Amid fretting and high hopes that their children will succeed in the academic year, concerns that students could be exposed to toxic pesticides might not be the first thought on parents’ minds. But ensuring that Maryland schools reduce pesticide-exposure has been an ongoing concern for groups like the Maryland Pesticide Education Network and the Children’s Environmental Health Network, who have been advocating for clear policies on pesticide use in schools for years.

Attention has swirled this year around the number of young people falling victim to or perpetrating gun violence in Baltimore, amid tragedies such as the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting and the fatal shooting across from Edmondson-Westside High School in January. But, Vincent Schiraldi, the state Department of Juvenile Services secretary, said it’s vital to put those instances in proper context.

When Jennie Burke’s 13-year-old daughter needed hernia surgery six years ago, it wasn’t the operation Burke feared — it was her daughter’s recovery from it, and whether she’d need opioids to keep the pain at bay. At the time, Burke’s brother was “hitting rock bottom” from a heroin addiction that would later kill him. Like many Americans in the early 2000s, he became addicted to opioids after being prescribed OxyContin following an appendectomy. In 2020, the year he died, 68,630 people died from opioid overdoses.

Now that Daniel Snyder no longer owns the Washington Commanders, speculation is churning about a new stadium for the team. Though its storybook Super Bowl seasons unfolded at RFK Stadium in D.C., the team has played since 1997 at FedEx Field in Prince George’s County.

I have taught in the History Department at Towson University for 35 years; I plan to retire at the end of this semester. Of all the changes I have seen in this time, two stand out as most telling in the story of the institution: the diversity among students and the expectation that faculty members publish. In 1988, when I arrived at what was then known as Towson State University (“state” was dropped from the name in 1997), the demographics of the institution looked much different from today.

With doors missing doorknobs, miscellaneous construction supplies scattered here and there, and newly painted walls that had just finished drying before the ribbon-cutting celebration began, renovations are not quite done yet at the soon-to-open 24-hour Walk-in Crisis Care Center in Frederick County. “Please excuse the mess,” Rebecca Layman, director of development and marketing for the Mental Health Association of Frederick County, asked the room full of county officials and mental health community partners at the event Wednesday.

Shortly after his inauguration, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) visited a research institute addressing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual and augmented reality. He touted the project as “a perfect example of how Maryland can become more economically competitive by creating opportunities through innovative partnerships.” As the state embraces the promise of AI, however, it must also address the risks presented by the technology.

The Maryland Cannabis Administration is launching a state-run lab to ensure the safety of the drug in response to product recalls and testing fraud in the cannabis industry. The Board of Public Works approved a lease for the new lab in Baltimore on Aug. 23. The Maryland Cannabis Administration or MCA will pay roughly $268,000 a year to lease a 5,934 square foot space at 6200 Seaforth Ave. at the Holabird Industrial Park in Southeast Baltimore, starting March 2024.

When Da’Quane Gilliam started thinking about dropping out of high school in 2019, Roger Shaw of the Baltimore City Public School System started showing up at his house to try to change his mind. The two first met when Shaw saw Gilliam walking across the street from Patterson High after school. Shaw had heard from teachers that he should keep an eye on the teenage ninth grader. Talking on the street that day, Gilliam told Shaw that school wasn’t for him. Shaw replied that he wasn’t going to give up.