Around Maryland

Baltimore is on a fast-approaching deadline to obligate all $641 million of its federal COVID-19 relief funds by the end of this year — or else it will lose the money. Around $501 million has been obligated as of Sept. 30, per a new report released Thursday by the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs. That number does not include interagency agreements, according to Chief Recovery Officer Shamiah Kerney.

More than 200 community members attended a special event at the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC) – a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) – kicking off the health care provider’s new Courtney Speaker Series with Baseball Hall of Fame member Cal Ripken Jr. During the program, Ripken also announced a new collaboration between the foundation he co-founded in honor of his father and UMMS.

Growing up in Baltimore, Angela Crenshaw remembered hearing the names of Maryland’s African American history “titans” like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. Her school history books, however, only mentioned Tubman briefly, detailing her time spent helping slaves escape on the Underground Railroad. It wasn’t until Crenshaw began working as a park ranger at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center in Dorchester County that she truly connected with Tubman’s life and story.

Baltimore renters who have lived in the city for at least a year in one of more than 120 neighborhoods can access a grant up to $20,000 to purchase a home in any of those same neighborhoods, thanks to an expanded program from Live Baltimore. The city’s marketing arm, which operates as a nonprofit organization, said in a Wednesday news release that as many as 100 residents could tap into the funding as long as they purchase homes in “grant-eligible” areas. That includes much of East and West Baltimore, as well as neighborhoods south of the Hanover Street Bridge.

A STEM-focused charter school has inked a deal to expand in Anne Arundel County. Chesapeake Science Point Middle-High School has leased 57,000 square feet of space at a St. John Properties-owned flex building in Hanover that sits next to its current school. The charter operator recently signed a lease for the entire building at 7320 Parkway Drive near Routes 100 and 295. The school is part of a Prince George's County-based charter network that enrolls students in pre-K through 12th grade. The Chesapeake Science Point Charter School network has a total of seven school buildings, with five in Prince George's County.

Frederick County Board of Education candidate Jaime Kiersten Brennan raised more money than the other five candidates combined between Aug. 21 and Oct. 20, according to online pre-general reports. Brennan, a certified public accountant and the former chair of the Frederick chapter of Moms for Liberty, raised $16,343 in contributions over the filing period. The rest of the field — Janie Monier, Josh Bokee, Veronica D. Lowe, Colt Morningstar Black and Chad King Wilson Sr. — had a total of $7,708.

The Office of the Inspector General revealed that the Department of Public Works’ reporting on heat-related illnesses omitted 10 cases of employees who suffered from heat-related disorders. “Six of the 10 employee-reported illnesses that were not found on DPW’s spreadsheet occurred on days when temperatures reached 90℉ or higher, with two that occurred on a 103℉ day,” per the OIG report. Of the illnesses omitted, employees reported symptoms of lightheadedness, dehydration, blacking out due to heat, dizziness and vomiting, heat stroke, fainting, chafing due to excessive heat, and cramping, according to OIG’s findings.