Around Maryland

Local nonprofit On Our Own of Frederick County was awarded a $76,000 state grant to help expand its services for those struggling with opioid addiction. On Our Own is a peer-led recovery center that provides resources — from one-on-one peer sessions, life coaching, support groups and educational programs — for people battling substance abuse and mental health problems, or people in recovery trying to maintain their clean lifestyle.

Four months after city leaders celebrated the results of Safe Streets, their flagship anti-violence program, one of the worst acts of violence in Baltimore history took place squarely within the group’s turf. Gunfire erupted at a South Baltimore block party on Saturday, leaving two dead and 28 others wounded shortly after midnight.

The Baltimore Museum of Art has acquired an art installation highlighting the work of the city’s health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The installation, “More Than Conquerors: A Monument for Community Health Workers in Baltimore,” is a gift from the Glenstone Museum located in Potomac. It will be on display at the BMA in 2025 as “part of a year-long initiative focused on the environment.”

Officials say contract negotiations and testing will continue as the town awaits permit approvals for a long-awaited dredging project. Late last month, the Town of Fenwick Island submitted three permit applications for a dredging project in the Little Assawoman Bay. In last week’s meeting of the Fenwick Island Dredging Committee, Councilman Bill Rymer, committee chair, said the town will continue to work with a local developer to finalize contract negotiations and sediment testing as those applications are being reviewed.

Halfway through the year, Anne Arundel County and Annapolis law enforcement agencies have investigated 16 homicides in 2023, the same number reported in all of 2022. While the two police departments investigate incidents separately, the overall homicide total through June are closer to 12-month numbers for recent years. Last year’s total included 15 homicides in the county and one in Annapolis.

Maryland correctional officers will receive a $13 million settlement as federal and state officials continue to investigate the illegal withholding of overtime pay from thousands of public safety employees. Nearly 3,900 officers will receive the delayed wages almost three years after U.S. Department of Labor officials first contacted the state’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services about a federal investigation into the agency’s timekeeping practices.

Frederick County’s Transit Services reached its goal of 700,000 riders for fiscal year 2023, marking a slight bounceback from low ridership levels during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fiscal year 2023, which ran from July 1, 2022, through the end of June, was the first since 2015 during which Transit Services of Frederick County reached its ridership target. Official numbers for the fiscal year are still being compiled, but the department met its goal by fewer than 100 riders, according to Mary Dennis, a communications manager for the transit service.

The Ride On buses in Montgomery County, Maryland, still have plenty of unoccupied seats, but ridership figures are climbing. According to Montgomery County Transportation Director Chris Conklin, ridership is at 80% of pre-pandemic levels, with Ride On service carrying 55,000 people per day. “We continue to see increases in our transit ridership each month,” Conklin said during a briefing Wednesday with Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich.