Around Maryland

City leaders gathered in front of a trash-strewn alleyway in East Baltimore Monday afternoon to kickoff a new community cleaning program that will pay residents to tackle litter and waste in their own neighborhoods. Grants from the $14.7 million “Clean Corps” initiative will go to six community groups covering neighborhoods in East, West and South Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott and city officials said. City leaders hope the new initiative will serve multiple needs, removing trash while creating jobs for underemployed Baltimoreans and establishing a new pipeline of workers for the city’s strapped Department of Public Works.

Despite historic advancements in blood transfusion technology, an estimated 20,000 Americans bleed to death every year before they can be brought to the hospital, according to Dr. Allan Doctor, director of the Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “There’s some limited ability to give transfusions in helicopters on the way into the hospital,” said Doctor, a pediatrics professor at the Baltimore-based medical school, “but for routine ambulance runs, all you can do is just drive fast.”

The curtain is about to go up on a new show for the long-abandoned Mayfair Theatre, a once glamorous North Howard Street venue that closed in 1986. With its three back walls since demolished and its glorious beaux-arts facade the sole reminder of far better days, it looks like a relic of the World War II bombing of Berlin. But that’s about to change.

On one of the coldest days of the year so far, thousands of people traveled to Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis to sprint into the frigid water for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. The event, sponsored by Maryland State Police, raises millions of dollars each year to support Special Olympics Maryland. Now in its 27th year, the event continues to grow. As of Saturday afternoon, more than $3.4 million dollars had been raised already for the 2023 Plunge Fest. Fundraising continues until March 4, said Kira Northrop, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for Special Olympics Maryland. The group’s goal is to hit $3.5 million by that deadline.

The dueling lawsuits over control of the Orioles and other assets of longtime team owner Peter Angelos are being dropped by the parties, according to a court document. It says the suits, pitting members of one of Baltimore’s most famous families against one another, are withdrawn and cannot be refiled. It also means the end of a bitter, public feud between Angelos’ sons— one of them aligned with their mother— over a fortune estimated to be worth more than a billion dollars. The document says John and Louis Angelos and their mother, Georgia, agree “the actions in these consolidated proceedings … and all claims, including all counterclaims and defenses, asserted therein be dismissed with prejudice.”

Maryland officials are preparing for as many as 80,000 residents who could no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage this spring, as the federal government reinstates a requirement that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic for states to verify the eligibility of recipients. Michele Eberle, the executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, said that beginning in May, the state can start ending Medicaid coverage for people who no longer qualify. Maryland, she added, is in a better position to reach people than many other states to either continue Medicaid coverage or move them into other health plans. “We are working through all of those numbers right now, but we believe it’s around 80,000,” Eberle told a panel of lawmakers last month.

An icy wind sweeps across the grounds of the busiest mosque in the Baltimore area, swirling up little patches of snow, but the atmosphere inside a ranch house on the 8-acre campus is as warm and friendly as a neighbor’s kitchen. The aroma of kofta, a curried meatball dish, fills a cozy front room. White-haired men surround a folding table to watch an impromptu game of chess, some standing, others sitting, speaking in an animated mix of Urdu, Punjabi and English. As Shabbir Kapadia, 76, grabs a pawn and tries to slide it five squares as though it was a bishop, Jalal Akbar, 74, who is looking on, grabs his wrist and reminds him of the rules.

Opening beer cans for Orioles fans during Saturday’s Birdland Caravan happy hour, Adley Rutschman got hasty, prompting a Checkerspot Brewing Company employee to jokingly remind him to make sure the patrons paid for their drinks. A nearby fan offered a reason the Orioles’ catcher should have been able to get away with it. “He can do what he wants,” she said. “He’s Adley.” Such a viewpoint is likely common among Baltimore’s fanbase after Rutschman’s arrival miraculously spurred the Orioles into contention. With Rutschman putting up numbers that eventually resulted in Most Valuable Oriole honors and a runner-up finish in American League Rookie of the Year voting, the Orioles played at an 89-win pace with him on their roster. They finished three games out of a playoff spot despite preseason expectations they would be the majors’ worst team for the third time in five years.