After inquiries from The Baltimore Sun, Towson University has changed its policies for undocumented immigrants seeking to pay in-state tuition under two programs. And that's good news for Cindy Kolade.

The 21-year-old, who came to Baltimore from Ivory Coast when she was 10, has been working toward her bachelor's degree at Towson. She hoped to qualify for the Maryland Dream Act, a relatively new law that allows eligible undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. But she could not provide Towson with enough tax returns to meet its standards.

She then tried to get in-state tuition through President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. But that didn't work, either; Towson said she was ineligible because her mother is in the country illegally.

"I thought it was going to be an easy roll with the tuition, until I got to Towson," said Kolade. "I was really shocked."

Until recently, Towson officials, citing University System of Maryland rules, said they would not...

Ever since her bipolar, unarmed son was shot and killed during a struggle with Baltimore police, Marcella Holloman has felt a sense of soul-crushing loss. She breaks out into shakes and feels angry all the time. She sees other happy families — and resents them.

"My whole life is gone. I just don't like people the way I used to," says Holloman, 53, whose son, Maurice Johnson, was shot three times in 2012 in her living room in Northeast Baltimore. Holloman had called police because her son was having an angry 'episode,' she said.

The pain worsened this year when she found out that the officer who killed her son will receive about $30,000 in workers' compensation due to the psychological stress of the shooting — a type of payment that has sparked debate across the nation.

Twelve Baltimore police officers have sought workers' compensation for psychological stress in fatal shootings and similar deadly encounters in the 2011 to 2013 fiscal years, the most recent data available. The average...

Nearly one in five large Maryland chicken farms has been fined recently, state regulators have disclosed, because the growers failed to file information required annually outlining what they did to keep their flocks' waste from polluting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Since July 1, the Maryland Department of the Environment has issued notices of violation to 104 of the state's 574 "animal feeding operations." Those are farms that are regulated like factories because of the large volumes of manure generated by raising 37,500 or more birds at a time.

Of those sent violations notices, 89 were fined $250 each for submitting incomplete reports, according to Jay Apperson, a department spokesman. The other 15 received $500 fines for not reporting anything, he said. 

The reports, required once a year, spell out how much waste was generated, how it was stored to keep rainfall from washing it into nearby waterways, and what was ultimately done with it. The waste is often spread on...

The Department of Justice official in charge of the coming review of the Baltimore Police Department cautioned that the examination is not an "overnight venture," and it will take time to change a culture that has sparked distrust among residents.

Ronald L. Davis, director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, said in an interview that he expected some officers to resist proposals to make the department more transparent and accountable. But some policy changes will be made as soon as problems are identified, rather than at the end of the review, he said.

"This process exposes an organization and its culture to more relevant practices," said Davis. "There are a lot of officers in any department that want to do things better, but maybe they haven't had a voice."

Davis reiterated the federal government's pledge to help transform Baltimore's police force, which has confronted allegations of brutality and other misconduct. And though the longtime lawman acknowledged...

As Maryland health officials begin reforming their oversight of services for adults and children with disabilities, advocates are demanding greater urgency and specific fixes to address a reported increase in incidents of abuse and neglect.

The Maryland Disability Law Center wants regulators to move quickly because reports of serious incidents jumped 15 percent in a recent six-month period, according to its analysis. There were 2,608 reported incidents across all services regulated by the state between March and September, a marked increase over the previous six-month period, the center found.

"We need you to act now because people who receive services need more protection from harm," Nancy Pineles, managing attorney for the center, wrote recently to state health secretary Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. "Reports of abuse, neglect and other concerns are on the rise."

On Sunday, Sharfstein released a plan to strengthen government supervision of group homes for disabled foster children and...

A U.S. Department of Justice official pledged Monday to conduct a thorough, independent and objective review of the city police force after hearing more concerns from residents about excessive force and other misconduct by Baltimore officers.

While some Baltimoreans called for a full-scale civil rights probe of the city police, the head of the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services said federal officials believe working with the department is the best way to improve its interactions with the community.

Ronald L. Davis, the director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, said they decided on that approach — called collaborative review —after considering the reforms instituted in last two years by Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

"The civil rights division is a part of the process," Davis said, "and they retain the ability to come into Baltimore if reform is not made, if recommendations are not...