Around Maryland

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.

Sorry to burst your bubble, everyone. Despite what some circulating messages might say, there is no free admission to the Maryland Zoo next week, zoo officials said Wednesday. The message, which zoo officials said is from an unaffiliated Facebook page, claims the zoo is free for all visitors from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sept. 18 — but, to be clear, it is not.

We’re getting uplifted from the good coming from unexpected places. There are a billion active users on social media platform TikTok. They usually check it out to laugh, for the latest popular trends and challenges or maybe for advice and a positive word of encouragement. But it might surprise and inspire people to hear that TikTok has donated thousands of dollars to our local schools.

With the academic year in full swing, many public school districts in the Baltimore area are still working to address teacher vacancies, but the gaps are not nearly as large as in the past few years. Ranging from 171 vacancies in Baltimore City schools to zero in Harford County, the progress is measurable. School officials and teacher union leaders say state-mandated salary increases, apprenticeship programs and recruitment initiatives have helped several counties reduce vacancies.