Baltimore City schools lead in the number of sharp test score declines on the 2010 Maryland School Assessments, according to data analyzed by The Baltimore Sun, and the district ranks highest in the number of instances where schools recorded double-digit drops in performance.

Maryland has quietly stopped its longstanding practice of allowing teachers to review test booklets up to two weeks before its annual reading and math examinations were given.

Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. made a campaign stop Wednesday on the shores of Back River in Essex to champion his administration's Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act — and to criticize Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley for using money from the act's bay fund to help balance the state budget.

State Comptroller Peter Franchot this morning that he's been haunted by news accounts of the weekend murder of a Johns Hopkins research assistant in Charles Village. Speaking before this morning's Board of Public Works meeting, Franchot said he'd like to talk with the suspects in the case.

If former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is looking for evidence to bolster his claims that current Gov. Martin O'Malley has been fiscally reckless, he need look no further than the Democratic incumbent's public stance in favor of the referendum to overturn the Anne Arundel County zoning law that would allow slots at Arundel Mills Mall.

Utah is not the only state where lawmakers are attempting to address illegal immigration — which is traditionally a federal issue handled by Congress.

As one voracious non-native fish bears down on the Great Lakes, notorious mussels are spreading across the West. Frustrated state officials say it’s time for the federal government to play a bigger role in stopping the spread of invasive species.