Around Maryland

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.

Nearly four months after a ship strike decimated the Francis Scott Key Bridge and killed six construction workers, who would build and pay for a new bridge and the impact on Marylanders’ wallets were among the topics on the minds of readers during a Reddit AMA on Wednesday with Baltimore Sun reporter Hayes Gardner.

Prince George’s County native Jahmal Harvey grew up a fighter, but had to learn to become a boxer. Now, at 21, Harvey is gearing up to compete in the Olympics after winning gold at the 2023 Pan American Games to punch his ticket to Paris. “It meant a lot to me,” he said of his victory last year. “It was more so being relieved, more so than being happy.

Branson Williams feels the weight of his responsibilities. The 39-year-old Marylander is tasked with defeating an elusive and relentless enemy that shows no signs of weakening. Failure in this war is not an option. But a complete and convincing victory is unlikely. “I stay up late at night thinking about this,” Williams says. “Eradication is not possible at this point.

Triple-digit temperatures blasted the Baltimore area on Tuesday, the third consecutive day of record-setting heat in the city, while jail detainees were “baking in their cells” without air conditioning, according to the loved one of an inmate at a correctional facility downtown. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which runs Baltimore jails, confirmed on Wednesday that one of its facilities, the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center, had been partially without air conditioning since Friday after a blower motor malfunctioned on a housing unit tier.

Fewer teens have been shot in Baltimore during the first half of this year than in any in the last decade, a Banner analysis of police data has found. The number of high school-aged teens shot in Baltimore has fallen by more than two-thirds compared to last year’s 10-year-high watermark. The Banner has been tracking youth gun violence since teenagers began being shot at exceedingly higher rates in 2022.