation has highlighted an even more worrisome invasive species: the prolific “stinking sumac,” or tree of heaven. National Geographic referred to the tree of heaven as the “hellish invasive species” in 2021. It is a fast-growing deciduous …
By Cecelia Shilling
• CNS Maryland

McElderry Park Community Association seeks to help displaced residents

Development and real estate is picking up in McElderry Park, a struggling East Baltimore neighborhood, but community activist Ernest Smith fears the development will force low-income people to leave the neighborhood. “When people begin to redevelop the homes and properties, many times those properties are being redeveloped at prices that …
By Esther Frances
• CNS Maryland

Fatal vehicle crashes in Maryland spike during pandemic despite less people on the road

During the pandemic, fatal vehicle accidents in Maryland were higher than in previous years, reflective of a national trend. So far this year, the data shows that trend is continuing. The total number of crashes in the years leading up to the pandemic fluctuated between around 120,000 and 115,000 per …
By Melena DiNenna
• CNS Maryland

Higher education enrollment faced unprecedented drop during COVID-19 pandemic

Undergraduate and graduate enrollment in public four-year universities has decreased during the pandemic and community college enrollment has seen an even more dramatic decline. As the pandemic led to financial uncertainty across the country and caused colleges to make changes to class delivery, student life and other services, students were …
By Melena DiNenna
• CNS Maryland

Students level the playing fields at California high school

In Vista, California, heroes wear softball uniforms. Their names: Danielle Ellis and Sydney Prenatt. Ellis and Prenatt resist such praise. But at Rancho Buena Vista High School, where the pair were teammates on the Longhorns softball team for four years before graduating in 2018, that’s exactly how they’re remembered. “They …
By Ashkan Motamedi
• CNS Maryland

Public school enrollment decreases during pandemic

As a grassroots, volunteer-based organization that connects homeschoolers across the state, the Maryland Homeschool Association (MDHSA) has been tracking data collected by the state education department on homeschooling rates for nearly 20 years. It always tended to fluctuate seemingly randomly, said founder Alessa Keener, never changing by more than 9%. …
By Melena DiNenna
• CNS Maryland

Hoyer proposes $9 billion trust fund to help reverse global deforestation

WASHINGTON – Following up on one of President Joe Biden’s pledges to combat climate change, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville, introduced legislation on Wednesday aimed at ending global deforestation, creating a $9 billion trust fund to assist developing countries.
By
• CNS Maryland

With eyes on Texas and Supreme Court, pro-choice advocates to march in D.C. Saturday

WASHINGTON – Advocates for reproductive rights are planning to rally Saturday in the nation’s capital, a gathering that is expected to put the spotlight on the new anti-abortion law in Texas and a key abortion case that will come before the Supreme Court in December.
By
• CNS Maryland