Around Maryland

It’s leaf blower season, adding new layers of unwelcome noise to the cacophony of daily life. Leaf blowers — along with gas-powered lawn mowers, string trimmers, chainsaws and other garden equipment, also generate an alarming amount of air pollution. Some machines emit as much pollution in an hour as driving hundreds of miles in a car. A recently released report by the Maryland PIRG Foundation, called “Lawn Care Goes Electric: Why It’s Time to Switch to a New Generation of Clean, Quiet Electric Lawn Equipment,” attempts to quantify the public health risks and potential damage.

Some parents in Howard County are objecting to the Board of Education’s new student transportation policy, saying it is not safe nor equitable. The new system, known as policy 5200, took effect at the beginning of the school year and cut bus transportation to thousands of students. The school system said earlier this year that the “non-transportation area” changes were a piece of a puzzle to aid the logistics of the new staggered start times.

The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration’s Highway Safety Office reported Maryland’s preliminary statewide seat belt usage, based on an annual survey, with a rate of 92.1% compliance — a slight decrease from 92.7% in 2022. The annual Roadside Observational Survey was completed in June and observed 33,882 drivers of passenger vehicles and trucks in 14 jurisdictions across the state on primary, secondary and local roads. The observations included 6,531 passengers.

Joe Richardson looked out at a crowd of young faces Sunday afternoon at the Bar-T Mountainside Summer Camp near Frederick. Dozens of students, ranging from elementary school to high school, were at the camp for the first Youth Environmental Summit hosted by the Rotary Club of Southern Frederick County. Richardson said the mantra of the summit, which will be held annually going forward, was: “It’s no longer OK not to know.”

Laurel Park’s horse racing future hinges on a proposal to be made to the Maryland General Assembly next month that could alter Thoroughbred racing in the state as we know it. A determination will come from the Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority, a commission established by Senate Bill 720 in the 2023 legislative session, to make recommendations on the redevelopment of Laurel Park and Pimlico racecourses – the two most prominent, historic, but aging, Thoroughbred racetracks in the state.

Families in one east Baltimore neighborhood are taking a stand against crime. The Belair-Edison neighborhood already has a community improvement association. Now, they want a neighborhood watch with signs posted throughout the area and neighbors working together to prevent crime. Sherell Sellers said she and her neighbors are tired of the crime. They met Thursday to develop the watch group. Even before the meeting, she said she and a neighbor stopped teenagers from stealing an Amazon delivery truck.

Maryland roads include more than 700 historical markers commemorating famous battles and buildings. Some, like the one introducing Kent Island to motorists, hark back to the years before Catholic settlers even founded the colony in 1634. Others, like the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory that was dedicated on Solomons Island in 1925, are more recent. What they share is that many fail to convey the whole story. They’re not supposed to; at 70 words apiece, the idea is to whet an appetite to learn more. Yet a motorist might well learn the wrong information.

At a Wednesday meeting of Maryland Higher Education Commission, officials discussed how the implementation of Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, an education overhaul passed by the 2021 Maryland General Assembly, may drastically change how students are assessed for college and career readiness, among other topics.

The walls of the tiny office shared by Bryan Butler and Frank Jones are filled with success stories. Every kid who comes through the Springhill Lake Recreation Center — every child whose lives were touched by homework help, basketball and the guidance of strong Black men — gets to put a photo on those walls. There are thousands of them.