Around Maryland

The Baltimore City Health Department has received its first supply of the updated COVID-19 vaccine for children, and will offer it for free to those whose families don’t have health insurance or whose health insurance doesn’t cover the cost of the shot. The health department’s announcement Thursday came about two weeks after it received its first supply of the new monovalent vaccine for adults. It received both shipments from the federal government’s Bridge Access Program, which provides shots at no-cost to the 25 to 30 million adults in America without health insurance.

Frederick County Public Schools on Tuesday announced it had joined other districts across the state and country in suing social media giants, arguing the companies are liable for students’ declining mental health. The lawsuit names Meta, Snap, ByteDance and Google — the parent companies of Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Youtube, respectively.

Even before he knew what a reporter’s job really entailed, Tim Tooten was play-acting interviews with his middle school classmates in the back of the class, holding a pencil as a pretend microphone to ask them probing questions. Tooten never stopped asking questions, and nearly a half-century later, he is perhaps the most recognizable face and longest running reporter on the education beat in the region, having been at WBAL for 35 years.

One wintry morning, an investigator with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office teamed up with a federal agent to surveil America’s largest medical waste incinerator. They watched from nearby as employees at the south Baltimore facility used a front-end loader to lift inadequately burned waste into a container, then they tailed it on its way to a landfill in Virginia.

A key state fiscal panel approved a sharp increase in state borrowing for the next year as fiscal leaders look for ways to offset a projected structural deficit while improving schools and aging buildings and infrastructure. The recommended $500 million increase over anticipated levels comes as Gov. Wes Moore (D) and others express concerns about the state’s fiscal future. It also represents a potential reduction of cash once intended for capital projects.

As a way to boost her students’ vocabulary, LaTanya Sothern introduced a “word bank graveyard” at Excel Academy Public Charter School. It’s a figurative cemetery where basic words like “good,” “bad” and “nice” are laid to rest and replaced with multisyllabic words like “excellent,” “fabulous” and “incomparable.” It’s one of the methods the Prince George’s County principal says contributed to her school’s huge improvement in English Language Arts achievement since the pandemic.

Louder than anything at The Dome — louder than the squeaks of the sneakers on the blacktop and the rhythm of the basketball hitting the floor and the cheers from the crowds — is the pride emanating from the players on the court. Teenagers from across the city channel legendary NBA players who played on the same East Baltimore court years ago and dream of following in their footsteps.

Maryland drivers are getting a respite from high fuel costs as gas stations are posting dipping fuel prices even amid the current military conflict in the Middle East. According to GasBuddy, a main source for prices and the only for station-level data, the average gasoline prices in Maryland have fallen 8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.33 per gallon as of Sunday, Oct. 15.

One patient at MedStar Harbor Hospital in South Baltimore had uncontrolled asthma. Another had chronic skin infections related to an autoimmune condition. Their diseases were different but caused the same problem. “They had a significant number of visits to the emergency room,” said Jenna Everett, a physician assistant in Harbor’s emergency department. “Getting resources for them was essential.”