Maryland
Maryland state senator pushes General Assembly to keep state’s costal bays in mind – WTOP News
Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) loves the Chesapeake Bay, but she continues to make sure her General Assembly colleagues and the public don’t forget about the state’s five coastal bays.
This article was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.
Sen. Mary Beth Carozza (R-Lower Shore) loves the Chesapeake Bay, but she continues to make sure her General Assembly colleagues and the public don’t forget about the state’s five coastal bays.
Carozza made that case last month when state officials unveiled new license plates that called for protecting the Chesapeake and as well as the coastal bays.
She did it again Thursday, during this week’s Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City, when she took three of her Senate colleagues on a tour of one of those bays between Ocean City and the mainland.
“This is an opportunity to share the beauty of Maryland coastal bays that sometimes is dominated by the Chesapeake Bay,” she said on a boat ramp at the Sinepuxent Bay near Assateague Island in Worcester County.
Sen. President Pro Tem Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George’s), Sen. Benjamin Brooks (D-Baltimore County) and Sen. Brian Feldman (D-Montgomery), who chairs the Education, Energy and the Environment Committee, felt the warm breeze from the bay and viewed visitors relaxing on the beach.
They also viewed restoration work that was completed about six years ago along the shoreline just north of the Verrazano Bridge that connects Assateague Island to the mainland. Some of that work included importing sand and rock and working to help maintain the habitat of the area’s horseshoe crabs, diamondback terrapins and sea trout.
Marsh grassses were planted along the mainland shoreline by members and volunteers with Maryland Coastal Bays Program, a nonprofit organization that promotes and seeks to protect the coast bays. In addition to Sinepuxent, the other four coastal bays are Assawoman, Newport, Isle of Wight and Chincoteague.
But Carozza and members of the bays program say the eroding shoreline and steep banks south of the bridge need repair. It’s not clear what legislation might be needed to make that happen, but Feldman said part of it would be to assess the state’s permitting and waiver processes.
“It’s something in that space,” he said. “I don’t know all the particulars. We’ll have to take a look, make some tweaks and some changes.”
Augustine brought his family along on the boat ride. His wife, Lauren, is a hydrologist and has done work on the Chesapeake Bay.
“It’s this living shoreline that’s been developed on this end in a very innovative way,” he said. “It’s always best to come and get your feet on the ground and sort of see what’s going on.”
Roman Jesien, science coordinator with Maryland Coastal Bays Program who operated the boat for the lawmakers’ tour, said the restoration work already completed north of the bridge cost $750,000 and stretches 1,000 feet.
The work on the southern shoreline would cost an estimated $1.5 million and stretch about 1,800 feet, Jesien said. In addition, he said part of the land is federal property.
Besides maintaining wildlife, the goal is to also bring the same number of visitors to relax on the sand and frolic in the water that’s done on the opposite shoreline.
“It’s important to not only restore that shoreline, but also make sure we keep the other one intact,” Jeisen said. “This is good for the environment and good for everyone.”
Maryland
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Maryland
‘We call it ‘the pretzel’: First-of-its-kind bladder cancer treatment now in use in Maryland – WTOP News
An innovative new treatment option for bladder cancer, recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been performed for the first time in Maryland.
An innovative new treatment option for bladder cancer, recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been performed for the first time in Maryland.
Dr. Heather Chalfin, a urological oncologist and surgeon at Frederick Health, recently administered Maryland’s first gemcitabine intravesical system, under the brand name Inlexzo, which was approved by the FDA in September.
“We call it ‘the pretzel,’ because it’s a device that curls up like a pretzel shape in someone’s bladder and releases chemotherapy over three weeks,” Chalfin told WTOP.
Until now, patients with bladder cancer that has not invaded the bladder muscle, but are unresponsive to immunotherapy called Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (oftentimes abbreviated BCG) — and have chosen not to have or are unable to have bladder removal surgery — have been treated with chemotherapy.
“The problem with that is patients can only spend about an hour with that chemotherapy in their bladder in our office,” Chalfin said.
With Inlexzo, made by Johnson & Johnson, the device remains in the bladder for three weeks per treatment cycle, for up to 14 cycles.
“And then they come back and we swap it out for a new ‘pretzel,’ as opposed to just having that chemotherapy active for only an hour inside the bladder,” Chalfin said.
In the SunRISe-1 clinical trial, 82% patients had no signs of cancer after treatment. Fifty-one percent of the patients stayed cancer-free for at least one year, while long-term survival data on the new device is still being gathered.
How ‘the pretzel’ works
Chalfin said the intravesical drug releasing system begins as a straight, springy device.
“The way we get it in is very similar to how we put in a urine catheter for many other situations, so it’s a very minimally invasive procedure,” Chalfin said.
Once the Inlexzo has been inserted, “A good way to think about is if you think about a Slinky — if you pull it a Slinky, it becomes straight, but then when you release it, it curls back up into a Slinky,” she said.
Every three weeks, the Inlexzo is replaced with another one.
“It’s a simple procedure that bladder cancer patients are already having regularly, which is called a cystoscopy, or a camera in the bladder,” Chalfin said.
The procedure is done in the office, and patients go home the same day, Chalfin said.
According to Frederick Health, 9,471 new cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed each year. The National Cancer Institute projects there will be almost 85,000 new bladder cancer diagnoses and approximately 17,420 deaths from bladder cancer in the U.S. in 2025, making it the sixth most common cancer in the U.S.
In addition to Inlexzo, Frederick Health is using blue-light cystoscopy technology, which enhances the visibility of certain bladder tumors that may have been missed with a traditional white light cystoscopy. The advancement improves detection rates, especially for early-stage or hard-to-see cancers.
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Maryland
Clarksburg Flag Football Player Aysia Jones-Robinson is Attempting to Revolutionize the Sport
Recently, girls flag football has become a major high school sport in the U.S. For Clarksburg High School in Maryland, junior Aysia Jones-Robinson has been looking to revolutionize flag football.
Jones-Robinson, who plays both quarterback on offense and cornerback on defense, led Clarksburg to Maryland’s first high school girls flag football state championship in 2024.
“It’s a blessing,” said Jones-Robinson. “A lot of schools have it now, and not a lot of people make it. For us to be one of those teams that do, it feels amazing.”
For 2025, the Coyotes finished the regular season as the top girls flag football team in Montgomery County with a perfect 10-0 record. They went on to crush Paint Branch 42-8 in the County Championship.
The 2025 Maryland girls flag football playoffs began in late October, with Clarksburg being the top seed in the 4A-3A West Region. They shut out Oakdale 41-0 in the second round on Nov. 1, with Jones-Robinson throwing four touchdown passes and rushing for a score.
“First, to do it the first time, nobody did it,” said Jones-Robinson. “The second time, we’re more connected than we were last year. We have a great team chemistry, great team bond. I think we have the potential to go back, and I think it fully.”
Last year, Montgomery, the largest public school system in Maryland, launched girls flag football as a pilot program along with Baltimore City and Washington County. This resulted in the Coyotes’ program coming into play.
“I saw that it was a new sport at the school,” said Jones-Robinson. “I told my friends, ‘Let’s do it.’ We got good at it, and we just never stopped from there.”
Clarksburg girls flag football head coach Kyle Landefeld has done a remarkable job with Jones-Robinson and the team in general. He also happens to be a social studies teacher at the school.
“I’ll tell you what, you just never know what’s going to happen,” said Landefeld. “But you know it’s always going to be good. As a coach, you just sit there and smile and go, ‘This life’s good.’ So I love it.”
“Landy’s a great coach,” said Jones-Robinson. “We have a great coaching staff, great supported staff. It’s just a great program, great energy around everybody. Nobody thinks they’re better than somebody else. It’s great energy.”
Jones-Robinson was born on July 6th, 2009 at Holy Cross Medical Center in Silver Spring, Md. Her mother Angelica Jones, her father Willie Robinson IV, and her brother Willie Robinson V are also athletes in their own way.
Angelica played basketball and softball, and still plays flag football, while Willie IV played tackle football and basketball. Willie V currently plays tackle football and basketball for Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg.
While she may go to Clarksburg, Jones-Robinson lives in Germantown with her family. “For me to transition to a new school with people I didn’t know was very different,” she said.
Jones-Robinson first got into sports when she was just two years old, showing mainly an interest in basketball.
“I was playing basketball since I was two,” said Jones-Robinson. “For me to take on another sport, I felt like the challenge would have been difficult. But it wasn’t, and i got good at it. It was just up from there.”
The Clarksburg junior happens to be a two-sport athlete with flag football and basketball at the school. She has shown her remarkable athleticism in both sports.
“We have a great basketball program,” said Jones-Robinson. “We also have a great flag program. For us to transition over, it was a big step, but we got it done.”
Jones-Robinson’s sports idols include NFL quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels, NBA legend Kobe Bryant, and WNBA star Angel Reese. However, most people have compared her style of play to that of Jackson.
“I feel like it’s a huge comparison,” Jones-Robinson stated about the Ravens quarterback. “Especially since he’s one of the people I admire the most, and take after his game a lot.”
Throughout the 2025 season, High School on SI has conducted weekly Maryland high school girls flag football Player of the Week polls. Jones-Robinson has been nominated multiple times for her incredible performances.
“It feels good,” said Jones-Robinson. “Because not a lot of people get it. For me to get it multiple times, it feels really good.”
Whether she passes for four or five touchdowns, or over 150 or 200 yards, Jones-Robinson feels proud to be representing the state of Maryland for high school girls flag football.
“It’s a big, big blessing,” said Jones-Robinson. “It’s a big opportunity. I can’t thank nobody else but God, and putting me in this predicament. I thank my parents for also putting me in this predicament as well.”
As for her athletics future, Jones-Robinson hasn’t thought much about it as she is only a junior in high school. For now, basketball seems to be in the cards for her eventual college decision.
“I haven’t thought about it yet,” said Jones-Robinson. “But I would like to go to a college where i could get a scholarship for basketball and flag as well.”
Coach Landefeld feels very confident about Jones-Robinson’s future, as she will most likely get to play one more season when she is a senior in 2026.
“She’s a gifted athlete,” said Landefeld. “She’s just got to make some decisions on where she wants to go with this. The sky’s the limit.”
With the way girls flag football has been growing in high schools across the U.S., it’s only a matter of time before more American colleges add it as an official sport.
“It would give more women opportunities to play more sports in college,” said Jones-Robinson. “It would boost their confidence, I think. A lot of people would come out and try out for the sport.”
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