Black Americans and other people of color have long been underrepresented in clinical trials for emerging medications and therapies — even when they’re more likely to get sick or die from the condition the treatment is meant to target. Despite being twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white Americans, for example, Black Americans only comprised about 1 in 10 of the participants in the clinical trials for the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.

On a Tuesday morning in mid-April, Hughes United Methodist Church Pastor Diana Wingeier is bustling about the gymnasium at the Wheaton church, moving boxes of mushrooms to the back of the room and bags of leafy greens to a table near the front door as she helps shepherd dozens of Montgomery County residents through a weekly food pantry.

For many years, as recently as 2020, this weekend in Ocean City was marred by an outlier group of vehicle enthusiasts intent on wreaking havoc on the roads of Ocean City. Over the last three years, the non-event – called a pop-up rally — has trickled to nothing. We think if another year goes by – and all indications are it will – without a presence of the troublemakers the town should abandon the special enforcement zone next year on this weekend.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona highlighted a national shortage of college counselors in an appearance with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Thursday morning in downtown Baltimore. At the National Association of College Admission Counseling’s annual meeting, which brought more than 7,000 attendees to the Baltimore Convention Center, Moore and Cardona spoke in a moderated conversation on a wide range of education issues to an audience of mostly high school and college staff from across the country.

As Maryland continues the redetermination of 1.8 million residents’ eligibility for Medicaid, the federal government is requiring all states to suspend the disenrollment of some who would have normally been kicked off the low-income health care plan, and reinstate the enrollment of others. At issue is a concern from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that some people were inappropriately disenrolled, and the agency instructed states to evaluate their redetermination metrics to ensure as many qualified people can stay enrolled as possible.

 

More than 3.5 million federal employees and military personnel — many in the Washington, D.C., area but also scattered across the states and around the globe — are bracing for another partial government shutdown, as U.S. House Republicans struggle to produce a short-term plan to fund the government past the end of the month.

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that they would provide $600 million in funding for new COVID-19 tests. Additionally, they are resurrecting the government website to order those free tests. It’s an effort to prevent possible future shortages as the winter months come and the rise of coronavirus cases — as well as flu and RSV — are expected.

A long-vacant space at Pratt and Paca streets near Oriole Park at Camden Yards is getting ready to light up again. A group of local foodies and investors that are also associated with Guilford Hall Brewery in North Baltimore just signed a 10-year deal to open a restaurant, bar and cafe at 511 W. Pratt. The nearly 7,000-square-foot space in the ground level of The Zenith apartment tower once held Frank & Nic’s West End Grille and Restaurant, which closed five years ago and was damaged in 2015 during protests over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody.

It’s easy to be dissatisfied with the actions, or inactions, of government these days. While Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives dithered over a plan to keep the federal government funded in order to avoid a calamitous shutdown — a scenario that has “always been a loser for Republicans politically,” according to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — their leaders still found time to schedule a hearing on their ill-advised impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden.

For about half of Americans, public transit is not a viable option as they simply don’t live close to a bus route, light rail, subway or commuter rail line. But to many who could make that choice but do not — including quite a few in the Baltimore area — it’s perceived as a hassle, a too-slow, too-crowded, too-unpleasant alternative to jumping into your vehicle and driving to your destination.