Around Maryland

A performance audit of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner likely does not provide a full picture of problems within the agency, according to one state lawmaker. The audit made public Tuesday by the Office of Legislative Audits “did not disclose any findings that warrant mention.” Del. Kirill Reznik, D-Montgomery County, said it may fall short of painting a complete picture of the agency responsible for autopsies in the state.

A Maryland hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cells without her permission six decades ago. Now, her family stands united in their civil case. The Lacks family is claiming unjust enrichment by a company that they said never sought permission but is profiting from the use of the cells. The company wants the case thrown out. A federal judge called this a challenging case, saying this is uncharted territory. It is an unprecedented case.

Entertainment executive Kevin Liles keeps the music industry’s hottest performers on speed dial, especially those he works with. The Baltimore-bred music mogul reached out to a headlining “hot girl,” when he was thinking about creating something special and exciting for his hometown’s premiere horse racing and music event. “I called my girl Megan Thee Stallion and said, ‘Meg, you’re the Stallion, you have to do Preakness for me,’” said Liles, recounting how he asked the Grammy-winning rapper, who is signed to one of the labels he oversees, to join the festival.

Nicole Plaza-Young hasn’t been sleeping well lately. In her nightmares, she goes from store to store, looking for formula for her 3-month-old baby. All she finds are empty shelves. With the ongoing national shortage of infant formula, life isn’t much less scary for the Brunswick mom when she’s awake. Her son is allergic to milk protein, so he relies on hypoallergenic formula for his meals. Plaza-Young and her husband have a stash that will last their child for about a week and a half, but they have family members across Maryland ready to snatch additional formula when they see it in stores.

The Carroll County government is a few hundred acres closer to meeting its goal of 100,000 preserved agricultural acres after adding a new easement in Westminster of about 105 acres. During a meeting Thursday, the Board of Carroll County Commissioners approved a request from the Department of Land and Resource Management to purchase an easement on the Stephen R. Boose property, at 2352 Tyrone Road. .

Motorists subjected to penalties for unpaid video tolls will get some relief under a bill signed into law Monday. The bill was one of 140 signed by Gov. Larry Hogan during a ceremony in Annapolis. It’s the second such ceremony in five days. During the early days of the pandemic in 2020, the state expedited its move to cashless tolling. Motorists were encouraged and later required to use E-ZPass or a system that automatically bills based on digital images of license plates.

Next school year Anne Arundel County Public Schools will switch to later start times for high schools and earlier start times for elementary schools, a change pediatricians say is good for the health of growing students. For many county parents, getting students to school at all is still a challenge as bus contractors deal with a shortage of drivers resulting in missed or late rides. On Thursday more than 40 bus routes out of about 600 didn’t have service at least part of the day.

After a failed motion and more than an hour of discussion during Wednesday’s meeting, the Carroll County Board of Education opted to table a vote on the Family Life Advisory Committee’s recommended changes to the state’s mandated health curriculum framework. The recommendations were on the meeting agenda as an action item, but some school board members were confused about the approval process while others wanted to further review the former curriculum framework and the intended changes. The issues were significant enough for board members to delay their vote.