Around Maryland

The new School of Health Professions at Mount St. Mary's University is set to open its doors this fall, with the first cohort of students arriving in January 2025. The school will house the university's first health-focused graduate degree programs: a physician assistant (PA) program and an applied behavioral analysis (ABA) program. It will also be home to a functional pediatric behavioral health clinic, which officials say will be the first of its kind in northern Frederick County.

The Board of Education of Harford County unanimously voted on Jan. 8 to adopt an inclement weather policy that replaces three traditional snow days with asynchronous learning days for students during the 2023-24 school year. The Maryland State Department of Education requires local school boards to submit their inclement weather plans annually.

It's budget season for local governments, and on Tuesday, Hagerstown Community College was the first agency to make its pitch to the Washington County Commissioners for their Fiscal Year 2025 budget. And it was the kind of budget request the commissioners don't often hear. HCC President Jim Klauber's presentation was comparatively short and sweet. The community college is not seeking any increase from the county for its operating budget this year, he said.

When her son, Izaiah Carter, was killed nearly a year ago outside Patterson High School, Michelle Hines couldn’t bear to let her other two children go back to city schools in person. So they began attending the city’s virtual school, a holdover from the pandemic. While most families were more than ready to ditch virtual learning after the pandemic, a small number of families saw it as a perfect fit for their children — and they don’t want to let it go.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, observed annually on the third Monday in January, is widely known as a day of remembrance for the late civil rights activist and faith leader. For some in Frederick County, the federal holiday is also known as a call to service. This year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on North Place in Frederick hosted around 350 volunteers eager to put their day off to good use.

Johnston Square in East Baltimore has scored another victory. It may seem small, but it’s telling. A three-story home that had been vacant for 40 years has found a buyer. The property, a rowhouse with marble steps, new baths and kitchen, stands at East Biddle near Forrest Street. The selling price was $325,000. “We are now confident we’ll strike our asking prices,” said DeVonya Jones, a development manager with ReBuild Metro, the nonprofit leading the neighborhood’s revival.

A federal appeals court announced Thursday that it will reconsider a 2016 case challenging Maryland’s handgun qualification law, which the majority of a three-judge panel ruled in November was unconstitutional. The case before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will be heard en banc, or in front of the full court. According to the court’s order, the case is tentatively scheduled for the oral argument session between March 19 and 22 in Richmond, Virginia.

The Maryland State Board of Education will host a series of virtual town halls to obtain feedback from families, educators, administrators and community members on the State Superintendent of Schools selection process. The town halls will be conducted by executive search firm Hazard, Young and Attea via Zoom on the following dates: Tuesday, Jan. 16 — 9 a.m.; Wednesday, Jan. 17 — 1 p.m.; Thursday, Jan. 18 — 6 p.m.