Around Maryland

A contract to explore options for Baltimore’s conduit system was approved by the Board of Estimates Wednesday in spite of the overwhelming passage on Election Day of an amendment to the city charter barring the sale and lease of the system. Approved by a 3-2 vote, the $50,000 agreement with FMI Capital Investors will help determine the “best and highest use” of the conduit system, city attorney Hilary Ruley told the board last month, when the contract was first proposed.

Under new Baltimore County Police policies, officers whose disciplinary records are requested under the Maryland Public Information Act as well as the union representing police will be notified of such requests within two business days. The officer and a designated representative — an attorney or member of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge, for example — will then be permitted to review the documents five days before they are released to the requester.

Doctors visits can be time consuming for students, taking them away from the classroom for hours sitting in traffic and waiting rooms. But at some Howard County public schools, a pediatrician is just a click away. At the county’s 11 school-based wellness centers, students can receive onsite physicals and screenings and, at eight of the locations, connect with a local provider remotely via a telemedicine appointment.

The National Aquarium reopened its tropical rainforest exhibit Tuesday following a monthslong closure for the replacement of its massive, 684-pane glass roof. The glass panes were as old as the aquarium itself, which opened 41 years ago, and aquarium officials say the new glass brings a host of benefits for animals — both inside and outside of the aquarium. The new, etched panes will help control temperatures inside the exhibit for plants and animals and minimize the number of migrating birds that inadvertently strike the glass. Workers also added LED lights to the top of the pyramid structure, capable of turning blue to represent the aquarium, or purple and orange for the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens.

On one side of the Fort Meade gate, they are part of the nation’s secret-finding and -keeping apparatus. They’re on the front lines, however remotely, of global conflicts and nefarious threats. On the other side, they are just another tired worker who stops at Royal Farms for coffee — but with the weight of knowledge to which no one else in line is privy. One such Fort Meade worker told Tim O’Ferrall that he remembered thinking: “How are you all not screaming right now?” “It’s a stressor,” O’Ferrall says now, with some understatement. O’Ferrall is the general manager of the Fort Meade Alliance, a community group that supports the installation and partnered with it to create the Education and Resiliency Center that will have its grand opening Thursday.

As the world started shutting down in March 2020, Al Hutchinson, CEO and president of Visit Baltimore, began to prepare for a seismic shift in the business of marketing Charm City to potential visitors. The leader of the city’s tourism arm, a quasi-governmental agency, is responsible for “heads in beds,” or attracting visitors to spend time — and money— in Baltimore. Soon enough, the destination marketing specialist realized the work had hit a historic roadblock. Like so many others during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic, Hutchinson learned to pivot. Before the Baltimore Convention Center transformed into a field hospital, he and his team showed up to what events were left and distributed hand sanitizer. When stay-at-home orders went into effect, he helped connect small businesses with financial resources to keep the lights on.

When Kia Jefferson received a renewed lease in June for her apartment in Laurel, she said it felt “like somebody punched me in the gut.” The monthly rent on her home of 17 years would be increasing from $1,311 to $2,050. “It’s gotta be a typo,” Jefferson recalled thinking at first. A new landlord had taken over the Patuxent Place Apartments and begun renovating some units so they could be rented at far higher rates. Even though Jefferson’s apartment hadn’t been renovated — or even, she said, received a new coat of paint since she’d moved in — she and other longtime tenants faced steep increases.