Around Maryland

Black Americans and other people of color have long been underrepresented in clinical trials for emerging medications and therapies — even when they’re more likely to get sick or die from the condition the treatment is meant to target. Despite being twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white Americans, for example, Black Americans only comprised about 1 in 10 of the participants in the clinical trials for the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.

On a Tuesday morning in mid-April, Hughes United Methodist Church Pastor Diana Wingeier is bustling about the gymnasium at the Wheaton church, moving boxes of mushrooms to the back of the room and bags of leafy greens to a table near the front door as she helps shepherd dozens of Montgomery County residents through a weekly food pantry.

The Johns Hopkins University invited public feedback Thursday on draft policies outlining how university police will operate at three Hopkins properties. Finalizing department rules is one of the last steps to establish a new police agency at Hopkins. By winter, officers will start training to patrol the Homewood academic campus, the medical campus in East Baltimore and the Peabody Institute conservatory in Mount Vernon.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona highlighted a national shortage of college counselors in an appearance with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Thursday morning in downtown Baltimore. At the National Association of College Admission Counseling’s annual meeting, which brought more than 7,000 attendees to the Baltimore Convention Center, Moore and Cardona spoke in a moderated conversation on a wide range of education issues to an audience of mostly high school and college staff from across the country.

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that they would provide $600 million in funding for new COVID-19 tests. Additionally, they are resurrecting the government website to order those free tests. It's an effort to prevent possible future shortages as the winter months come and the rise of coronavirus cases — as well as flu and RSV — are expected.

Morgan State University has received a $3 million National Science Foundation grant that it plans to use to train future scientists. The federal dollars have been earmarked to help support research at the school related to climate change. Research is already taking place on the first floor of Spencer Hall. Students are training hands-on using water samples collected from local waterways and plants.

The University of Maryland Wednesday announced the grand opening of the National Quantum Laboratory (QLab), a groundbreaking quantum research center developed in partnership with IonQ), a College Park-based quantum computing firm. The QLab enables users to develop and design quantum technologies on one of the world’s most powerful quantum computers while working alongside leading experts in the field, in an effort to address the most complex challenges of our time.

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission (MSCRC) Wednesday announced grant awards totaling approximately $4 million dedicated to fostering innovative research that will propel advancements in stem cell treatments and technologies across Maryland. Twelve scientists from Maryland-based research institutions and companies have been selected as recipients of these prestigious grants.

Dry conditions have been sticking around in the D.C. region for some time, prompting Maryland to draw increased attention to the issue by announcing Wednesday that parts of the state would be placed in the “drought warning” category. There had already been a “drought watch” in effect from earlier in the summer.