Around Maryland

Transylvania County, North Carolina, tried to solve its child care shortage by spurring the development of small in-home day care facilities — but the effort ended up creating only two of them. In the mountains of western Colorado, Mesa County’s attempt to create 8,000 child care slots stalled at the 5,000 mark. And in Iowa, the state has crafted a program for publicly funded, privately operated day care centers that has alleviated — but not ended — the child care shortage in the state.

The to-do list before the school year tends to sprawl. It can be hard enough to pick up school supplies, but a medical evaluation, required for school sports, might linger down the agenda. Baltimore-based apparel company Under Armour is attempting to bridge that gap, setting up an ambitious one-stop shop this weekend at their Tide Point campus.

On its final voyage, a 51-year-old naval vessel named the Denebola experienced a steering issue near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Thursday afternoon, prompting a temporary closure of the dual-span structure. The 946-foot ship regained steering ability, safely transited under the bridge and moored south of Annapolis, awaiting Coast Guard inspection.

Baltimore native and 23-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps always looks cool in the pool. But this week at the Summer Olympics in Paris, the former competitive swimmer — a legend in his own right — got an extra dash of splash when NBC host and rap legend Snoop Dogg joined him. The duo went toe to toe in a pool that appeared to be quite a bit smaller than Phelps’ usual Olympic-sized water playground.

Brian Foreman’s Ford F-150 isn’t your average pickup truck. It’s more like a personal power plant. “One of the reasons we bought it was because we don’t have a backup generator for our house and we live in an area with a lot of exposed powerlines. So, we are always worried whenever a storm comes through and the trees start swinging that we are going to lose power,” Foreman told 11 News. “When we saw that this truck was available, the electric vehicle, and could power your house in case of a backup, we knew we were all in.”

The University System of Maryland Board of Regents voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon to update Title IX policies to reflect new federal language and requirements that take effect Thursday. Katherine Bainbridge, chief of the Higher Education Division at the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, explained before the vote that the changes restore some protections pulled back in 2020, add protections for pregnant students and outline new procedures for students filing sexual misconduct complaints.

August is here — a time for kids to enjoy a few more weeks of summer before they must return to the classroom. It’s also a time to have some fun at the Howard County Fair, which starts Saturday and runs through Friday, Aug. 9. The 78th annual Howard County Fair celebrates agriculture and its impact on the county. Community members can learn more about where their meat, milk and wool come from, as well as showcase their green thumbs in farm crop competitions.