Around Maryland

Thanks to an increase in revenue from Maryland’s state income taxes and the ongoing impact of federal stimulus aid, the state finished the 2022 fiscal year with a $2 billion revenue surplus. Of that total, $370 million will be transferred to a Fiscal Responsibility Fund used for public school, community college and higher education construction. It includes $60 million for pay increases for some state employees. The state’s Rainy Day Fund will automatically receive another $500 million of the total for emergencies, Democratic State Comptroller Peter Franchot said.

State transportation officials are asking for public input on seven proposed transit routes that would connect Towson to downtown Baltimore. The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration unveiled seven options for a new north-to-south transit line connecting Baltimore County to Baltimore City by light rail, bus or subway. The seven proposed “alternatives” were identified in a feasibility study completed in 2021.

Nearly 60 years after it closed its doors, the Harriet Tubman School in Columbia will reopen this weekend, transformed as a cultural and education center to highlight historic contributions of Black Howard County residents. A public ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Harriet Tubman Cultural Center will be held 10:30 a.m., Saturday, at 8045 Harriet Tubman Lane, Columbia. The Harriet Tubman Foundation will also host the annual Harriet Tubman Day celebration from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the site, with food, music and other activities.

With every arabesque, every jete and every pirouette, members of Baltimore’s Ballet After Dark dance away their pain. The group, which was founded in 2014 by dancer Tyde-Courtney Edwards, toe-shoed their way into the national consciousness this summer when they performed during the audition segment of the NBC’s reality television show, “America’s Got Talent.” The group might not have made the show’s finale. But they made their point. “We’re trauma survivors and dancers that use performance to reclaim relationships with our bodies and lives using the healing power of dance,” Edwards, 35, said during the broadcast, which NBC network says reaches an estimated six million homes.

Hunt Valley’s McCormick & Company launched a limited-edition Old Bay Caramel seasoning with fighting words: “Move over, pumpkin spice.” One envisions a battle between Old Bay fans and pumpkin spice acolytes. Crab mallet-fisted Marylanders duking it out in front of the local Starbucks with women in Ugg boots eager to welcome in Fall. Over the years, Old Bay has become a local icon, on par with crabs and the Orioles as a symbol of Baltimore pride. Then you have pumpkin spice, a seasoning with its own intense following, and a dizzying number of pumpkin spice-flavored items on the market. Ironically, McCormick itself deserves either blame or credit, depending on your perspective, for the entire pumpkin spice craze to begin with, having first launched its pumpkin pie spice in 1934.

Doctors have told health services to prepare for a new era of cancer screening after a study found a simple blood test could spot multiple cancer types in patients before they develop clear symptoms. The Pathfinder study offered the blood test to more than 6,600 adults aged 50 and over, and detected dozens of new cases of disease. Many cancers were at an early stage and nearly three-quarters were forms not routinely screened for.

Five police officers will not be charged in the 2021 death of a Virginia man after a preliminary report from the Office of the Attorney General cleared them, police said. Daniel Michael Holley, 23, died on Nov. 14, 2021, in Frederick Health Hospital, two days after police used a Taser on him during an altercation, a news release from the Frederick Police Department said.