Around Maryland

Some Baltimore City schools will change schedules this week amid hot temperatures in the weather forecast. After the Labor Day holiday on Monday, the district is adjusting schedules on Tuesday and Wednesday for schools that do not have air conditioning. Grades 2-12: Students who attend schools without air conditioning will engage in synchronous virtual (live at home) learning. Schools will implement virtual learning plans and ensure students have access to laptops.

With doors missing doorknobs, miscellaneous construction supplies scattered here and there, and newly painted walls that had just finished drying before the ribbon-cutting celebration began, renovations are not quite done yet at the soon-to-open 24-hour Walk-in Crisis Care Center in Frederick County. “Please excuse the mess,” Rebecca Layman, director of development and marketing for the Mental Health Association of Frederick County, asked the room full of county officials and mental health community partners at the event Wednesday.

When she became Baltimore County Fire Chief in July 2019, Joanne Rund said her priority would be enhancing safety protections for firefighters and upgrading aging fire stations. She was applauded for bringing new perspective as Baltimore County Fire Department’s first permanently appointed female leader. But four years later, firefighters say a “toxic environment” created by department leaders has led to poor morale, a shortage of staff and inconsistency in how discipline is meted out.

Just weeks before move-in, Towson University freshman Katie Kochanek learned Aug. 4 that her dorm, originally set for two students, would be squeezing in one more. The double-turned-triple room is one of several in an adaptation plan for this year to fit 7% more students in college housing, according to Towson University spokesperson Jamie Abell.