Around Maryland

A spike in sleep-related infant deaths in the Baltimore metro area is alarming medial providers and health officials and causing them to double down on safe sleep education efforts. Eleven babies have died in Baltimore since Dec. 1, according to preliminary data provided by Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa on Wednesday. For comparison, 14 babies died in 2020 and 16 died in 2021, according to data from the city health department.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police, which has faced criticism over a lack of diversity for decades, has halted hiring efforts while announcing plans to recruit from historically Black colleges and universities and through Spanish-language radio stations. The announcement comes less than two months into the administration of Gov. Wes Moore, the state’s first Black governor, and amid concerns expressed by Black officers that the agency’s past hiring and promotion practices — particularly under former Gov. Larry Hogan — limited the number of diverse candidates.

After promising the Baltimore Ravens up to $600 million worth of upgrades to their stadium if the team resigned its lease, the Maryland Stadium Authority is now exploring how to finance those renovations amid a difficult economic environment. Chief Financial Officer David Raith told the Stadium Authority’s board on Tuesday that the agency won’t be able to finance $435 million in planned improvements to M&T Bank Stadium with only tax-exempt bonds and is seeking the OK to find a bank loan or other financing to pay for up to $200 million of the project costs.

Speed cameras were installed Monday in a new work zone on a Maryland portion of Maryland Route 295, also known as the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The work zone, part of the state’s SafeZones program, is on the two bridges over the Amtrak railway in Anne Arundel County,  just south of Maryland Interstate 195. The speed limit in the new work zone is 55 mph. There is a 21-day warning period, during which civil citations and fines for speed violations will not be issued.

Carroll County continues to move forward with establishing its first Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. On Thursday, the Board of Carroll County Commissioners unanimously approved a contract with Digitech Computer, LLC of Chappaqua, New York, to handle billing for emergency medical treatment, ambulance transport services to a hospital or facility, and collections.

The historic Towson armory has a new owner. Towson University has acquired the landmark at the corner of Chesapeake and Washington avenues for $8.6 million. The deal capped a three-year effort to turn the once-vacant Maryland National Guard armory into new incubator space for the fast-growing university that also owns 401 Washington Ave., a former office tower, next door. For the past three years, Towson University and partner Greenberg Gibbons have worked to convert the 26,000-square-foot armory into a job growth center called StarTUp at the Armory with space for a public business incubator. 

The graphics on this page are based on Maryland Department of Health data. The department releases new surveillance data around 10 a.m. every business day and new vaccination data by 10 a.m. every Friday. Dates indicate when information was reported.