Around Maryland

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.

A blessed reprieve may be on the horizon after days of oppressive heat, but emergency room doctors in Baltimore say the latest heat wave has been a reminder that hot weather isn’t just uncomfortable – it can be dangerous. In the last few weeks, when temperatures and the humidity routinely made the weather feel like it’s 100 degrees, doctors have reported seeing an uptick in people coming to hospital emergency departments with the trademark symptoms of heat-related illnesses.

Design of a trail project in Frederick and one to add sidewalks in areas of Brunswick are among the projects scheduled to be approved for funding Wednesday by a regional transportation organization. The money from the Transportation Planning Board of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments would provide $200,000 for design to tie two trail stubs on the eastern side of Frederick into the city’s trail network, as well as $330,718 for design for sidewalks along H Street in Brunswick, a key priority for the city.

Prince George’s County Council has greenlit a resolution to move forward with a project to build eight new schools in the county through a mix of public and private funds. The approval comes after the county council was unable to get the necessary votes to advance to the second phase of the plan last week. Under the Blueprint Schools Program developers finance the construction, and Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) pays for the new buildings over a 30-year period.

Members of the Baltimore Teachers Union rallied outside the school system’s headquarters Tuesday to pressure the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners to launch a national search for a new chief executive. Sonja Santelises, the Baltimore City Public School System’s CEO, signed a one-year contract in June after months of drawn-out negotiations with the board.

As the Howard County Council weighs two bills that would establish the county’s first-ever Office of the Inspector General, residents have taken more than a passing interest in the idea. Dozens of people appeared at a council meeting Monday evening to share their thoughts and concerns about the legislation — and even a few grammatical suggestions.

For the first time since the pandemic, the number of children in Maryland enrolled in pre-Kindergarten programs climbed above 30,000 last year. Since then, that number has grown even more and additional enrollment is expected. The state is in the early stages of implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a decade-long education reform law, which requires an expansion of full-day pre-K for 3-and 4-year-old children.