Kamala Harris on Tuesday night faces a task unprecedented in modern political history. On the debate stage in Philadelphia, she will deliver both an opening argument – to the millions of voters who want to know more about her – and a closing argument – for her candidacy and against Donald Trump’s – as their lightning campaign enters its final eight weeks.

Jamée Maiden, a 13-year-old eighth grader at William W. Hall Academy in Prince George’s County, said she was allowed to use her cell phone at certain times during the school day last school year. Not this school year. “I feel like they help in class for certain things like research. If some people don’t have computers, it is easier to access,” she said.

Important conversations will be taking place around the U.S. following Tuesday’s ABC News presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. And some of the most heartfelt discussions will happen at Black-owned barbershops. One of those barbershops is “Tight N Up” in Bowie, Maryland, which owner Clinton Truesdale called “a pillar of the community.”

Shelby Blondell has nothing against the commonly used wooden mallet. As a native of Linthicum, she grew up using it in local crab houses like most Marylanders. That is, until she figured out how to make something better. The 31-year-old singer and songwriter invented and patented The Sheller, a 3-in-1 seafood mallet, picker and bottle opener. There’s no tool like it on the market.

Opioid manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay Baltimore $80 million for its role in causing the city’s overdose epidemic, the latest legal win in Mayor Brandon Scott’s crusade against pharmaceutical companies, officials said Monday morning. Teva will pay $32.5 million by the end of the year and will pay the remainder of the $80 million by July 1, 2025, according to a news release. Earlier this year, Baltimore settled cases against CVS, Allergan and Cardinal Health.

Two brothers with big dreams were among the more than 15,500 children identified as homeless in Maryland’s public schools last school year, 1.7% of the student body. Together with their parents, they lived in Anne Arundel County, one of the state’s wealthiest jurisdictions, showing homelessness can happen anywhere. “I never imagined in a million years that we would be homeless,” their mother told me. “Life suddenly changed for all of us. We lived out of bags and suitcases.”

The Maryland Transportation Authority is advancing the rebuild of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. On Monday, the MDTA released its request for proposals (RFP) for firms to submit plans for construction management and inspection services in the rebuild. The top three firms will be awarded contracts valued at $20 million each and will oversee construction activities, ensure compliance with safety regulations and maintain high standards, the MDTA said in a statement.

In the next five years, Baltimore could see an extensive public safety complex developed at the brick building that once housed its daily print newspaper. City officials hope to relocate several communications and logistics operations to North Calvert Street, including CitiWatch, the 911 call center, 311 operations, police and fire dispatch, and Baltimore Police’s crime lab and evidence control unit.

Under Armour Inc. has selected a former Utz Brands Inc. executive to run its accounting more than a year after the company lost its last principal accounting officer. Eric Aumen has been named the company’s principal accounting officer and will take over the role on Oct. 1, Under Armour (NYSE: UAA) said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday.

Few horrors in the world rival the pain, fear, shame and guilt felt by children who are sexually abused by adults who have been entrusted with their care. For decades, hundreds of children, if not thousands, in Maryland’s juvenile detention facilities were sexually abused and raped by staff hired by the Department of Juvenile Services.