Would you rather be wet from rain or wet from sweat? If you chose the latter, you’re in luck: Artscape is scheduled for August in 2024. The annual free arts festival will take place Aug. 2 through Aug. 4, according to Barbara Hauck, communications manager of Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts. During a press conference Monday about a bill requiring procurement of electric vehicles in Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott spoke about the news.

At any given time, the emergency department at the Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center is treating an average of 11 patients with mental health or substance use crises — in a unit equipped for just six of them. Behavioral health patients at the emergency room often wait 24 hours to be transferred to a facility with an open bed, said Dr. Shafeeq Ahmed, the hospital’s president.

The Baltimore County Council postponed to later this month an anticipated vote to permanently enshrine the Office of the Inspector General into law after Council Chair Julian Jones introduced last-minute amendments to his own bills that would severely limit the watchdog agency’s investigative powers. Jones, a Woodstock Democrat, released a draft bill less than two hours before Monday’s council meeting.

Changes to Maryland’s marijuana laws continue to raise questions — and challenges — for police trying to enforce laws against driving under the influence. During a meeting with members of the Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety Committee, Montgomery County police officer Jayme Derbyshire told council members, “as far as admissibility goes, really, what we have are validated tests for alcohol impairment, and that’s essentially” it.

 

What will it take for the interim state superintendent Carey Wright to live up to her advance billing, especially as a miracle worker for raising the reading proficiency of schoolchildren in Mississippi? Of course, Dr. Wright is quick to point out that it was no miracle, just a lot of hard work. What’s also crucial to understand is that the hard work – the recipe for success – is not some secret sauce. Educators know the instruction and teacher preparation that are essential.

It’s the time of year for giving — and for some, that includes swinging by a local food pantry to drop off a grocery bag of kitchen essentials. “The main thing that pantries need during the holiday season is support from their communities in any way, shape or form,” said Eileen Compton-Little, executive director of the Community Crisis Center, a Reisterstown food pantry founded in 1982. “Just because the pandemic’s over, doesn’t mean that we still don’t need help.”

The Baltimore City Council failed to adopt a resolution condemning Hamas, moments after pro-Palestinian protestors interrupted the meeting. All but four councilmembers voted in favor of the resolution officially condemning the terrorist organization. Those who abstained were Kristerfer Burnett, Ryan Dorsey, Phylicia Porter and Odette Ramos. Before the vote, protestors, calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, shouted, “Free, free Palestine!” The group was then calmly escorted out of the chambers.

When someone is facing only months to live due to terminal illness, they may consider a physician’s assistance to ease the pain of dying and have more control over what their final moments may look like. But in Maryland, a physician is currently prohibited from participating in so-called “medical aid-in-dying.” Maryland lawmakers have tried year after year, but so far, no bill to legalize medical aid in dying has passed.

Paramedic response times have become faster countywide as the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services has increased staffing and changed its strategies, officials said. Advanced life support (ALS) response times, involving paramedics, have decreased 24 seconds, according to Frederick County Fire Chief Tom Coe. https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/public_safety/paramedic-response-times-faster-as-fire-and-rescue-rolls-out-plan/article_a565c26c-ad11-59cc-83fe-6e0b1e062813.htmlBetween January and September, the average time from dispatch of a medic unit to the patient’s side was 8 minutes, 10 seconds.

Congressman David Trone has released an internal polling memo that claims he has a seven point lead over Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in the U.S. Senate race. The polling memo from Hickman Analytics can be found here. Its text is reprinted below.