Around Maryland

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office filed twin lawsuits Tuesday against several manufacturers that used PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” in firefighting foam and a host of other consumer products. Filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court, the lawsuits allege that companies such as 3M and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company were aware of the dangers of PFAS chemicals but continued to sell them to consumers for decades.

Carroll County will induct 16 lieutenants into the new Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services Thursday during a commissioning ceremony that county officials are calling historic. The induction comes three years after the county created its first combination fire and EMS department. “It’s extremely important,” District 5 Commissioner Ed Rothstein said.

A Baltimore County Police trial board found last week that an officer used reasonable force when, according to a county attorney prosecuting the case, he struck an unruly suspect in the head 15 to 20 times while the man was on the floor in 2020. Earlier last week, the same county attorney dismissed a separate use-of-force allegation against the same police officer, David J. Folderauer Jr., who struck a man in the head with a flashlight during an incident in 2021, according to the officer’s defense lawyer.

Frederick County Public Libraries welcomes back readers and explorers of all ages for its annual summer reading program, being held June 1 to Aug. 15. As in years past, this summer, FCPL is challenging you to read books and visit community destinations. Read for at least 20 days this summer, and you’ll not only build a healthy new habit, you will earn rewards.

Jose Argueta ran his knife along the spine of a Northern snakehead, pulling the meat from the body of one of the Chesapeake Bay’s most threatening invasive fish. An inspector stood over his shoulder in a white lab coat, embroidered with the letters “USDA.” But she paid little mind to the snakehead on the table, inside the kitchen-sized slicing room at BSA Seafood in Queen Anne’s County’s Grasonville.

Nearly two decades ago, Baltimore officials made an ambitious promise to the residents of Poppleton, a predominantly Black neighborhood west of downtown. The city would spend millions of dollars buying property, moving residents and razing structures to clear 14 acres of land that would be given exclusively to one developer. In return, that developer would create a new, diverse, vibrant mini-city with room for them to return.

The Montgomery County school board is considering requiring a financial literacy course to graduate, joining a growing number of school systems intent on providing students with skills to make better money decisions later in life. The school system currently offers the lessons in elective courses including personal finance and financial mathematics.