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A smaller central office that spends more money on students. That’s the plan from Baltimore school leaders to save its cash-strapped budget. The plan means more deep cuts at the district’s headquarters. Gigi Barnett has the details.

City school leaders want to spend the bulk of their cash in the classroom on each student. The district unveiled the plan this week. They’re going to shift more money to schools, even though the school system’s bottom line is staying the same.

The value of Baltimore-area exports hit $9.7 billion in 2010, ranking it 27th in liberal think tank Brookings Institution’s exports report for 2012. Brookings’ report shows Baltimore’s export growth rate was 9.9 percent in 2010, compared with the U.S. rate of 11 percent.

Exports racked up a 6.7 percent share of the metro’s gross domestic product,creating 40,000 direct export-production jobs and 67,600 total export-supported jobs.

A man who lived in Catonsville and held in secret U.S. government confinement for nearly a decade is taking a plea deal, becoming the first “high-value” Guantanamo detainee to be convicted in a war crimes tribunal.

Majid Khan, a Pakistani who graduated from a suburban Baltimore high school, agreed to plead guilty to charges that include conspiracy and murder as part of a deal that would give him no more than 25 years in prison, and possibly less, according to court documents released a day before his first hearing before a military judge at this U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

The new group set to take over the Baltimore Grand Prix said Wednesday it is close to inking a title sponsor for the 2012 street race. “We’re pretty deep in conversation,” Dale Dillon, who is part of Downforce Racing, said in an interview. “We think we’ll have that locked up shortly.”

Dillon, who has organized Grand Prix events in the past, would not disclose who the group is in discussions with. But he said the group’s talks are with several national companies. The companies are across multiple industries, he said.

Sprint today announced that Baltimore and Kansas City have been added to its list of markets expected to receive 4G LTE and upgraded 3G service by mid-2012.

Sprint recently announced that 4G LTE and enhanced 3G service are also expected by mid-2012 in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Sprint 4G LTE will enable faster speeds for data applications, and the enhanced 3G service promises better signal strength, faster data speeds, expanded coverage, and better in-building performance.