Around Maryland

Driving a car to the parking lot to catch the MARC train is so 1984. Get with the times, people — wouldn’t it be nice to live within walking distance of the station instead? Few people can walk to a MARC station now. But that could change in a few years under a new state transportation plan released Thursday. The Maryland Department of Transportation wants to encourage construction of apartments and other housing — an estimated 2,600 total units — next to six train stations between Baltimore’s Penn Station and Washington, D.C.’s Union Station.

The Curtis Bay community voiced their concerns to the Maryland Department of Environment during a meeting Thursday. The hours-long meeting was about the permit renewal for the local CSX Coal Terminal. Residents have been vocal about their fear of the health impact the terminal has on the community. "Sometimes, if you come out the door, it smells like rotten eggs. Sometimes, it smells like an animal died somewhere around your house," said Edith Gerald with the Community of Curtis Bay Association.

In the days before Hurricane Milton hit Florida, forecasters were worried it could send as much as 15 feet (4.5 meters) of water rushing onto the heavily populated shores of Tampa Bay. Instead, several feet of water temporarily drained away. Why? “Reverse storm surge” is a familiar, if sometimes unremarked-upon, function of how hurricane winds move seawater as the storms hit land — in fact, it has happened in Tampa Bay before.

On Thursday, officials broke ground on the extension of the runway at Salisbury Regional Airport, a project expected to bring new flights to the region and boost the local economy. Supporters of the project, including county and airport officials, say it will lead to economic growth throughout Wicomico County and across the Eastern Shore. U.S. Senator Ben Cardin announced that $18.5 million in federal funding had been secured for the project.

Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida, pounding cities with ferocious winds and rain, and whipping up a barrage of tornadoes. It caused at least four deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct hit. The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall as a Category 3 storm Wednesday night in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine announced the launch of a new training program to address the urgent physician shortages on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The University of Maryland School of Medicine announced on Wednesday that they are launching a new training program in 'Rural Health' for medical students.

Starting this weekend, Montgomery County residents can drop off decomposing jack-o-lanterns and other food scraps in bins at three local farmers markets thanks to a new composting program offered by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Proposed legislation born out of Frederick County Executive Jessica Fitzwater’s data center workgroup could change the approval process for new data center projects. It also could require developers of lots previously approved for critical digital infrastructure (CDI) use to seek a new zoning designation before expanding.