Around Maryland

Frances Miller has been commuting from her Middle River home to Anne Arundel County for years — she used the Francis Scott Key Bridge to get there every Tuesday through Thursday. On her first commute since its collapse on March 26, she accidentally started driving toward the bridge out of habit. With the bridge, her morning trip used to take 30 to 40 minutes.

The Pride of Baltimore II, the replica of a 19th century “Baltimore clipper,” has finally returned to its home dock in Baltimore. The ship had been anchored in Annapolis after the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge left it unable to return home. On Monday, as most people were looking up at the partial solar eclipse, the ship’s crew was given the green light to sail the vessel through one of the alternate channels created to get ships through the wreckage.

Infrastructure projects in Frederick’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget include continuing design work on the intersection of East and All Saints streets in Frederick, as well as looking at traffic signals at several other intersections in the city. The Capital Improvements Program in Mayor Michael O’Connor’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget includes work to construct a new traffic signal at the intersection of East Street and All Saints Street in downtown Frederick, as well as realigning the entrances and exits to the nearby transit center as necessary.

Had you crossed the Francis Scott Key Bridge just a few weeks ago, as millions of motorists did before a wayward container ship struck it in the early hours of March 26, you’d have passed below a familiar steel superstructure of triangulated sections about half a mile long, a sight that was part of Baltimore’s skyline for decades.

A new video shows containers being removed from the Dali, the cargo ship that crashed into the Key Bridge causing it to collapse on March 26. The Dali remains stuck in the Patapsco River. This process allows the Unified Command to prepare to clear the portion of the bridge that remains on top of the ship, and is also a crucial step in removing the ship and reopening the Fort Henry Channel.

As Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates announced charges Wednesday against juveniles involved in a carjacking and robbery spree last fall, he also cited the need to hold parents criminally and financially accountable in cases where parents know of their child’s crimes. Baltimore prosecutors accused 20 young people of a series of armed carjackings and robberies throughout the city in October and November.

Washington County’s fatal overdoses dropped nearly 22% in one year’s time based on recent data shared from the state of Maryland — something to celebrate, according to the Washington County Health Department. “Obviously a cautious celebration, but one nonetheless, since we’ve focused so many efforts on ending overdoses and working closely to help those with substance use disorders here in our area,” said Vicki Sterling, director of behavioral health services for the health department.

After several aldermen said that some of the programs are not what they had asked the city’s staff to provide, Frederick will take more time to consider more than $2 million in proposals to fund affordable housing projects and initiatives to help people in danger of losing their homes.

Some Marylanders reported feeling an earthquake Friday morning that was centered in New Jersey. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 4.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded around 10:23 a.m. near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, about 45 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philadelphia. The quake even paused business at the United Nations in New York City.