Around Maryland

Montgomery County officials reported Thursday morning that six people suffered minor injuries, but no one was killed when at least two likely tornadoes ripped through Montgomery County on Wednesday night. At least eight people were displaced from their homes by the thunderstorm, according to Earl Stoddard, the county’s assistant chief adminstrative officer.

Hanging on a pilon along Ego Alley in Annapolis, Maryland, is what looks like a piece of PVC pipe with a small solar panel attached to it. There are more of them hanging around the city, and soon they’ll be up and down Anne Arundel County, as well as in Charles County, Baltimore City and throughout the Eastern Shore.

Washington County Public Schools unveiled its new vision and core values the county intends to address and implement over the next five years through the county’s strategic plan. The strategic plan focuses on four priority areas announced at Tuesday’s Washington County Board of Education work session: student success; access and opportunities; culture, safety and wellness; and community engagement.

Charles Schultz was sitting in his living room when it sounded like a bomb went off. Then the sky turned dark. Throughout his 50-plus years living in Curtis Bay — an isolated community wedged into the southern corner of Baltimore — he’d gotten used to seeing soot pile up on his windowsill. Now coal dust was raining down onto his street, a tower smoldering on the CSX coal pier just a stone’s throw from his doorstep.

At the first-ever Baltimore Banner panel in Howard County Tuesday night, officials and experts touched on hot topics such as the Zum bus crisis, the consequences of narrowly avoided cuts in the school system’s budget, as well as the county’s lack of affordable housing and plans for the coveted lakefront. The panel featured County Executive Calvin Ball and Bill Barnes, the school system’s superintendent. The event, “Howard County: Unpacking a Dynamic and Visionary Region, by The Baltimore Banner,” took place in Columbia, sandwiched between Merriweather Post Pavilion and The Mall in Columbia. Around 300 people registered for the panel, making it a sold-out event.

Maryland’s Transportation Authority is accepting proposals for a new Key Bridge as they start the process of rebuilding the span over the Patapsco River that is expected to take years. What will a new Key Bridge look like? One proposal from Italian company, WeBuild, shows a cable bridge with its supports away from the main navigation channel for safety.