Around Maryland

Kat Locke-Jones wants to know if there are any nappers in the room. She’s asking her 36 seventh graders, all stuffed in a small classroom, how they get rid of negative thoughts and feelings after a bad day. Her tonic is apple juice and a nap. One boy says he puts all his emotions into pitching a baseball, leaving everything on the field. Another one of her students escapes with music, and a third says: “I love to write down my feelings.”

Baltimore appears to be seeing — or hearing — far fewer gunshots in 2024. There is some question about how often the sounds ShotSpotter alerts are actually gunshots, but so far this year the number of ShotSpotter alerts has fallen dramatically. Baltimore’s reduction in homicides has garnered national attention — from the White House, no less.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has plans to return astronauts to the moon this decade, and Maryland is set to play a role in the agency’s progress the next several years both in outer space and on earth. In outer space, the commander of the upcoming Artemis II manned-mission around the moon is a Maryland native.

As the sun began to rise on Saturday morning, more than 50 volunteers were hard at work putting up signs, handing out bib numbers and assisting with last-minute bicycle repairs. They were preparing for the 15th annual Tour de Frederick, a joint effort of the Boys and Girls Club of Frederick County and the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek — the biggest fundraiser of the year for both nonprofit organizations.

The number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay is down slightly from last year, to 317 million, but researchers said the numbers are manageable and they see “no serious reason for concern.” The population estimates come from the annual winter dredge survey released last month by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. It estimated that the overall number of crabs this year is down from the 323 million estimated in 2023.

The Unified Command is planning to open the permanent 700-foot-wide, 50-foot-deep Fort McHenry Channel, to regain full access back to the Port of Baltimore, Saturday. This is happening after the last large piece of steel was removed from the channel this week, according to the chief of operations for the United States Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region, Cmdr. Baxter Smoak.

Every time Marcia Spencer walks inside the bright and colorful HER Resiliency Center in Fells Point, she knows she’s in a safe space. “It’s my home away from home,” said Spencer, an Outreach Associate at HER Resiliency Center. The center is a home much different than what Spencer once knew. She spent years struggling with addiction on the streets in Park Heights. That’s where she first met Natasha Guynes, the founder and president of HER Resiliency Center.

Residents surveyed damage to their neighborhoods on Thursday and work crews deployed across Montgomery County to clear uprooted trees, restore power and reopen blocked roads after a “supercell” storm unleashed multiple tornadoes that swept across Maryland the night before. Emergency responders worked swiftly Wednesday evening to rescue people from damaged homes and sent at least five people to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Construction is beginning on the next phase of Ellicott City’s Safe and Sound flood mitigation plan — a 5.5 million gallon flood retention pond, which is the third and largest pond to be constructed since the plan started in 2018. Howard County Executive Calvin Ball was flanked by state and local officials as they ceremonially broke ground Tuesday on the H-4 Pond along the north side of Frederick Road, west of Route 29.