Following protests that disrupted last week’s first town hall presentation of Johns Hopkins’ draft memorandum of understanding with the Baltimore Police Department, the university shifted its second town hall Thursday evening to a livestream-only format. Nevertheless, that event ended in protest, too, and also was moved to an at-home-only platform. Attendees were told in advance that they could watch Thursday’s panel at home on video or in Turner Auditorium on Hopkins’ East Baltimore campus, which was originally set to host the second town hall completely in person. Regardless of the format change, which excluded live input from community members, protesters arrived with signs and whistles.

McDaniel College unveiled a 58-acre environmental center Thursday morning in New Windsor, about 5 miles from the college’s main campus in Westminster. The new center features 8 acres of student-run farmland, three historical residences, wetland restoration sites and an educational sign tour with information about Maryland’s Piedmont region. At the event, McDaniel President Julia Jasken announced a $2.3 million award from the state of Maryland to further develop on-campus environmental education spaces and the historic manor house at the environmental center property. Jasken said the college’s strategic plan aims to expand the college’s relationship with Carroll County, and the newly unveiled environmental center will help accomplish that objective.

During a recent campaign event in Harford County, a woman asked Heather Mizeur, the 1st District Democratic candidate for Congress, about keeping guns away from dangerous people. While she agreed with Mizeur that more could be done legislatively to ensure public safety in legal gun purchases, the woman expressed dismay at the endless flood of illegal guns used in crime in Baltimore. Indeed, that’s a huge problem, and an exasperating one. For years, police have said the majority of illegal firearms in Baltimore come from states with more liberal gun laws. Last year, partnering with Bloomberg-funded Every Town USA to track the flow of illegal guns into Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott reported that more than 60% of firearms seized by police were from outside Maryland while 82% were from outside the city.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits dropped last week, a sign that few companies are cutting jobs despite high inflation and a weak economy. Applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending Sept. 24 fell by 16,000 to 193,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That is the lowest level of unemployment claims since April. Last week’s number was revised down by 4,000 to 209,000. Jobless aid applications generally reflect layoffs. The current figures are very low historically and suggest Americans are benefiting from an unusually high level of job security. A year ago this week, 376,000 people applied for benefits.

As work continues to implement a multi-billion-dollar education reform plan, some educators, public school administrators and students are meeting to offer suggestions on it. They are organized into four advisory committees to provide expertise for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board. Each committee met virtually Wednesday to address four particular subjects: early childhood education, high-quality and diverse teachers and leaders, college and career readiness and more resources for students to be successful.

The Maryland Hospital Association released findings last month that 1 in 4 hospital nursing positions in the state were vacant. The association called the lack of nurses “the most critical staffing shortage in recent memory.” The same disturbing trend is mirrored across the United States. From 2020 to 2022, hospital vacancies for nursing positions nearly doubled. The total number of registered nurses in the workplace decreased by more than 100,000 in 2021, the largest drop observed in four decades. Perhaps most ominously, the group that left nursing in the highest numbers was nurses under the age of 35. Even before the pandemic, there was growing concern that the aging population would require more health-care services, and stress and burnout were leading nurses to leave the bedside.

Now that school has started back up across the country, I am reflecting on this summer when I, along with 19 afterschool and summer learning professionals from South Carolina, journeyed to Baltimore, not with the primary intention of feasting on crabs (though they were tasty) or rooting for the Orioles during a winning streak, but instead with the purpose of observing a summer learning program garnering national acclaim for Baltimore City Public Schools. Our traveling group of teachers and administrators, school district leaders and nonprofit executives are fellows of SCALE, South Carolina Afterschool Leaders Empowered, a program of the Riley Institute at Furman University. Across the country, afterschool and summer learning programs engage and energize students, build positive relationships and instill a deep love of learning that transcends the school day.

Voters choosing Maryland’s next governor may be ready for relief from the higher costs of gas, groceries, credit cards and other aspects of everyday life. Less certain though is whether frustration over economic issues will be seen as enough of a state issue to drive them to the polls in that race or influence the choice between Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox and Wes Moore, the Democratic nominee. Like voters elsewhere in the U.S., Maryland residents have felt the pinch of inflation, which jumped to 8.3% in August, easing slightly as gas prices decreased but still near a 40-year high. And they’re seeing borrowing costs on home and auto loans rise as the Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates in a bid to control inflation.