Around Maryland

Today Maryland Task Force 1 (MDTF-1) heads to Hawaii to provide aid after the wildfires ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui. According to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) spokesperson Pete Piringer the 80-member team plans to assist with search and rescue operations. The mission has been classified as a Type I Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Urban Search and Rescue, Piringer posted on X, the platform previously referred to as Twitter.

A legislative workgroup tasked with recommending changes to the degree approval process at Maryland’s colleges and universities started work this week, as the Maryland Higher Education Commission awaits legal advice on its most recent controversial decision. The workgroup was formed by the General Assembly earlier this year — before the commission’s controversial decision in June to allow a new business analytics degree at Towson University over the objection of officials at Morgan State University, a historically Black campus five miles away.

The line for a hot meal stretched down the air-conditioned hallway at Beans & Bread in Fells Point. Inside the cafeteria, mothers and grandmothers had walked through 100-degree July heat to find lunch for their kids. The Friday menu was fried fish, Italian sausage pasta, baked chicken, green beans, rice, and macaroni and cheese.

About 4,500 users were impacted by a cyberattack on Prince George’s County Public Schools that was detected early Monday, according to the school district. The attack affected about 2.5 percent of the school system’s 180,000 users and it primarily impacted staff accounts, the district said in a news release. The school system’s main business and student information systems, Oracle and SchoolMAX, did not appear to be impacted, school officials said. But the system said it is still understanding the full scope of the incident.

Montgomery County suffered 49 carjackings from January through March in a record high for the first quarter of the year, according to Data Montgomery. The highest first-quarter number was previously eighteen in 2021. The frequency of incidents since then has fallen, but the county is on track to count a record number of carjackings for the sixth year running. Montgomery County saw eight carjackings in 2017, which grew to 80 last year; the figure for 2023 already stands at 74, according to Data Montgomery.

Forget about the salt-box cornhole games. No chicken wing-eating contest, either. And sorry, you won’t hear all the indie bands. The annual offbeat Hampdenfest street festival, scheduled for next month, has been canceled. Organizers broke the news online Tuesday, saying city officials denied their event permit. Organizer Benn Ray blamed the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts for the mess in planning a return of Artscape and leaving smaller festivals, such as Hampdenfest, in the lurch.

The Maryland Public Service Commission held a hearing Tuesday to consider the relocation of Baltimore’s Gas and Electric external gas regulators. BGE wants to install the regulators on the homes of some customers who don’t want them. The regulators have sparked lawsuits and protests in Baltimore City over the last few months. In June, three Federal Hill residents were arrested for blocking crews from installing the regulators on their homes. That group was part of a lawsuit that temporarily halted the installation of the regulators in Baltimore.

The first day of school is steadily approaching for Baltimore City Public School System students once again. But before that return to school on Aug. 28, there’s paperwork and to-do lists for families and guardians to complete, most of which can be found at BCPSS’ back-to-school webpage. Here’s what Baltimore City students and their caregivers need to know ahead of the 2023-24 school year.