The Enquirer-Gazette from Upper Marlboro, Maryland • A1

Inside 14 pages, plus inserts Copyright 2018 APG Media of Chesapeake LLC To subscribe to the Enquirer-Gazette, call 443-218-8630. INSIDE TODAY Take a guided tour of John Wilkes escape route Page A2 Mother of author talks importance Page A3 Upper Marlboro, Maryland Newspaper of Record Serving Prince County since 1851 Scan code for Enquirer-Gazette Mobile Vol. 167, No. 14 Thursday, April 5, 2018 25 cents Local News Now Download our app at somdnews.com/newsapp By ZACH SHAPIRO Capital News Service ANNAPOLIS Determined to pass meaningful legislation in the wake of the Parkland and Great Mills high school shootings, Maryland lawmakers are considering a measure to put an armed school resource officer in every public school. The bill comes as part of a four-bill package being rushed through the General Assembly as session nears end.

Advocates label this the stage of the package, which also includes prevention, anticipation and protection stages. Pushed by lead-sponsor Sen. Steve Waugh (R-Calvert, St. proponents see this as the stopgap step while other proposals are considered and potentially implemented. bill the one going to have the most immediate effect to reduce risks Waugh told Capital News Service.

Maryland bill would put an armed officer in every school PHOTOS BY U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY AIRMAN MICHAEL S. MURPHY Rutherford visits Joint Base Andrews Above, Col. E. John Teichert, right, 11th Wing and Joint Base Andrews commander, greets Maryland Lt.

Gov. Boyd Rutherford on JBA, March 22,. Teichert and other base leaders gave Rutherford was given a tour of JBA to strengthen military-community relations. Below, Sunny Babauta Lee, Joint Base Andrews school liaison officer, briefs Maryland Lt. Gov.

Boyd Rutherford on JBA. Lee briefed Rutherford and other base leaders on the challenges military children face in school, and proposed ideas on how the military and community could tackle the issues together. See more photos on Page A4. By JUAN HERRERA Capital News Service WASHINGTON Prince County officials joined an NAACP lawsuit against the Trump administration last Wednesday, concerned that the upcoming 2020 census may undercount minority citizens. preparation for making sure that the Census takes place appropriately is right now and not in Prince County Executive Rushern L.

Baker III (D) said at a National Press Club press conference with the NAACP. not preparing today, then preparing to fail and not an option for this nation, certainly not an option for the state of Maryland, and not an option for Prince Bradford Berry, the general counsel of the NAACP, criticized the administration for embracing the implementation of a digital census without accounting for how it might affect the undercount of minority citizens. Berry said the NAACP Prince joins NAACP suit on census By LAYNE LITSINGER Capital News Service ANNAPOLIS Historically black colleges and universities in Maryland would receive up to $56.9 million annually under legislation, sponsors say, that would restore years of un derfunding and program duplication by the state but is unlikely to pass. Proponents of the measure have rejected, as too little, a Feb. 7 offer from Republican Gov.

Larry Hogan of a total of $100 million over the next 10 years to a coalition of historically black colleges and universities. A group of alumni in 2006 sued the state for creating programs at other public institutions that copied and drew students away from similar programs at historically black schools, such as an accelerated MBA program at Mor- gan State University and a in computer science at Bowie State University. Efforts to mediate have failed. In 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Blake ruled that Maryland violated the constitutional rights of students at the four black institutions by duplicating their programs at traditionally white schools.

In 2015, Blake proposed that the state establish high-demand programs at the four historically black institutions to attract more diverse students and help with desegregation. In 2016, mediation between the state and the coalition failed. In 2017, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, and Hogan appealed the 2013 decision. Del. Nick Mosby (D-Baltimore) said this amount is nowhere near enough for the amount of funding needed for these schools.

The $100 million offer equates to about $2.5 million per institution for the next 10 years and unfortunately that is throwing peanuts at a very gigantic said Mosby, who is sponsoring the House legislation. Senate bill sponsor Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore) told Capital News Service this would not be acceptable, because the state owes historically black institutions around $2.5 billion to $3 billion. Conway also said if the amount had been offered as a lump sum of $100 million, then that could change the situation, but spread over time, the amount seems unjust. A pair of matched bills was introduced in the Senate on Jan.

30 and in the House on Feb. 8 but no progress has been made since then. Conway is sponsoring Senate bill 252 and Mosby is sponsoring House bill 450. Similar legislation has been introduced in years past, but was not approved. Conway also introduced Senate bill 827, paired with a bill from Del.

Charles Sydnor III (D-Baltimore County), House bill 1062 emergency legislation to appoint a special adviser who would develop a remedial plan based on the lawsuit against the state. Del. Michael Jackson (D-Calvert, Prince with House bill 1819 and Sen. Barbara Robinson (D-Baltimore), with Senate bill 615, also introduced paired legis- lation to establish a cy- bersecurity program at Coppin State and Morgan State that could not be duplicated by other institutions in the state. Both bills continue to work their way through the legislative session.

Altogether, these bills would require the state to ensure funding and equity so that the four historically black institutions Bowie State University, Morgan State University, Coppin State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore are and to what are known as the public white The Rev. Kobi Little, chairman of the Political Action Committee for the Maryland State Conference of the NAACP, who spoke at the Feb. 8 hearing, said progress in education equity is needed. see this as an education issue but also as an economic justice HBCU settlement pending; Md. lawmakers say not enough See SAFETY Page A4 See SUIT Page A4 See HBCU Page A4.