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Old prison jail cells
In state prisons and Baltimore jails, trans people choose between harassment or confinement

State prison and Baltimore city jail policies are effectively funneling transgender people into solitary confinement-like settings for long stretches of time, according to formerly incarcerated trans people and advocacy groups who testified before the Maryland Senate last week while pushing for new housing and search policies.

 

Whitman-Walker Health System CEO Ryan Moran stepping down to join Maryland health department

Whitman-Walker Health System is seeing change at the top — again. Ryan Moran, who was appointed CEO in fall 2021 of Whitman-Walker Health System, one of the D.C. nonprofit’s two sibling entities, is stepping down for a post with the Maryland Department of Health, Whitman-Walker announced Tuesday. Cindy Lewin, a former D.C. partner at the law firm Venable LLP and, before that, general counsel of AARP, will step in as interim chief executive of Whitman-Walker Health System, a philanthropic and research institute, starting April 10, according to the organization.

Amtrak rolls out extra-low ‘Night Owl’ fares for Baltimore and beyond

Calling all early birds and night owls. Amtrak has announced new low train fares from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. for travelers going from New York City to Washington, D.C., and stops in between. Passengers on the Northeast Regional and select routes can get fares as low as $15 (New York to BWI), or $5 (from Baltimore to Philadelphia). But you may have to be willing to wake up at the crack of dawn — or just never go to bed.

Report shows recovering arts industry in Md., but experts are cautious about future
Morgan St. expands research capabilities with 2 new centers

With the release of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s fiscal year 2024 budget, Morgan State University has secured an additional $6.8 million in state funding to support the launch of two new research centers that will develop and drive innovation in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and address the challenges facing public school education.

air circus performances in the circus
Circus to return to Baltimore in November — minus the animals

Acrobats, dancers and unicyclists from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey will perform six shows in Baltimore this November in the traveling circus’s first tour returning from a six-year hiatus. The shows at CFG Bank Arena will include aerial stunts such as a crisscross flying trapeze, multiple performers on a triangular high wire and a trampoline bouncing both bicycle and unicycle riders into the air, but will not feature elephants and other animals, who were retired before the circus’s eventual closure in 2016.

 

Read More: Baltimore Sun
yellow school bus on road during daytime
Montgomery Co. school bus safety report shows fewer cars passing stopped buses

There are fewer drivers blowing past stopped school buses in Montgomery County, Maryland, and 91% of drivers cited don’t do it again, according to police.Montgomery County police said there were a total of 54,766 violations involving drivers passing stopped school buses in the 2021-2022 school year,  compared to 29,303 so far this year. In a briefing before the county council’s Public Safety and Education and Culture committees, Council member Will Jawando referred to the tickets generated through automated cameras on the bus stop arms by saying, “One could assume that maybe the program is working.”

 

Read More: WTOP
Baltimore Public Works Director Jason Mitchell, after announcing resignation, to remain through June

Baltimore Department of Public Works Director Jason Mitchell, who announced his resignation earlier this year, has agreed to remain with the city until the end of the fiscal year. Mitchell announced his resignation in January amid mounting pressure from some members of the Baltimore City Council and said he would leave in April. However, Mitchell has since agreed to remain with the department through June 30 to complete several ongoing projects, City Administrator Faith Leach said Monday.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Johns Hopkins study highlights promise of IV mistletoe extract for cancer therapy

Ivelisse Page already had 15 inches of her colon and 28 lymph nodes removed to treat her colon cancer, but in the winter of 2008 she received more devastating news. The cancer had spread to her liver. Page’s doctor, Dr. Luis Diaz – an oncologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — gave her an 8% chance of living for more than two years.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
School safety update shows jump in arrests in Montgomery County

Although the number of times Montgomery County Public School administrators have called police to respond to incidents is down this year — 1,329 calls so far, compared to 2,814 for all of last school year — the number of arrests has increased. Calls for service included requests for help from fire and emergency services for medical issues, along with law enforcement related calls. According to data presented to county council committees on public safety and education, the number of arrests of students in schools has gone up: from three in the 2021-2022 school year to 13 this year.

 

Read More: WTOP

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