Around Maryland

Whitman-Walker Health System is seeing change at the top — again. Ryan Moran, who was appointed CEO in fall 2021 of Whitman-Walker Health System, one of the D.C. nonprofit’s two sibling entities, is stepping down for a post with the Maryland Department of Health, Whitman-Walker announced Tuesday. Cindy Lewin, a former D.C. partner at the law firm Venable LLP and, before that, general counsel of AARP, will step in as interim chief executive of Whitman-Walker Health System, a philanthropic and research institute, starting April 10, according to the organization.

Calling all early birds and night owls. Amtrak has announced new low train fares from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. for travelers going from New York City to Washington, D.C., and stops in between. Passengers on the Northeast Regional and select routes can get fares as low as $15 (New York to BWI), or $5 (from Baltimore to Philadelphia). But you may have to be willing to wake up at the crack of dawn — or just never go to bed.

With the release of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s fiscal year 2024 budget, Morgan State University has secured an additional $6.8 million in state funding to support the launch of two new research centers that will develop and drive innovation in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and address the challenges facing public school education.

Baltimore Department of Public Works Director Jason Mitchell, who announced his resignation earlier this year, has agreed to remain with the city until the end of the fiscal year. Mitchell announced his resignation in January amid mounting pressure from some members of the Baltimore City Council and said he would leave in April. However, Mitchell has since agreed to remain with the department through June 30 to complete several ongoing projects, City Administrator Faith Leach said Monday.

Ivelisse Page already had 15 inches of her colon and 28 lymph nodes removed to treat her colon cancer, but in the winter of 2008 she received more devastating news. The cancer had spread to her liver. Page’s doctor, Dr. Luis Diaz – an oncologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — gave her an 8% chance of living for more than two years.

Although the number of times Montgomery County Public School administrators have called police to respond to incidents is down this year — 1,329 calls so far, compared to 2,814 for all of last school year — the number of arrests has increased. Calls for service included requests for help from fire and emergency services for medical issues, along with law enforcement related calls. According to data presented to county council committees on public safety and education, the number of arrests of students in schools has gone up: from three in the 2021-2022 school year to 13 this year.

It’s lunchtime at Benjamin Franklin High School, and as students stream in and out of crowded hallways, a small group of teenage moms congregates around a low, circular table in a closed-off room. With them are their toddlers and young children — some eating, one singing and another breastfeeding. The South Baltimore institution launched a family center in 2014 in response to a number of Benjamin Franklin students juggling families with studies and needing more resources to stay in school. Since the center’s inception, Benjamin Franklin has seen fewer absences, more students going to college and a teen parent graduation rate of 67% to 80%, school representatives say.