University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center announced Tuesday that it is one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for 2023, according to new research released by Healthgrades, a marketplace connecting doctors and patients. This achievement puts UM St. Joseph Medical Center in the top 2% of hospitals nationwide for overall clinical performance across the most common conditions and procedures. This is the 4th consecutive year (2020-2023) UM St. Joseph Medical Center is among America’s Best. Healthgrades evaluated patient mortality and complication rates for 31 of the most common conditions and procedures at nearly 4,500 hospitals across the country to identify the top-performing hospitals.

Morgan State University is on track to be the first Historically Black College and University, or HBCU, in nearly half a century to open a new medical school. The proposed name is The Maryland College of Osteopathic Medicine and it is scheduled to welcome its first class in Fall 2024.  As of this month, only four HBCUs have affiliated medical schools: Howard University College of Medicine, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. By 2025, Xavier University in New Orleans plans to launch its medical school.

A dead humpback whale was found on the beach at Assateague Island National Seashore on Monday, according to the U.S. National Park Service. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the National Aquarium are attempting to determine how the 20-foot whale died, according to a park service news release, which also says there are “no obvious signs” to the cause of the whale’s death. When the necropsy is completed, the whale will be moved from the upper part of the seashore’s oversand vehicle area to the sand dunes, where it will dry out before being buried. Those who come across the whale are asked to keep a distance and to keep their dogs leashed, the release says.

The biggest story of the year — the story we should all be paying attention to — is the increasing power of artificial intelligence. Computer code can write itself, chatbots can generate academic papers, and, with a few keystrokes, a website can produce an image worthy to be framed on any wall. Everywhere we turn, AI is outputting text and images that mimic (and often surpass) humans’ abilities. There’s so much to be concerned about in these developments, especially in the realms of plagiarism and labor replacement, with artists and writers particularly worried about their job prospects drowning in the infinite sea of AI-generated graphics and essays. However, after taking stock of AI’s current limitations, I don’t think that artists and other creatives are in danger of extinction anytime soon.

I stood at the corner of Eager and Aisquith to regard the burned-and-broken steeple of a once-stunning East Baltimore church. I saw in the gaping wound the past and present — the decades of white flight from the old neighborhood, the diminished presence of the Catholic Church in the city and the loss of faith generally across the land. This mashup of history came from the gray sky over Aisquith Street, in the place where the steeple cracked apart in a fire caused by lightning in March 2020. No one has come to rebuild the magnificent steeple. Next door is the Institute of Notre Dame, founded in 1847, the Catholic girls school that closed a couple of months after the fire.

West Nursery Cinemas, a staple in Linthicum for nearly 25 years, has “closed for business,” according to a message on the theater’s phone line. The theater, which opened as Hoyts West Nursery Cinema 14 in 1998, served Linthicum’s Airport Square Technology Park near BWI Marshall Airport for nearly a quarter century. On Tuesday, the theater’s website offered no future showtimes or movies coming soon. Messages sent to the theater’s social media pages were not returned. The 57,300-square-foot building opened to much fanfare at a cost of $8.5 million, The Baltimore Sun reported in March 1998.

Tom Redmond looks at sports betting companies’ oddsmakers the way opposing defensive linemen regard elusive quarterbacks — with a healthy appreciation of their skills. The Ravens season ticket holder could have become overconfident after winning individual wagers on two NFL players — Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins and Austin Ekeler of the Los Angeles Chargers — to score touchdowns on Dec. 11. But the Parkville resident knows better. Because he appreciates the many obstacles to beating the sportsbooks, he limits his online or mobile wagers to $5 or $10 and was neither surprised nor fazed when he lost his bet on the Arizona Cardinals to win the next night. That was less than three weeks after Maryland opened the doors to mobile wagering on Nov. 23.

After Brooke Lierman raises her right hand and recites the oath of office as comptroller Monday, she doesn’t know what she’ll do immediately afterward. “I [don’t] know exactly what I will do, what will happen, or what it will feel like,” she said during an interview Friday. “I have to imagine it will feel overwhelming, joyous and slightly terrifying all at the same time. It’s an awesome responsibility that Marylanders are giving to me, and I don’t take that lightly.” The Democrat from Baltimore, who served in the House of Delegates for eight years, will be the state’s first woman elected to the position and to an independent state government office.