Around Maryland

A housing market correction may be underway in Greater Baltimore. Inventory in the region increased for the second straight month in June and while the median sales price remains higher than a year ago, the rate of price growth is slowing, according to new figures released Thursday by Bright MLS. The changes to the housing market in Greater Baltimore come after nearly two years of high demand and low inventory that drove prices to record highs amid the pandemic.

A high concentration of blue-green algae has been detected in Triadelphia Reservoir, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission said Thursday. Blue-green algae, a type of algal bloom, can produce harmful chemicals called cyanotoxins that can cause severe illness in humans and animals if consumed or touched. Drinking water filtered from Triadelphia Reservoir, located along the Patuxent River in Howard and Montgomery counties, is not affected by the toxic bloom.

More Maryland residents are just one click away from faster and more reliable internet service. On Thursday, the state got a $95 million federal grant to help families and students get online. During the critical stages of the coronavirus pandemic, Maryland students had to leave school and learn from home. For many, there was a problem, access to the internet.

The design of a new Carroll County Sheriff’s Office headquarters is finally moving forward after the Board of Carroll County Commissioners unanimously approved a $2,562,300 contract Thursday with Manns Woodward Studios, of White Marsh, for architectural and civil engineering design. The money for design is already allocated in the county’s fiscal 2023 operating budget, after commissioners decided in April to move up the project timeline by two years.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools anticipates between 45 and 50 driver vacancies among bus routes next school year, similar to where the system ended this school year, interim Superintendent Monique Jackson told the Board of Education Wednesday. Thousands of students last year were affected by late bus service, and in many cases no bus service at all. The disruptions were caused by a driver shortage, which AACPS says is a national problem. The system has been working with contractors to fill empty jobs.

Frederick County Public Schools needs to hire more than 130 special educators in the next five weeks to be fully staffed by the time classes resume — something district administrators acknowledge is unlikely.The shortage is most severe among special education instructional assistants (SEIAs), whom FCPS has been struggling to recruit and retain for months. At the June 22 meeting of the Frederick County Board of Education, the district staff reported 30 SEIA vacancies. On Wednesday, they reported 97 vacancies.

Thousands of Carroll County residents were without power Wednesday after a strong storm system blew through the area Tuesday afternoon and evening. The Maryland Department of Emergency Management’s website showed 9,730 Carroll County customers without power midday Wednesday. According to BGE, as of 3 p.m., Wednesday, about 8,837 of its 59,959 power customers, or almost 15%, were without power. FirstEnergy showed about 700 customers without power, most of whom were in the Taneytown area.

Local school districts are spending a good bit of their summer recruiting new schoolteachers. It’s a critical task as the nation faces teacher shortages that existed pre-coronavirus pandemic. It’s a year-round conversation that takes place among top administrators: How to make sure there are enough teachers in the classroom come the first day of school.

Gov. Larry Hogan spent Friday in Harford County, visiting businesses in downtown Havre de Grace, including recipients of Project Restore grants, and saw the progress of the city’s living shoreline restoration project for the riverfront along Water Street. “It was good to have the governor see our living shoreline restoration project and the efforts we’re making to keep [Chesapeake Bay ]clean and to return the shoreline to what it looked like when Capt. John Smith sailed past in 1608,” said Havre de Grace City Council President Jim Ringsaker.