Around Maryland

The Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s “Look Alive” campaign took to the streets of Annapolis Thursday to educate drivers and pedestrians on the importance of roadway safety. The campaign deployed five “signal people” to perform an interactive campaign by walking the crosswalks of the four-way Forest Drive and Hillsmere Drive intersection, reminding drivers and walkers to obey traffic signs that are meant to keep them safe.

As Maryland policymakers look to fulfill the state’s many mandated climate goals, a new report suggests that the fossil fuel appliances and other heavy equipment used to power homes and businesses are contributing far more to poor air quality than all of the state’s power plants combined. In fact, furnaces, HVAC systems, water heaters and other equipment powered by fossil fuels emit more than three times as much health-harming nitrogen oxides as the state’s power plants, according to the study, “Cutting Through The Smog: How Air Quality Standards Help Solve the Hidden Health Toll of Air Pollution from Maryland’s Homes and Businesses.”

As the Latino community grows in Maryland, women leaders from the community are rising to positions of power, organizing change and making a path for the next generation of leaders. The Latino population in Maryland grew from 8% to 12% in a decade, or to some 744,000 in the 2020 Census, with the largest communities in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. During Hispanic Heritage Month — which runs from mid-September to mid-October and celebrates the historic Independence of the Spanish republics of the Americas and the contributions of Hispanics in the United States — Maryland Matters is profiling three Latina leaders in the state.

For the first time in more than 26 years, Maryland lawyers have new font options for the briefs they file in the state’s appellate courts. In an administrative order issued last week, Chief Justice Matthew J. Fader approved an updated list of fonts for filings in the Maryland Supreme Court and Appellate Court. The list comes two months after the justices received a letter from Joseph Dudek, an insurance coverage and appellate attorney at Kramon & Graham, P.A., requesting a modernized font selection. According to Fader’s order, the font list had not been updated since July 1, 1997.

The Frederick County Board of Education is set to vote Wednesday on whether to change the current process for approving some health curriculum resources. Since May 2021, the board’s Family Life Advisory Committee — which is run by volunteers and includes health care providers, parents and district employees — has had the authority to approve the curriculum resources that come before it.

Joyce Gantt, 82, had been living at the Landing of Silver Spring for 13 days when management called a meeting to tell residents the assisted-living and memory-care facility would close in 45 days. Her family had worked hard to ensure the Landing would be a good fit for Gantt, paid the $3,000 community fee and rent through October, and spent thousands of dollars on moving fees to get her settled in what they thought would be her home for the rest of her life, until the news Monday, said her son, Derrick Gantt-Bey.

Classes at Bowie State University are canceled for Monday after two people were shot late Saturday night at the end of a week of homecoming festivities. Maryland State Police said Sunday morning they responded to an incident just after 11:30 p.m. and found two male victims, both 19, with non-life-threatening injuries in front of the school’s Center for Business and Graduate Studies.

The gridlock that some feared amid twin events held at Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday came to fruition, stranding drivers on streets surrounding the stadium long after Stevie Nicks took the stage to perform. Tickets to see Nicks along with singer Billy Joel at the Ravens’ stadium went on sale months before the Orioles clinched the American League East, ensuring that the team would host a home game at Camden Yards on the same date.

Hundreds of medical professionals, language interpreters and community organizers joined forces on Saturday to provide free care and resources for the 16th annual Frederick Community Health Fair at Frederick High School. The fair was sponsored by the Asian American Center of Frederick and Frederick Health Hospital. Seventy-two groups, including Frederick County government agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses and the U.S. Public Health service, attended.