Alongside the state question to enshrine the right to reproductive health care in the Maryland Constitution, Baltimore City voters will see eight local ballot questions at the polls in November. Questions can end up on the ballot if they are approved by the Baltimore City Council or are nominated by citizens. In order for a citizen-driven question to appear, a petition must circulate and receive at least 10,000 signatures from registered voters.

Baltimore County Public Schools plan to add student wellness centers at Berkshire Elementary School, Chadwick Elementary School and Padonia Elementary School while increasing access to college- and career-readiness programs in the fiscal year 2025. These wellness centers provide vaccinations, physicals and more.

Two years into Gov. Wes Moore’s administration, which promised to bring back thousands of government jobs, the union for Maryland’s state employees is warning lawmakers that their patience is running out. They need more staffing, more money and critical repairs to the state’s aging hospitals and criminal justice facilities, AFSCME Maryland President Patrick Moran said Wednesday at a news conference in Hagerstown.

More than 70 million Social Security recipients will learn Thursday how big a cost-of-living increase they’ll get to their benefits next year. In advance of the announcement, analysts predicted that the increase would be about 2.5% for 2025, smaller than increases the previous two years. Recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.

As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have forcefully warned Americans multiple times on Wednesday about what the president is calling “the storm of the century.” “To the people of Florida and all affected states, we’ve got your back,” Biden said in remarks from the White House’s Roosevelt Room. “We’ve got your back, and Kamala and I will be there for as long as it takes to rescue, recover and rebuild.”

I am disappointed with the recent article by The Center Square, “FEMA’s hurricane relief money dwindles amid migrant spending” (Oct. 7). The article begins by saying that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has told reporters that “FEMA does not have enough funding to last the rest of the year even as it has spent millions of dollars on migrants under the Biden administration.”

Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida, pounding cities with ferocious winds and rain, and whipping up a barrage of tornadoes. It caused at least four deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct hit. The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall as a Category 3 storm Wednesday night in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa.

Ninety-nine days after the Francis Scott Key Bridge fell, Robyn Bianchi’s job was finally complete. On July 3, the assistant salvage master for New Jersey-based Donjon Marine lingered on a pier to watch a container ship pass through the channel where she had worked seven days a week, sometimes 18 hours a day, directing divers’ underwater efforts to cut and clear away the bridge’s wreckage.

As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, Baltimore Gas and Electric is preparing crews to head south to pitch in with the response. BGE sent 42 employees toward Florida Wednesday morning to help repair expected damage, the company said in an email. The utility sent more than 40 employees to Georgia for 13 days in the wake of Hurricane Helene, as well.

MilliporeSigma, the U.S. and Canada life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has opened its new $3.45 million biosafety testing facility in Rockville. Biosafety testing and analytical development are fundamental components of drug development and commercialization for traditional and novel modalities. Global demand for these services is growing at a double-digit rate.