A whale cranium fossil estimated to be some 12 million years outdated has been discovered on a seaside within the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, in keeping with an area museum.
The invention was made in October by a Pennsylvania man, Cody Goddard, who was looking for fossils and shark’s enamel, the Calvert Marine Museum mentioned in an announcement.
“It felt like we had received the World Cup of Paleontology!” mentioned Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology on the museum within the japanese US state.
Advertisement
“We do not but know what species of Miocene baleen whale that is,” he mentioned. “That we are going to solely know as soon as it has been ready.”
The museum mentioned that it took two months to extract and transfer the cranium, which was encased in a hardened block of sediment and weighs round 650 kilos (295 kilograms).
It’s the most full fossil whale cranium ever recovered within the Calvert Cliffs space, in keeping with the museum, and has been christened “Cody” for its finder.
Godfrey mentioned the cranium has been moved to the museum’s Fossil Preparation Lab and specialised instruments will likely be used to take away the sediment that encases most of it, a course of that may take many months.
Since 1956, a County Council of seven — most of them white and most of them men — has represented Baltimore County. That could change after a vote Monday to put the question of whether the council should expand on the ballot.
Though the council members have discussed changes to the body since the 1970s, they’ve never gotten this close to asking the voters to codify changes in the law. The question has become increasingly important, as the population has quadrupled to nearly 850,000 in the last 70 years. People of color make up half the population. The county is 30% Black with a fast-growing immigrant population from Arabic and Hispanic countries.
Today’s County Council includes seven men, six of whom are white. Many civil rights groups and progressive activists have complained the councilmen do not represent the diversifying county and its myriad interests, including affordable housing and accessible transit.
Baltimore County Councilmen Julian Jones and Pat Young, both Democrats, at a zoning hearing in Dundalk in June 2024. (Rona Kobell)
The council needs five votes to put the measure on the ballot in 2024. If the voters approve the measure, the council would expand by two members in 2026. The council would have to redraw political maps to determine where to put the additional districts, and it would have to alter the number of appointments to the planning board and board of appeals so the new council members also have representation there.
Advertisement
The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.
The effort would cost approximately $1.4 million in increased annual operating costs and $12.2 million in (one-time) capital improvement costs.
Council Chairman Izzy Patoka, who has been championing the cause of expansion since a workgroup recommended it in March, said he is confident that he has the five votes.
But of the councilmen polled this past week, only Mike Ertel, a Towson Democrat, said he is supporting it. Republicans Todd Crandell, Wade Kach, and David Marks said they are undecided, as did Democrats Pat Young and Julian Jones.
One provision that may make the legislation more popular with Patoka’s colleagues is a change to make the councilman’s job a full-time position. Currently, each councilman makes $69,000 a year, with the exception of the chair, who makes $77,000. Some have other jobs, even though many have said that the position is really a full-time one.
It’s not clear how much the salary would bump up with a switch to full-time. In Montgomery County, council members have been full-time since voters approved a 2006 ballot. There, the members make $156,284 per year and the council president makes $171,912.46 annually.
Advertisement
The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.
The workgroup that recommended expanding the council by two people also recommended making the members full-time.
The group, called the Baltimore County Structure Review Workgroup, included 11 members and met nine times in 2023 and 2024, including holding a public hearing last January. While some wanted to expand by four, the work group’s consensus was to increase by two members.
Those who are undecided offered different reasons for their concerns, ranging from motives of advocates to philosophical reasons about democracy and government.
“In general, I am not in favor of expanding government, which this would do, but I also want to learn from my colleagues who are in support of the bill,” said Crandell, who represents the Dundalk area.
Advertisement
Young, who represents the Catonsville area, said the advocates who have contacted him and come before the council want four new members, not two, and he’s not certain two would allay their concerns.
The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.
Marks, who represents the Perry Hall area, said he’s been put off by a process that Democratic activists have driven, and said he would be more in favor of the expansion if those clamoring for it represented a broader cross-section of the county, including more Republican-leaning areas. Kach said he was “not happy” with the proposed council districts or the lack of public input in drafting a new map.
And Jones, the only Black member of the council, said he’s not sure the expansion will accomplish the goal of increasing diversity.
“No one cares more about diversity than I do,” he said. “But democracy is messy, and no one can say the people we have were not duly elected, and that citizens have choices.”
Advertisement
Several of the current members have had an opponent who was a person of color or a woman; they just didn’t happen to win. Caitlin Klimm-Kellner ran against Mike Ertel in District 6. She told the work group studying the expansion that she struggled because the district included 127,000 people. She hailed from the Rosedale side; Ertel, a longtime community organizer, was much more well-known in Towson.
“I think that if it was a smaller representation, a more localized district, that would not have been as much of a problem,” Klimm-Kellner told the group.
The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.
The council held public hearings on the proposed referendum on June 11 and June 25.
The voting meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the County Council chambers at 400 Washington Ave., Suite 205.
According to the 2020 census, Maryland’s population is 6,177,224, ranked 18th in the nation. Maryland’s population continues to grow by at least 7% each decade. It is the 22nd fast-growing state in the nation relative to its population. The “biggest” cities (incorporated) and areas (unincorporated), in terms of population, can be seen below:
CITIES (incorporated) OVER 10,000 POPULATION
1990 census
2000 census
2010 census
2020 census
Baltimore
736,014
651,154
620,961
585,708
Frederick
40,148
52,767
65,239
78,171
Rockville
44,830
47,388
61,209
67,117
Gaithersburg
39,676
52,613
59,933
69,657
Bowie
37,642
50,269
54,727
58,329
Hagerstown
35,306
36,687
39,662
43,527
Annapolis
33,195
35,838
38,394
40,812
College Park
23,714
24,657
30,413
34,740
Salisbury
20,592
23,743
30,343
33,050
Laurel
19,086
19,960
25,115
30,060
Greenbelt
20,561
21,456
23,068
24,921
Cumberland
23,712
21,518
20,859
19,076
Westminster
13,060
16,731
18,590
20,126
Hyattsville
13,864
14,733
17,557
21,187
Takoma Park
16,724
17,299
16,715
17,629
Easton
9,372
11,708
15,945
17,101
Elkton
9,073
11,893
15,443
15,807
Aberdeen
13,087
13,842
14,959
16,254
Havre de Grace
8,952
11,331
12,952
14,807
Cambridge
11,514
10,911
12,326
13,096
New Carrollton
12,002
12,589
12,135
13,715
Source: Quick Facts, U.S. Census Bureau, as of April 1, 2020.
AREAS (unincorporated) OVER 20,000 POPULATION
1990 census
2000 census
2010 census
2020 census
Columbia
75,883
88,254
99,615
104,681
Germantown
41,145
55,419
86,395
91,249
Silver Spring
76,046
76,540
71,452
81,015
Waldorf
15,058
22,312
67,752
81,410
Glen Burnie
37,305
38,922
67,639
72,891
Ellicott City
41,396
56,397
65,834
75,947
Dundalk
65,800
62,306
63,597
67,796
Wheaton-Glenmont
53,720
57,694
61,813
68,860
Bethesda
62,936
55,277
60,858
68,056
Towson
49,445
51,793
55,197
59,553
Aspen Hill
45,494
50,228
48,759
51,063
Bel Air South
26,421
39,711
47,709
57,648
Potomac
45,634
44,822
44,965
47,018
Severn
24,499
35,076
44,231
57,118
North Bethesda
29,656
38,610
43,828
50,094
Catonsville
35,233
39,820
41,567
44,701
Essex
40,872
39,078
39,262
40,505
Woodlawn
32,907
36,079
37,879
40,469
Severna Park
25,879
28,507
37,634
39,933
Odenton
12,833
20,534
37,132
42,947
Clinton
19,987
26,064
35,970
38,760
Oxon Hill-Glassmanor
35,794
35,355
35,017
37,221
Olney
23,019
31,438
33,844
37,221
Chillum
31,309
34,252
33,513
36,039
Randallstown
26,277
30,870
32,430
33,655
Montgomery Village
32,315
38,051
32,032
34,893
Suitland-Silver Hill
35,111
33,515
31,775
32,220
Pikesville
24,815
29,123
30,764
34,168
Parkville
31,617
31,118
30,734
31,812
Owings Mills
9,474
20,193
30,622
35,674
Bel Air North
14,880
25,798
30,568
31,841
Eldersburg
9,720
27,741
30,531
32,582
Carney
25,578
28,264
29,941
29,363
Milford Mill
22,547
26,527
29,042
30,622
Perry Hall
22,723
28,705
28,474
29,409
Crofton
12,781
20,091
27,348
29,641
South Laurel
18,591
20,479
26,112
29,602
Reisterstown
19,314
22,438
25,968
26,822
Edgewood
23,903
23,378
25,562
25,713
Lochearn
25,240
25,269
25,333
25,511
Middle River
24,616
23,958
25,191
33,203
North Potomac
18,456
23,044
24,410
23,790
Scaggsville
24,333
9,217
Pasadena
24,287
32,979
Fort Washington
24,032
23,845
23,717
24,261
Fairland
19,828
21,738
23,681
25,396
Ilchester
23,476
26,824
Arnold
20,261
23,422
23,106
24,064
Landover*
22,900
23,078
25,998
Cockeysville
20,776
24,184
Arbutus
19,750
20,116
20,483
21,655
White Oak
18,671
20,973
17,403
16,347
Elkridge
12,953
22,042
15,593
25,171
North Laurel
15,008
20,468
4,474
25,379
St. Charles**
28,717
33,379
South Gate***
27,564
28,672
Advertisement
*(defined in 2000)
**(included with Waldorf for 2010 Census and beyond)
***(included with Glen Burnie for 2010 Census and beyond)
Source: Quick Facts, U.S. Census Bureau, as of April 1, 2020.
Featured photo shows the city of Baltimore, by @DronifyDMV. Information courtesy of Maryland.gov