Per Howard County:
ELLICOTT CITY, MD – County Executive Calvin Ball today signed an Executive Order immediately lifting the mask mandate in Howard County. Howard County public buildings and facilities, and public transit, including the RTA, will still require masks. Businesses and organizations may still require masking at their own discretion.
Montgomery County Native Sofia Harrison will be playing in the 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup for the Philippines in the semifinal against South Korea on Thursday, February 3rd.
The Philippine women’s football team on Monday booked a ticket to the FIFA Women’s World Cup by defeating Chinese Taipei in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinal round of the Women’s Asian Cup in India to make it to the semifinals and qualify for the World Cup. No Philippine football team, men or women, has ever qualified for the World Cup until now.
Raising Cane’s, a Louisiana based restaurant chain specializing in chicken fingers, is planning on opening its first D.C. region restaurant in March with the upcoming opening of its Sterling location at 45545 Dulles Eastern Plaza.Per Biz Journals, Raising Cane’s aims to open 14 stores in the all this year stretching from suburban Baltimore to the Richmond area, with more to on tap for 2023 including Bowie, Dumfries, Manassas and Springfield.
Founded by Todd Graves in 1996 in Baton Rouge, La., Raising Cane’s has more than 460 restaurants in 27 states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with multiple new restaurants under construction. The international expansion began in 2015. The menu is simple and focuses on chicken finger combos , chicken finger sandwiches, crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast, sweet/iced tea, and Cane’s sauce.
On Monday, January 24, 2022, three Baltimore City Firefighters were tragically killed while fighting a row house fire. Lieutenant Paul Butrim, Firefighter/Paramedic Kelsey Sadler & Firefighter/Paramedic Kenneth Lacayo were engaged in an interior attack of the fire when a significant portion of the home suddenly collapsed. Baltimore Firefighter John McMaster is currently hospitalized with critical injuries.Firefighter/Paramedic Kenneth Lacayo was a Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad Life Member and graduated from Wheaton High School. In addition to his service with the Baltimore City Fire Department, Kenny had volunteered in Wheaton for almost 11 years.
The Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad released a statement remembering Kenny:
Lil’ Cakes & Creamery at 488 N. Frederick Ave in Gaithersburg will be opening up a second location in Urbana, MD.
The new store will be located at 3272 Bennett Creek Avenue, Unit A, part of the brand new shopping center that is already home to Chipotle, Dominos, and Jersey Mike’s.
Beginning January 25, individuals 12 and older will be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination before entering the National Aquarium at 501 E Pratt St in Baltimore.
Per the National Aquarium:
Per UM Capital Region Health (UM Capital):
UM Capital Region Health is committed to supporting our workforce and caring for our communities, and we are proud to serve the people of Prince George’s County. During the last month, UM Capital has seen a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases, substantial boarding in our Emergency Departments and significant staffing shortages.
Frederick County, our neighbor to the north, held a Board of Health meeting last night at 7pm that lasted over 5 hours.
County Executive Jan Gardner declared a State of Emergency for Frederick County earlier in the day and the Board of Health voted to put an indoor mask mandate in place starting 5pm today.
American University and Georgetown University have both announced that their upcoming semesters will start virtually, joining George Washington University in the delayed start to in-person learning.
In a letter sent to the American University community, school officials communicated that classes will temporarily move online from January 10 to January 30 with in-person instruction resuming on Monday, January 31 due to increasing Covid cases in the D.C. region and across the country.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced today that all DCPS students and staff will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test before returning to school on January 5.
Tests will be available to pick up at all DC public schools beginning on Monday, January 3.
African Art, Postal, Anacostia and Asian Art Museums to Close
Per the Smithsonian: