Around Maryland

As the county executive, Johnny Olszewski is used to running things. But, when Baltimore County’s top official walked into the kitchen at Bykota Senior Center, he knew to let the assembly line of paper plates and diced carrots proceed without his signature. “I do not want to complicate what is already a well-oiled machine,” Olszewski said as he and his communications director, Erica Palmisano, wheeled a silver cart of chicken-and-gravy lunches to an adoring crowd this week for No Senior Eats Alone Day.

A Maryland nonprofit is helping people with disabilities find jobs and other opportunities by hosting a boot camp in partnership with tech company Enabled Intelligence. For decades, Melwood has aimed to provide employment, training, and supportive and recreational services to people with disabilities. Employees at Enabled Intelligence input data that helps artificial intelligence systems, including those run by the federal government.

Nadia Hansel, M.D., has been named director of the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and physician-in-chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is the first woman to lead the Department of Medicine in its 131-year history. A world-renowned expert in obstructive airway diseases, Hansel focuses her research on defining the effects of indoor air quality on asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and in understanding how the environment and neighborhoods contribute to health disparities in lung disease.

The Frederick County Board of Education is creating a systemwide student cellphone usage policy. Currently, cellphone usage for students is outlined in the Frederick County Public Schools Code of Conduct. However, the lack of an official consistent board policy for cellphone usage and discipline has left some teachers and students frustrated.

Engineers examining the Dali found a loose electric cable that could have triggered the blackout preceding the destruction of the Key Bridge. A report from the National Transportation Safety Board published Wednesday says engineers from Hyundai, the Korean manufacturer who built the ship as well as most of its electrical components, sent three separate envoys from South Korea to examine the vessel in April and May.

Buildings have been demolished, the design for a new train station has been released — Amtrak’s future Frederick Douglass Tunnel project is already making West Baltimore look different. But residents are urging city leaders to do what they can to pump the brakes on it until a civil rights investigation plays out. The federally subsidized passenger rail company has won billions in federal grant dollars to replace the current Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, which is more than 150 years old.

Baltimore is expanding a program to monitor students commuting home to areas near 10 schools, officials said at a City Council committee meeting Wednesday. Last summer, Mayor Brandon Scott launched the Safe Passage Baltimore initiative as a pilot, describing it as a program meant to make students traveling home from school safer.

The new Frederick Police Department headquarters near Carroll Creek is on track to open at the end of the first quarter of 2025 and will be completed under budget, the city said. Speaking on behalf of the police department at Thursday’s Board of Aldermen public meeting, Marc DeOcampo, director of strategic planning and executive projects for the city, said that a series of discounts available to the city will allow the project to come in under budget.