Maryland
Storm threat for this weekend in Maryland
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
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.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
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.”
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Word got around here, late in the week, that Maryland finally sold out its homecoming game.
It came as a minor surprise. Good tickets remained available as recently as Monday. Mike Locksley’s Terrapins were in the midst of another midseason slump, an unfortunately common feature of his tenure, and yet, by Saturday morning, all seats were accounted for.
The alumni base recently declared America’s largest — with healthy representation in major metropolitan areas up and down the Atlantic seaboard — arrived in force. From D.C., New York and Philadelphia, Indiana football fans made their presence felt in yet another road environment.
The several thousand fans wearing Indiana crimson that stayed through all four quarters of a 55-10 blowout win Saturday roared, as Curt Cignetti led his Hoosiers (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) off the field. They cheered for a team they’ve come to love, one so deeply motivated by its ambitions and so completely bought into Cignetti’s relentless fight for focus that seemingly nothing can break its stride.
“Every single week,” Mikail Kamara said, “we’ve got to make sure there’s no doubt left, at all.”
There could be none remaining, as Indiana strode off into the cool Maryland night having bulldozed its way through another blowout win.
The nation’s leader in margin of victory heading into this weekend will only have improved on that number. This time the methods were different, because the opponent was different and so the challenge was different.
But the result was the same.
Indiana’s defense dominates Maryland
Indiana could have been forgiven a lull. Surely this brand of winning gets boring, or repetitive, or numbing. Kamara’s words, like his team’s performances, suggest otherwise.
Fernando Mendoza (14-of-21 passing, 225 total yards, two touchdowns) started slowly, and so did his offense. Mendoza’s lone interception ended IU’s first drive, and a sack doomed the Hoosiers’ second.
So Bryant Haines’ defense went to work on Malik Washington, the promising but inexperienced freshman Maryland (4-4, 1-4) lines up behind center. Washington has played beyond his years at times this season, helped by offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton’s ability to simplify and smooth for his young quarterback.
Hamilton could do nothing for his freshman QB this day, other than a reassuring arm around the shoulder afterward, and the promise most days aren’t this hard.
Because most defenses aren’t this good. Indiana finished allowing just 293 yards, a healthy chunk of those gained long after the result was beyond doubt.
The Hoosiers flipped their own script — finishing with no sacks and just three tackles for loss, they instead turned Maryland over five times.
That’s as many turnovers as Locksley’s team had committed all season before Saturday.
“The defense has, all year long, risen to the occasion when their backs are against the wall,” Cignetti said. “It wasn’t perfect tonight defensively, trust me. … But there’s a lot of good things there on tape.”
OK, so maybe it wouldn’t be Washington’s arm, or Mendoza’s slow start, or the turnover differential that untracked the freight train this team has become.
Injuries don’t slow down Indiana football
Maybe injuries would do the trick.
Aiden Fisher watched from the sideline.
Drew Evans was a surprise absence, with Cignetti suggesting his starting left guard could miss several weeks.
In the game itself, IU lost Elijah Sarratt (hamstring) and Kaiden Turner (calf), and helped Kahlil Benson (ankle/foot) play his way through pain until his efforts were no longer required.
Surely, between a starting lineman, a linebacker captain and the Hoosiers’ leading receiver, the sheer weight of injuries would affect this team’s performance. Not a chance.
“It’s just the trust we have in each other,” Mendoza said. “We know we have each other’s backs, and it’s one group going toward one goal.”
Maryland, Mendoza said, responded to Sarratt’s departure (and Indiana’s high-flying pass game) by committing to coverage and refusing to lose the game in the air. Indiana just made the Terrapins lose it on the ground.
IU’s 367 yards rushing were the most in a game since the fan-favorite Bacon And Legs win over Maryland in 2016. Three different backs ran for at least 80 yards, and four different Hoosiers (including Mendoza) rushed for a touchdown.
Backup (and little brother) Alberto Mendoza’s 53-yard run in the fourth quarter, the Hoosiers’ longest of the day, tacked one final flourish onto a signature afternoon. Everyone contributed to another remarkable performance, and so everyone shared at least a little bit of the credit.
“From my standpoint,” Cignetti said, “the thing I’m most proud of is the way they listen to the message about playing one play at a time, regardless of the circumstances.”
Cignetti will sweat some of those injuries. Indiana — like most teams in the transfer portal era — doesn’t have the depth to keep replacing starters.
There’s every chance, though, IU sees some of those important absent faces back on the field in a week in State College. And there’s just as much chance it won’t matter either way.
Cignetti spends his days, weeks, months and years preaching this unflinching focus, and the cold, ruthless dominance that follows. Never in his (admittedly brief) Indiana tenure has his team delivered performances that so clearly mastered his command.
“No matter if we’re up 10 at halftime, or we’re up 30 in the fourth quarter, we’re going to keep on swinging,” Mendoza said, “keep giving our best shot, because that’s what the present moment deserves, and that’s what we deserve as a football team.”
The relentlessness with which his team wins football games is what puts all the sport’s biggest prizes in front of this team now. At some point, we might find an opponent or an obstacle that can break this Indiana team’s unrelenting forward progress, but it’s going to take something remarkable to do it.
Zach Osterman covers the Hoosiers for IndyStar, part of the USA TODAY Network. Want more Hoosiers coverage? Sign up for IndyStar’s Hoosiers newsletter.
European theater chain buying Emagine Entertainment, including 9 Michigan locations
Two Minnesota state Senate seats up for election today could determine balance of power
Inaugural Michelin Guide American South honors 10 MS restaurants. See which made the list
Missouri warns public about 7-OH products – Missourinet
Simar releases new book, ‘Montana Matrimonial News’
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Over one month into government shutdown and no end in sight – but predictions run rampant
Two dead as Typhoon Kalmaegi brings massive flooding in central Philippines
Trump Backs Cuomo, Threatens NYC Funds If Mamdani Wins – The Source with Kaitlan Collins – Podcast on CNN Podcasts
Video: The Nationwide Battle Over Electoral Maps
Trump backs ICE raid tactics, says they ‘haven’t gone far enough’
-
Milwaukee, WI7 days agoLongtime anchor Shannon Sims is leaving Milwaukee’s WTMJ-TV (Channel 4)
-
News1 week agoWith food stamps set to dry up Nov. 1, SNAP recipients say they fear what’s next
-
Alabama1 week agoHow did former Alabama basketball star Mark Sears do in NBA debut with Milwaukee Bucks?
-
News1 week ago1 dead, 6 injured in shooting at Lincoln University homecoming festivities
-
Austin, TX1 week agoDia De Los Muertos Austin: Parades, Altars & Events
-
Culture1 week agoVideo: Tyler Mitchell Breaks Down Three Photos From His New Book
-
Culture6 days agoVideo: Dissecting Three Stephen King Adaptations
-
Seattle, WA7 days agoFOX 13’s Aaron Levine wins back-to-back Jeopardy! episodes