As students increasingly retreat into their cellphones during school hours, Anne Arundel County Public Schools and area private schools are putting in place new policies to limit usage in an effort to address concerns over safety, academic performance and student well-being. Educators say they observed students using their phones during downtime, sometimes to spread rumors of threats or coordinate fights.

My cellphone automatically went into sleep mode as I left Main Event in Columbia on a recent Saturday night. It was 9:15 p.m., but my night had only just begun. So why was I out in Columbia when I would normally be getting settled in bed for the night? Over the summer, my Howard County colleague Abby Zimmardi and I set out to answer the following question: How does Columbia cater to its younger residents?

Three women, previously unrelated. Except that they are residents of Baltimore, a small city in the big scheme of things, in a world that is figuratively getting smaller just as their city literally is as well. They were joined about a year ago after a war broke out on Oct. 7 far away from their homes but close to their hearts and minds. A war that really started a long time ago and not only hasn’t ended, but has gotten larger and bloodier.

 

Trains and trams, bikes and buses. Electric ferries, too. The delegation of Maryland officials in Sweden this week used them all. The weeklong trip has been an exercise in using sustainable transportation, something that’s readily available in the two Swedish cities visited — Stockholm and Gothenburg — but not nearly as much in Anne Arundel County. On Friday, the delegation’s final full day in Gothenburg, lessons on ways to move sustainably filled every meeting.

With 30 days to Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are launching a media blitz that began on Sunday, with the two set to appear in a handful of interviews with traditional and new media figures, a senior Harris campaign official told NBC News. The two sat down with CBS’ “60 Minutes” for separate interviews that will air on Monday, and each will appear on late-night comedy shows later this week.

A forum for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District seat on Sunday turned into a fiery debate between the candidates in its final moments, and audience members joined in. The League of Women Voters of Frederick County, in collaboration with Hood College, hosted Republican Neil Parrott and Democrat April McClain Delaney for a forum Sunday afternoon.

One year ago, the world was shocked when Hamas launched a brutal attack on Israel in Gaza, killing hundreds, capturing hostages and launching an ongoing war. In the months since, the violence has escalated, causing tens of thousands more deaths, forcing millions to flee their homes, creating a humanitarian crisis and enveloping Lebanon, and soon possibly Iran.

The Everytown Community Safety Fund (CSF), part of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, Friday announced $100,000 in funding for LifeBridge Health’s Center for Hope to advance its work of ending gun violence in Baltimore and better position the organization to access federal funding. This grant is part of the CSF’s more than $2 million investment in 20 gun violence intervention organizations nationwide.

So much for the separation of politics and governance: The treasurer of Brandon Scott’s campaign committee during the primary has quietly landed a six-figure job at City Hall. For weeks now, Calvin A. Young III has been sighted in and about the building. No one would explain why he was there. He wasn’t registered as a lobbyist, and he refused to talk to The Brew. The curtains finally parted on Tuesday when Councilwoman Odette Ramos and others teased out of a Scott aide that Young was on the public payroll.

Power prices are rising and poised to rise further in the wholesale power market, known as PJM, that includes Maryland, with a vigorous debate over the root causes. As a result of this shift in the wholesale market, the Office of People’s Counsel is forecasting a nearly 20% retail bill increase for Baltimore customers next year. This projection assumes that these wholesale prices will more or less automatically pass through to retail customers.