Around Maryland

There have been photos and renderings of what the rail cars on the new Purple Line light rail system will look like, but on Thursday, Maryland transportation officials gave a sneak peek of what commuters can look forward to when the much-awaited line that connects Montgomery and Prince George’s counties finally opens. The new rail car was unveiled in Prince George’s County. The 142-foot-long vehicle is currently the longest of its kind in the U.S. and holds 430 passengers.

The Frederick County Board of Education on Wednesday voted 4-3 to create a work group to explore options to modify school start times, which may include the possibility of switching which grade levels start first. The work group will be set by Jan. 1, 2025, and will be tasked with creating a plan wherein no FCPS school starts before 8 a.m. by the 2029-30 school year. Currently, most of FCPS high schools start at 7:30 a.m., middle schools start at 8 a.m. and elementary schools start at 9 a.m.

School may be out for the summer, but Baltimore County police say the middle of July is the perfect time to activate additional speed cameras at five school zones across the county. “Just because we are out of the regular school season doesn’t necessarily mean that school activities are not taking place. They have summer school, they have other summer activities, and then you’re going to have fall sports starting to practice at these locations,” Detective Trae Corbin of the Baltimore County Police said.

A library in Annapolis recently added a driving simulator, helping people learn to navigate the roads before they actually get there. The driving simulator offers multiple educational courses. It can help rookie drivers and experienced drivers who want to test their reaction times. Gabby Norton lobbied for it. “I figured it would be a really, really good way to let people practice and get that simulated training before they even get experience in a dangerous situation and feel empowered to get on the roads,” Norton said.

Marylanders should assume that their personal health care information was included in a recent wide-reaching data breach and should take steps to protect their identity and health information as a precaution, the attorney general’s office said Thursday. Change Healthcare, the nation’s biggest electronic data clearinghouse and a unit of UnitedHealth, was the victim of a ransomware attack in February that “interrupted operations for thousands of doctor’s offices, hospitals and pharmacies,” according to the press release.

New, healthier food options, like locally grown produce and more cultural dishes, are coming to Howard County Public Schools. In response to concerns about the taste, freshness and healthiness of school meals, the Horizon Foundation, a health philanthropy, launched a countywide survey and brought the results to the school system. From there, an ongoing conversation and partnership formed between Horizon and the school system to establish initial steps to tackle the food concerns. The plan was announced Thursday morning at Guilford Park High School.

The Middle Shore is set to receive a brand-new University of Maryland regional hospital after a state hospital-regulating agency Wednesday approved a plan to replace the aging Shore Regional Medical Center in Easton. The Health Services Cost Review Commission unanimously approved rate increases for the Easton medical center on Wednesday to help fund a total replacement of the hospital that currently serves about 170,000 residents spread across five rural counties.

With $960,000 in a federal funding grant, Howard County will be better connected to Baltimore suburbs with two heavy-duty transit buses, which will allow for more accessible local transit options for commuters, according to a press release from U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin. The Maryland Department of Transportation and Howard County will be able to use the funds to purchase the new buses, which will be used to extend Route 409 by 5 miles from its existing endpoint in Elkridge in Howard County to Lansdowne Station in Baltimore County.