Around Maryland

Baltimore County Public Schools hosted a public information session Monday evening to present possible solutions to relieve overcrowding at Hampton Elementary School. The system is conducting an emergency capacity-relief study this semester that involves Hampton, Cromwell Valley Regional Magnet School and Pleasant Plains Elementary School. At the meeting Monday, BCPS introduced four resulting boundary map options to the public, each moving 40 to 45 students from Hampton to the other two schools.

Maryland is among the top 10 states where residents are most often searching online for lawyers, according to research conducted by a Texas personal injury firm.The study analyzed which states had the most online searches for various types of lawyers and ranked each state’s average monthly search volume based on the number of searches per 100,000 people. Maryland ranked seventh with 374 searches per 100,000 people, coming in just below Virginia, which had 376 searches per 100,000 people.

New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that Black and African Americans experienced over 1.6 million excess deaths over the previous two decades — a trend that researchers believe means more work needs to be done. The study published in JAMA looked at millions of records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spanning from 1999 to 2020, comparing the race of Black and white populations across age groups.

Eric Lin, a junior from Severna Park High School, will sit as the 50th student member of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education starting in July. Lin’s election was announced this month following a debate in late April with the other two finalists, Indu Bodala, of Glen Burnie High School, and Taryn Reinhart, of Annapolis High School.

Wondering what to do with that extra day off this Memorial Day weekend? Well, the D.C. region is home to many outdoor attractions perfect for celebrating the holiday weekend. Erin Gifford, a freelance travel writer who has written three guidebooks for hiking in Virginia and the surrounding D.C. area, recommended a few favorite hiking spots that vary in difficulty and driving times. “I always look for hikes that are just interesting,” Gifford said. “They need to be a good distance, not too long, maybe 2 or 3 miles, and that always have kind of engaging features.”

Baltimore County’s Department of Recreation and Parks has launched a Park Finder web tool to provide users with “comprehensive information on 362 parks and recreation centers throughout the County, makes exploring and enjoying Baltimore County easier than ever,” county officials said Monday. Users can search by name, community name, and/or amenities like playgrounds, picnic areas, amphitheaters, farmlands, pickleball courts, dog parks, boat rentals, and more.

Preakness organizers took a different approach to the 2023 version of the storied event, welcoming an international pop star to take the stage following the race. Instead of performing during the day or Friday, the weekend’s biggest performer — Bruno Mars — played shortly after the running of the 148th Preakness Stakes. The result was an attendance total that was slightly higher than last year’s, when Megan Thee Stallion and Lauryn Hill performed on the eve of Preakness 2022, but one that still paled in comparison to the previous decade.

Allegany County’s housing prices have far surpassed the pay scale for many local would-be buyers. According to Maryland Realtors, from April 2023 compared to April 2022 the county saw 9.7% fewer housing units sold with the average sales price up by 19.4%. Home sales across the state dropped by 33.8% year over year in April.