Around Maryland

The Frederick County Health Department in fiscal year 2024 served more residents in various ways and fully launched a program to combat the opioid epidemic by providing assistance to emergency medical service responders. The department’s latest annual report, covering operations and achievements for the previous fiscal year, mentioned statistics for how many people used certain services, as well as updates on programs like harm reduction trainings and grant programs.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools is switching learning management systems in an effort to streamline the way educators, students, and parents access curriculum content, grading, and school communication. The Board of Education will vote on the final contract with Canvas — the system recommended by Superintendent Mark Bedell’s team after an evaluation process — at their next meeting Nov. 6.

The Baltimore County Council voted Monday to condemn a proposed 70-mile transmission line that has attracted condemnations from County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., council members and residents worried about having their homes seized to make way for the $424 million project. PSEG won a contract last December to construct the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP), a 500,000-watt power line that would cross northern Baltimore County and Carroll County and terminate in Frederick County.

When was the last time you checked the batteries in your smoke alarm? If you can’t easily answer that question, it might be time to review best practices for preventing a fire in your home. After all, temperatures are dropping and soon it will be the season when most people crack out fire-prone items such as the space heaters, turkey fryers, candles and string lights. Here are some fire prevention tips to keep your household and property safe as we head into the coldest months of the year.

For nearly two decades, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts functioned like the proverbial well-oiled clock. In recent years, that machine and its relationship with city leaders have fallen apart. Year after year, the quasi-governmental event-planning organization founded in 2002 by former Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley mounted Artscape and other successful festivals that attracted more visitors every year. Year after year, BOPA operated in the black.

For three long nights last week, Alexis Geddes sat by her daughter’s hospital bed, staring at the monitors tracking the amount of oxygen in little Alma’s bloodstream. Doctors at Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson had warned Geddes they would need to transfer the 3-year-old to the pediatric intensive care unit if her lungs did not improve. For weeks, Geddes had heard stories swirling around their Rodgers Forge neighborhood of children with pneumonia.

As the dust settled after the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, as the initial shock wore off and the breaking news coverage subsided, residents of this tiny peninsula found themselves facing an uncertain future. Many had spent decades living in the shadow of the Key Bridge, an iconic landmark that placed the community of Turner Station firmly on the map.

As a service to the community, Atlantic General Hospital continues to host free community clinics, providing flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Today, at the Gudelsky Family Medical Center, community members gather early morning, at the clinic drive-thru. Populations Health Coordinator, Alyce Marzola said, this is an effort to protect the community. “You can get your COVID vaccine and flu vaccine at the same time.