Around Maryland

The D.C. area is one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets, but Cumberland, Maryland, a two-and-a-half hour drive from D.C., ranks as one of the top 10 cities in the nation where home prices are rising the fastest. Surprisingly, it’s still extremely affordable. Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains in Western Maryland with a population of about 19,000, Cumberland had a median home selling price in April of just $141,000.

Principal James Sargent beamed as he held up a large trophy before a packed classroom of students and staff. The prize recognized Success Academy, a small alternative program in East Baltimore, as the latest winner of Mayor Brandon Scott’s attendance challenge. The quarterly contest seeks to motivate students to be consistently present in school after the coronavirus pandemic severely impacted attendance.

St. John’s College, a liberal arts college in Annapolis, is one of 13 colleges in the U.S. to receive $3.275 million in funding from the Endeavor Foundation to address the pressing needs of college students’ mental health and well-being. The grant money, divided among the 13 colleges, is the first phase of the Endeavor Foundation’s “Enhancing Student Learning and Experience through Campus Wellness, Student Well-Being and Mental Health Initiatives,” a multiyear collaborative that focuses on developing shared pilot projects among smaller liberal arts colleges.

The Preakness Stakes is an annual horse race that is the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. Since 1931, the race is typically run on third Saturday in May, two weeks after the Kentucky Derby. The outdoor event takes place rain or shine. This year marks the 149th running of the Preakness. It has never run on a Sunday. But it has been staged 14 times on a Tuesday, 13 times on a Friday, six times on a Monday, five times on a Wednesday and four times on a Thursday.

There was a boom, several plumes of smoke and then a splash as millions of pounds of Francis Scott Key Bridge debris fell Monday evening into the Patapsco River. Crews had previously placed linear shaped charges — explosive cutting devices — on the large piece of the bridge that dropped March 26 on the bow of the Dali after the ship struck one of the bridge’s supporting piers.

“Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa blasts in The Studio of Dance in Gaithersburg as Eurae Muhn teaches a hip-hop routine to seven other moms on a rainy Saturday morning in early March. Two women brought their 5-year-old children, who happily play together—occasionally darting onto the floor to have their snacks opened. The women chat and laugh throughout the hourlong class, chiming in with tweaks to the choreography.

A major dropout whose name is still on the ballot. A rematch held under very different circumstances. A race where “non-endorsement” endorsements became commonplace. The rematch between incumbent Mayor Brandon Scott and former Mayor Sheila Dixon is here, and it’s been a weird one. With a major recent race shake-up and no public, up-to-date data about how people are feeling, voters head into primary election day in an unusual information vacuum.

Eighteen inches is enough to hold the Port of Baltimore back from record-setting revenues. Even when the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is finally cleared and port activity gets back on track, the Howard Street Tunnel, a 1.7-mile section of CSX Transportation’s rail operation that cuts under downtown Baltimore, will still be a foot-and-a-half shy of being able to handle the freight fad of the future — double-stacked cargo trains.