Princess Cruises is adding a land tour of D.C. and historic sites in Virginia and Pennsylvania to one of its cruise packages ahead of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, company said Monday it was adding the historic site tour to its 2025 Canada and New England cruise package, which launches out of New York City.

Washington County was recently awarded $40,473 of federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency through the national Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) under Phase 41. The funding is to supplement established emergency food assistance and emergency shelter programs within the county.

 

After a lengthy bidding process and long-delayed decision, Maryland is ready to part ways with its problematic prison and jail health care provider, YesCare. State officials plan to vote Wednesday to award massive mental and medical care contracts totaling billions of dollars for state prisons and Baltimore jails, which have been run by the state for decades.

For a half-century, West Baltimore’s “Highway to Nowhere” has stood as a testament to how big transportation projects can run over, literally and figuratively, disadvantaged communities. The demolition of hundreds of homes and businesses to create what turned out to be an isolated 1.4-mile-long stretch of sunken blacktop was an example of what happens when a predominantly Black, working-class community is seen by the powerful as no more than an obstacle to progress.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced they are offering license-free fishing days for all state residents and visitors throughout this summer. Dates are provided below. The summer license-free fishing days allow anglers to explore the state’s diverse fishing without needing a fishing license, trout stamp, or registration.

Frederick County Public Schools and the Board of Education say they are striving to avoid teacher layoffs while potentially cutting positions and programs to reconcile a $50 million gap in the school system’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget. In a presentation for the board, the FCPS staff has suggested cuts and revenue increases that reduce the gap between the proposal and what the county executive has allocated in the budget sent to the Frederick County Council.

The D.C. area is one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets, but Cumberland, Maryland, a two-and-a-half hour drive from D.C., ranks as one of the top 10 cities in the nation where home prices are rising the fastest. Surprisingly, it’s still extremely affordable. Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains in Western Maryland with a population of about 19,000, Cumberland had a median home selling price in April of just $141,000.

Meritus Medical Center earned its third consecutive “A” Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit watchdog that sets standards for excellence in patient care. Leapfrog assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to general hospitals across the country based on more than 30 national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries and infections, as well as the systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm.

The 150th Run for the Roses on May 4 was a thrilling affair by any standard of horse racing. An 18-to-1 underdog named Mystik Dan claimed victory by a nose, besting the more highly regarded Sierra Leone and Forever Young. It was so close that Mystik Dan’s jockey wasn’t even sure he had won the Kentucky Derby and had to wait for official results like the millions watching at home and the nearly 157,000 people who packed Churchill Downs for the historic event.

The typically bustling Cruise Maryland Terminal has been empty of vacationers since the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. In 2023, Maryland Port Administration spokesperson Richard Scher said, 444,000 passengers boarded cruises in the terminal, the highest total since 2012. Eight cruise ships are scheduled to depart in June.