Around Maryland

On a sweltering Thursday in July at the So What Else food pantry in North Bethesda, Chris Yonushonis is directing staff and volunteers as they unload pallets loaded with packs of SmartWater bottles in preparation for the pantry’s weekly outdoor distribution of food and necessities to an estimated 1,000 families. On Saturdays, the line of cars for the distribution at the nonprofit’s Wyaconda Road pantry usually snakes around the block and throughout the surrounding neighborhoods, said Yonushonis, the Rockville nonprofit’s Montgomery County deputy director of hunger relief.

Baltimore’s Inspector General visited nine Department of Public Works sites on Tuesday. It followed an investigative report about poor working conditions at the Cherry Hill location. The report found the site did not have a working ice machine. Temperatures inside a cooling trailer reached 85 degrees, and locker rooms did not have AC or working fans, causing the temperature to reach 100 degrees.

Baltimore’s 40th Artscape festival, set to take place Aug. 2-4, will feature former RuPaul’s Drag Race competitor Naomi Smalls, fashion shows by emerging and professional designers, public art installations, and more. Artscape has been held nearly every year since its start in 1982, with the exception of 2020, 2021, and 2022. Traditionally held in the middle of summer, the festival was moved to the first weekend of fall in 2023, after returning from its three-year hiatus.

Tara Prakash is 18 years old and has already performed on the stage at the Kennedy Center. She’s not a musician, but a rising senior at Sidwell Friends School. Prakash was recently named Maryland’s first-ever youth poet laureate. Prakash, who lives in Chevy Chase, said she learned about the honor while on stage at the Kennedy Center in May. Prakash told WTOP, her parents had been informed ahead of time, and kept it secret to surprise her.

University of Maryland coaches and administrators were the highest-paid employees in the state in 2023, mirroring soaring compensation costs across the country. College football and basketball coaches tend to be the highest earners in a state and often make more money than the administrators running public universities, according to higher education compensation experts.

After months of buildup following the inaugural VidCon Baltimore in 2023, organizers abruptly canceled the event with no warning or reason, leaving fans confused and disappointed. Set to take place from Sept. 26-29 at the Baltimore Convention Center, VidCon was an opportunity to bring the content community together, giving influencers an opportunity to network with each other and brands, as well as interact with fans.

It’s July and as if the excessive heat isn’t enough, there is also coronavirus out there. The surveillance is less widespread, or even timely, these days. But more people who bother to test are positive for COVID-19, and some are being hospitalized, and more virus is being found in wastewater samples. Many of us know of someone at home sick, including President Joe Biden.

The Maryland Transportation Authority will raise tolls for the Bay Bridge and harbor tunnels in two years, part of the ongoing economic fallout caused by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year, but the size of the increases aren’t yet known. MDTA officials originally planned to raise tolls, due in part to inflation, in July 2028, the start of the authority’s fiscal year.