Around Maryland

Ridership of the Towson Loop’s free-to-ride circulator buses is still well short of the quarter million annual passengers projected by a 2020 feasibility study. But growing usage of the bus system has heartened Baltimore County officials to explore expanding the service to other parts of the county. Towson Loop buses have logged more than 80,000 riders since the program launched a year and a half ago, said Baltimore County officials.

Summer is ahead, and for many, so are long road trips. Last summer, 97% of vacations were taken by car, according to AAA. These long road trips take a toll on vehicles — which end up in the mechanic’s shop sooner or later. In Montgomery County, officials are reminding drivers to look out for scams at car repair shops and to remember that their rights as consumers are protected under Maryland law.

Due to the implementation of a new statewide system, the Caroline County Health Department will not be issuing birth or death certificates from May 1 to May 14. CCHD expects to resume issuance of certificates on May 15. The new process, including advanced appointment requirements, will be announced when full details are available.

Leaders in Prince George’s County aren’t arguing that the county welcomes, and needs, restaurants offering healthy options. But there is heated debated over promoting, and even offering favorable loans and incentives to restaurants that do. Council Vice Chair Wala Blegay is pushing a bill that would have the county not just promote healthy restaurants, but also make interest-free loans available to them, along with other incentives.

The Maryland Department of Health plans to shut down the online coronavirus data dashboard it has used since the coronavirus pandemic struck in March 2020 to publicly track hospitalizations, deaths, cases and other virus metrics. Starting Friday, the health department will move the data on the virus and information on vaccines, testing, treatment and other resources to a new, long-term home, the agency said Thursday. The websites coronavirus.maryland.gov and covidLINK.maryland.gov will no longer be accessible after this week

Republican state legislators are criticizing a recent change in how the state reports school test score data, saying that obscuring a small number of student results is masking failures at low performing schools. State education officials say their actions are intended to comply with a federal student privacy law and have vigorously disputed a news station’s allegations that they were intentionally hiding data about failing schools from the public.

A coalition of business groups on Thursday launched a campaign to increase long-distance service at Reagan National Airport, arguing that rules limiting the number of flights and the distance they travel are outdated and are hurting consumers and the local economy. The effort, led by the Capital Access Alliance, is the latest salvo in a long-running battle over control of National, whose unique status as one of two airports owned by the federal government — alongside Dulles International Airport — means Congress has the power to make changes to how it operates.