Around Maryland

Three students have been struck by drivers on their walks to Montgomery County schools in recent weeks, and parents and pedestrian advocates want the district to do more to keep students safe. Reports from the school system show two students recently needed to be hospitalized after being hit by cars on their way to class. On March 10, a Montgomery Village Middle School student was hit and had to be transported to the hospital. A week later, on March 17, a Magruder High School student was hit and also transported to the hospital. On Feb. 2, a Clarksburg High School student was hit, but was not seriously injured and was able to continue to school.

Is Assateague now the Mount Rushmore of national parks? Well, actually, by one standard it’s even better. For 2021, Assateague Island National Seashore received a record-setting 2,662,716 visitors to its Maryland and Virginia units. This put Assateague Island 33rd among the 380 National Park Units reporting visitation numbers, and ahead of such iconic locations as Mount Rushmore, Bryce Canyon and Shenandoah.

Harford County Public Schools shut down its onsite voluntary COVID-19 testing on March 17. During the last few weeks, the site operator, MAKO, saw a decline in the number of voluntary tests administered in the school system, according to a news release from the school system. HCPS encourages parents and staffto contact their medical provider for questions about future COVID-19 testing, the release said.

It has been nearly a week since a massive cargo ship with thousands of containers on board got stuck in the Chesapeake Bay. And officials say it could be another 10 days before the ship is able to float again because it is a rare, complex mission. On Friday morning, CBS Baltimore‘s Ava-Joye Burnett traveled out onto the bay with U.S. Coast Guard engineers and investigators as they tried to bring the vessel afloat.

With March nationally recognized as Colon Cancer Awareness Month, healthcare providers and colon cancer survivors are encouraging adults to think about getting screened sooner rather than later. Dr. Aminat Oluyemi, of Woodbine Gastroenterology Associates in Westminster, said colon cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer in men and women. Colon cancer is also the second deadliest cancer worldwide.

When Amazon.com Inc. decided to place its second headquarters in Arlington, some Prince George’s County officials had an immediate reaction: Their locality could be “ground zero” for Amazon workers who couldn’t afford to live in Northern Virginia or D.C. After all, as Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce President David Harrington explains, his county provided more affordable abodes, but without sacrificing indispensable Metro accessibility.