Around Maryland

When organizers outlined the scope of the Maryland Cycling Classic in Baltimore, one called it “the Preakness on wheels.” That might be an apt description if the Preakness were the only portion of horse racing’s Triple Crown held in the United States, said Joe Traill, owner of Joe’s Bike Shop in Mount Washington and Fells Point. “It would be like getting a Formula One race here,” Traill said. “This is rare for anywhere in the United States, let alone Baltimore. Some people have worked really hard to get this done. … I hope people in Baltimore realize what a huge deal this is. People are going to come to watch this race, and it’s not just Baltimoreans.”

In this week’s peek into Baltimore arts, we chat up a Baltimore-born comic who is hoping to move on to the finals of “America’s Got Talent”, learn how line dancing saved a Baltimorean’s life and go behind-the-scenes of a film set in Charm City. The audience and judges gave comedian Mike E. Winfield a standing ovation after his first performance on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” in late May. “They were literally chanting my name,” the Baltimore-born comic said. “It was more like an out of body experience… When I walked back, Terry Crews [the show’s host] was like ‘Do you feel it? Do you feel your life changing at this very moment?’ I was so struck by everything happening I was like, ‘I don’t know.’”

Car drop-off lines stretched out and around school parking lots, droves of students stepped off yellow buses and classmates greeted themselves with hugs on the first day of classes in Baltimore City and Baltimore County on Monday. The smiling faces of students, teachers and staff reflected the joy of being back at school, with fewer of the masks, protocols and fears that marked the first two years of the pandemic. Less visible were some of the concerns that many share about teacher vacancies and bus driver shortages.

Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland will end its indoor mask mandate next week, CEO Monica Goldson said in a note to the school community. In a newsletter highlighting moments from the first day of school across the county, Maryland’s second-largest school system said it plans to implement a mask-optional policy beginning Sept. 6.

Maryland health officials have launched a dashboard to detail cases of monkeypox, and the latest numbers show the 461 cases are largely in Baltimore City and the suburbs of Washington. Infections are disproportionately affecting Black residents, with almost half of the cases, and they are largely younger adults. Almost half, 47.5%, are in their 30s and about a quarter are in their 20s. The dashboard was created by the Maryland Department of Health to better under.

As the school year began Monday, Anne Arundel County Public Schools is wrestling with a shortage of teachers, bus drivers, food service workers, custodians and more, as are other districts in the state and nation. In July, the system that serves more than 84,000 children reported 418 vacant classroom teaching positions. That number has dropped to 216 as of Aug. 29, schools spokesman Bob Mosier said.