A Los Angeles chicken chain opened its first Maryland location this week, becoming the latest company to join the chicken craze in Greater Baltimore. Crimson Coward Nashville Hot Chicken debuted at 7090 Deepage Drive in Columbia on Monday. The Howard County restaurant comes as a franchise group looks to open three other Crimson Coward locations in Greater Baltimore this year.

Union leaders representing state parole and probation agents are calling for the immediate firing of Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs and two others following the line-of-duty death of an agent last week. Parole and Probation Agent Davis Martinez, 33, died Friday while conducting a home visit with a client in Chevy Chase. Martinez is the first parole and probation agent to die in the line of duty.

With Maryland nearing 1.5 million reported cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, experts are monitoring new variants of the virus that could create a surge in cases in the coming months. Despite its cutesy nickname, health officials say the so-called “FLiRT” variants of COVID-19 seem to be more successful at evading immunity despite previous infections or vaccinations.

Maryland transportation officials are prioritizing speed and experience as they seek bids from private companies to design and build the new Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The Maryland Transportation Authority, an independent state agency responsible for the state’s eight toll facilities, including the Key Bridge, on Friday sent out a formal solicitation for proposals, calling for completion of the bridge design “as quickly as possible” to pave the way for construction.

As a cancer survivor, I’m no stranger to the daunting journey of diagnosis, treatment, and the quest for healing. That experience has made me acutely aware of the disparities in cancer outcomes within our communities, especially among people of color.    When I learned about multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests and their potential to help communities historically underserved by our healthcare system – I couldn’t help but feel compelled to spread the word.

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for when a city contains more than 13,000 vacant homes and some 20,000 empty lots. Instead, Baltimore’s vast vacant housing landscape has ushered in waves of new ideas — and people, all hoping to slice off a piece of the pie. WaterBottle, a worker-owned cooperative, is one such example.

Maryland’s colleges and universities were reminded Monday that they have until Aug. 1 to update their Title IX guidelines to ensure all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, can participate in all programs. While Monday’s presentation was made to the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents’ Intercollegiate Athletics and Student-Athlete Health and Welfare, a system vice chancellor said that a school’s failure to comply in any area could result in an institution not receiving federal money such as financial aid.

Dozens of parents and kids staged a sit-in outside Montgomery County Public Schools’ Board of Education headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, on Monday to demand the school system continue its virtual learning program. The school system announced last week that it would be shutting the Montgomery Virtual Academy (MVA) down due to budget constraints, leaving around 800 kids that are currently enrolled in the program in a lurch.

Maryland public school students are approaching their summer vacations, but some school officials won’t get the same break, as they continue plugging away on the state’s huge education reform plan. School officials from the state’s 24 districts filed updated documents last month detailing their progress on, and problems with, the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

A new two-part report on the often fraught relationship between the Baltimore Police Department and the city’s Black community — released by the Abell Foundation and written by experts with the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice — makes at least two important points. One is surely no surprise: Distrust of law enforcement runs deep.