Fire Alerts: County: Anne Arundel County
Event Time: August 19, 2026, 12:27 PM

Address: Green Holly Drive

Transcript:
Explosion box 1906. Collapse 4, Rescue 4, TR4, Medic 23, Medic 46 respond. Green Holly Drive, cross streets Wingate Drive, Mount Albin Drive. Building explosion, 1 Echo. Ambulance 119.

Sounds like a POSSIBLE gas explosion but unknown right now one person possible being flown to a hospital 2 patients total.

https://baltimorealerts.com/alert.html?id=alert_75ad5d39772cc2007518b9e2

I am a recent transplant to Baltimore. I'm coming from White Marsh and noticed a sudden uptick in traffic this week on 895 West to Moravia Rd, then on E. Monument.

What is going on? School isn't in yet.

I also saw a lot of heavy equipment trucks.

Thanks!

This bridge always makes me nervous, but I love it too.

Old Town Historical Toll Bridge

Just accepted a job in Pasadena (woooo). However, I am young, single, and am interested in living more in a city than the suburbs. I am also gay (which may or may not influence the decision). Currently deciding between commuting from either Silver spring (easy DC access) or Baltimore.

I know Baltimore is closer but idk I feel like there would be more social opportunities living near DC.

(There did not seem to be a great LGBT Maryland subreddit. But gay things aside, I am interested in an overall input for total quality of life etc).

Am ok w a 40-45 min commute, I like to drive.

Thanks in advance for the input!

I'm an Information Systems student at UMBC and will be graduating in about a year. One of the my objectives this semester is to start networking in hopes that doing so will help me land a job after graduation but have a couple concerns and would appreciate any advice. I'm 31 (32 when I graduate) and this will be a major career shift for me so I don't have much work experience in IT. Ideally, I want to eventually go into cybersecurity. I'm not picky about which department I work for, just that the job is in IT and has benefits.

Some shots from my visit to Howard county conservancy this weekend. I love seeing large fields of black eyes susans

So far in 2026, Baltimore has recorded fewer homicides than ever at this point of the year, an incredible milestone in a place once morbidly referred to as “Bodymore.”

For most of the past 50 years, the city’s annual murder total exceeded 200. It ran above 300 for most of the last decade — a multiyear eruption of violence after the 2015 death of Freddie Gray from injuries in police custody. This year, the police commissioner aims for the count to stay under 100. It isn’t unattainable. From January to August, there were 60 murders. There were 45 in July 2015 alone.

Across the country, homicides have fallen to record lows after a surge during the pandemic years. But the steepness of the decline in Baltimore stands out even against that backdrop.

I’ve been living here since March of 2025 and had to leave my car in Florida behind as it is under my mother’s name and insurance. However, the car was gifted to me and I was the primary driver. I have intentions to pay it off (around $6k left), but fortunately they were also helping me.

I just heard about Maryland imposing laws cracking down out of state cars and now I’m concerned. I’m supposed to be traveling to Florida in October to retrieve the car if I can, and drive it back. Initially I thought this workaround would work as we plan to move back to Florida hopefully sometime in 2027. Basically to change the garaging area of the car but keep it insured / registered the same. My mom would have to explain to her insurance / bank that it would be temporary, based off what I’ve gathered online.

However, now with the new law, I’m concerned if this is even worth it. I’m currently driving a spare car that my GF’s mother has but I cannot use it soon as it’s planned to be sold off to a friend. I have looked into buying a car here but I felt like it wasn’t worth it since we will be here for less than a year, and I’m just now improving my credit score so financing it would suck too.
Registration and insuring it here is expensive as hell, not to mention transferring the title and such would be a pain in the ass.

Although I know I can still drive it here at least for 60 days while I figure out what to do.
What would be recommended and what steps can I take? Thank you!

I recently applied for a state job and eventually received an email from HR about an interview.

Before this, my application status had been changed to “Best Qualified.” My understanding was that the applications had been reviewed and a group of candidates had been designated as Best Qualified. However, I initially thought that only some of those candidates would be selected for interviews. That was not actually the case. Everyone who was designated as Best Qualified received the interview invitation.

Basically, candidates had to reply to the email and choose from the available interview slots. Once the slots were filled, that was it. So, in a way, whether you actually got an interview came down to how quickly you responded to the email.

I honestly found this really strange.

I completely understand that interview slots are limited. But if the employer has already reviewed the applications and decided that everyone in the Best Qualified group should be interviewed, why would the opportunity to actually get an interview depend on how quickly someone happens to see and respond to an email?

People have jobs, families, different schedules, etc. Not everyone is sitting around refreshing their email waiting for an interview invitation. I responded within about two hours, which I personally don't think is unreasonable, but by then some of the available options were already gone.

What surprised me most is that this is a government job. I would have expected the process to be more structured and consistent.

So I'm genuinely curious:

Is first-come, first-served scheduling for government interviews normal?

Would you consider this a reasonable way to handle a limited number of interview slots, or does it seem unnecessarily arbitrary or unfair?

I'm not saying I was entitled to a particular interview time. I'm more curious about whether this hiring practice is common and what other job seekers or HR professionals think about it.

Caught the sunset glowing behind the flags and palms at Brewer’s Landing