Around Maryland

Engineers at the Johns Hopkins University are set to begin an “urgent assessment” of bridges across the United States in the wake of the Key Bridge collapse, believing the risk for another ship strike to be higher than previously thought. The team, currently made up of three Hopkins staff and a small group of students, including one from Morgan State University, will use global shipping data to modernize what engineers believe are outdated risk assessment models.

As planning continues for the redevelopment of Harborplace, a walk along the Inner Harbor Promenade highlights efforts to attract more visitors to Baltimore’s waterfront in the meantime. “Shade stations” were recently installed near the Inner Harbor Amphitheater to give respite on hot days. This week, Inner Harbor visitors relaxed on the Adirondack chairs that sit under wooden pergolas. The structures are also bordered by Chesapeake Bay native plants.

Stella Stakolosa grinned when she saw the image projected on the screen Tuesday morning in a classroom at College Park Academy, a charter high school in Riverdale Park, Md. “Mom, it says Stella!” the young girl exclaimed to her mother, Megan Stakolosa. Stella pumped her fist. Stella, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, was the center of attention at the school where about 20 high school juniors and seniors spent the past semester working on a project to help her play lacrosse, her favorite sport.

First responders deal with traumas daily. They witness the aftermath of terrible car crashes. They hear desperate calls for help on the other end of a call. They see families devastated after a fire destroys their homes. They call loved ones to share terrible news. It is not an easy job to have and to answer that call every shift.

The Maryland Board of Public Works is set to approve an engineering contract of up to $100 million to advance the east-west Red Line transit project in Baltimore at a meeting next week. With approval next Wednesday from the Board of Public Works — comprising the governor, comptroller and treasurer — the state can move ahead with planning and engineering tasks for the Red Line.

A former top fire department official in both Prince George’s County in Maryland and the City of Alexandria in Virginia is the pick to be the next fire chief in Montgomery County, Maryland. Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich has nominated Corey Smedley to lead the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service after his last pick was abruptly withdrawn from consideration earlier this year.

Tangier Island, one of the inhabited islands in the Chesapeake Bay, received a $2.3 million grant for environmental protection and mitigation projects, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality announced. Tangier is just south of the border between Maryland and Virginia, and a bit south of Smith Island. It’s home to “a unique and vulnerable Chesapeake Bay community,” according to the DEQ.

For more than 60 days, since the collapse of the Key Bridge, the 21-member crew of the Dali has remained onboard the cargo ship, and there is no firm timetable on when they will be allowed to leave, sparking concern from people around the world. The Dali still sits at berth one at Seagirt where it has been for the past week. For eight weeks prior to that, the ship was in the middle of the Patapsco River.