This university’s chief administrative officer Charles Reuning announced last week that testing of the light-rail vehicles is set to begin on campus in early January. On-campus testing is set to be conducted on selected days from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The Purple Line is about 80 percent complete and set to begin operation in December 2027.

Freshman Jaden Cohen said it’s exciting to hear that the cars will actually start moving. But since the testing will be conducted at night, he is concerned some students may be unaware the testing is happening or try to disturb the cars.

“People don’t make smart decisions at night, and there’s no way to have a police presence across the whole line,” said Cohen, an accounting and supply chain major.

Cohen added he’s excited for the Purple Line to make it easier both to get around the area and to get to the Amtrak to return home to New Jersey.

Cohen’s also curious to see how students crossing Campus Drive during peak times will look like, he said. Cohen noted even buses are not able to get through the student’s foot traffic.

[College Park City Council asks state to evaluate site for affordable family, senior housing]

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen there. Is the train just gonna wait for students for an hour?” Cohen said.

Freshman digital art and media communications major Giulia Blough grew up in this area and frequently visited this campus since one of her parents worked at the university. She remembers seeing “significantly worse” construction around campus then.

Blough said she is curious if the testing of the Purple Line will actually happen as scheduled and how it will affect campus safety.

“I feel like I’ve been told so many times that ‘it’s almost done, it’s almost done’ and then it hasn’t been,” Blough said.

The Purple Line was set to open in 2022, but the construction process was paused for two years when Purple Line Transit Partners — the contractor overseeing the project’s construction — quit five years ago.

Five of the Purple Line’s 21 light-rail stations will be located on or near this campus. The line will also connect to the Metro’s red, green and orange lines.

Blough said that it will be interesting to see the light-rail vehicles coming through campus, considering all the people walking, riding scooters or driving cars. She added the Purple Line opening will make the journey home easier for students from nearby counties.

[Maryland sues Trump administration over blocking FBI headquarters move to Greenbelt]

“It’ll be nice for people that live in Montgomery County because they have a direct way of transportation home instead of having to order an Uber or take two different trains to get home on the Metro,” Blough said.

Applied economics graduate student Erik Lavoie said the Purple Line is a positive development but believes the project could have been designed better.

Lavoie said many students do not have access to a car and the Purple Line will be an alternative to spending money on Ubers. He added he’s concerned the Purple Line could get stuck at certain busy times in the day, just as he sees other vehicles get stuck on Campus Drive due to high pedestrian traffic.

“I’m just wondering if the people who planned [the Purple Line], are they fully aware of what it looks like around here at 11 a.m. when a lot of classes are out?” Lavoie said.

Ahmed, the president of the University of Maryland’s Sudanese Student Organization, said they had to gather thousands of dollars because of how expensive it is to get out of danger and into neighboring Egypt. It took Ahmed’s family multiple days to leave through various means of transportation, the sophomore physics major said.

“They were fortunate that they had someone to offer them that money,” Ahmed said. “Most people don’t have that.”

More than 40 students and university community members attended a roundtable Thursday about the civil war in Sudan. Since the war started two and a half years ago, the fighting has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced more than 12 million others, according to the Associated Press. Aid groups said the true death toll could be much higher.

The United Nations’ children’s agency head also said in March that the war in Sudan created the world’s largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis in history.

The roundtable was hosted by NoirUnited, a global development organization mobilizing African diaspora communities across the world, in partnership with multiple student groups, including the Sudanese Student Organization. Attendees discussed the history of Sudan and the crisis.

[UMD community members discuss deadly protests in Nepal, future of country]

The war between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces — a paramilitary group — began when the previous allies turned on one another in a struggle for power, according to the Associated Press. They were meant to oversee a peaceful government transition together in 2019, but accumulated tension instead led to war.

The Rapid Support Forces said Thursday it has agreed to a U.S.-led mediator group’s humanitarian truce, the Associated Press reported. A Sudanese military official said that the army will only agree to a truce when the Rapid Support Forces completely withdraw from civilian areas and give up weapons, according to the outlet.

The truce comes after the Rapid Support Forces took control of el-Fasher last month, a city that has been under siege for the last 18 months and was the last Sudanese military stronghold in the western Darfur region, the Associated Press reported.

During the assault, the Rapid Support Forces reportedly killed 460 patients in the Saudi Hospital and shot and beat people in their homes and on the streets. Satellite images appear to show mass burials conducted in the region, the outlet reported.

Ibrahim Alduma, a Sudanese human rights advocate, presented an extended history of the war in Sudan at the roundtable.

Alduma moved to Kenya from Sudan in 2023 where he worked with Sudanese youth. He continued working on consensus building and coalitions between different bodies in multiple countries and came to the U.S. in 2025 where he continues his advocacy.

Alduma told The Diamondback that while his family fortunately got out of Sudan, he still has neighbors and friends there. He said nobody can hear their voices, so it’s his responsibility to spread their voices to people from different areas.

“Sudanese civilians are suffering and they need any kind of advocacy or any kind of donation for those people just to stay alive in the future,” Alduma told attendees.

[UMD students honor lost Palestinian lives with campus art demonstration]

During the presentation, Alduma emphasized that Sudan has a lot of natural resources which multiple parties, including the United Arab Emirates, take advantage of for their personal interests.

“[The UAE are] killing Sudanese people to get their resources, and to do it, abolishing their reputation in the world,” Alduma told The Diamondback. “People must know that they are committing crimes in Sudan.”

Sudan filed a case at the top United Nations court in March that alleged the UAE of breaching the genocide convention by arming and funding the Rapid Support Forces, according to the Associated Press. U.S. intelligence assessments for many months have found that the UAE has been sending weapons to Rapid Support Forces. The UAE denies these claims.

Roundtable attendees were broken up into three groups and given multiple questions to discuss with themes including understanding the Sudanese crisis, humanitarian and policy action and diaspora and identity.

Akunna Okonkwo, a research and programs volunteer for NoirUnited, said the organization wants to empower the youth and college-aged students by giving them a platform.

“Our goal with this event is to have people feel empowered, find ways that they can try to connect with the Sudanese cause and also other causes within the continent,” the junior public health science major said.

At the roundtable, Sudanese Student Organization cabinet member Basmah Elradi shared a project she created for her capstone last semester that focused on her parents’ stories and memories in Sudan. Elradi said seeing the pain that her parents were going through motivated her to work on this project.

Elradi also has family members who fled Sudan during the civil war.

“The good memories that they have in Sudan, and of their childhoods and of their children’s childhoods, deserve to be preserved, especially because we don’t have a Sudan to go back to right now,” the junior neuroscience major said.

The testing on campus is expected to be conducted overnight on selected days from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., according to a campus-wide email on Thursday by this university’s chief administrative officer Charles Reuning. Testing from the College Park Metro Station to the east is set to start mid-November.

“This is an exciting step toward full system operation, which is scheduled for December 2027,” Reuning wrote in the email.

The high-voltage power lines will soon be energized and should be treated with the same caution used with any overhead power lines, the email read.

The wires are safe for anyone at ground level, Reuning wrote, but people should not get near them with any tall objects and should not throw anything on them. The email advises people to call 911 if a power line is downed.

Due to gaps in the rails, micromobility riders and wheelchair users are urged to take precautions such as using bike paths, avoiding rails when riding parallel to the tracks and crossing the tracks at a 90-degree angle, the email read

Five of the 21 Purple Line light-rail stations will be on or around this campus, the email read.

They embarked on a journey along the green path, weaving through the trees and houses along the edge of the trail. Some walked, while others ran.

The journey was part of a new initiative started by Carol and Jesse Holland. The married couple has hosted “Wednesday Weekly Walks” since July to create a way for their neighbors to walk in comfort and safety.

“We’re able to start building a community right here in this area of people who want to walk, want to jog, want to run, and we’re beginning to recognize each other, and we’re beginning to help each other,” Jesse said.

The walks have also helped advertise Haraka Run and Walk — a running-specialty store that the couple soon plans to open in the upcoming months. The store will be the first running-specialty store in the county, Jesse said.

Haraka means “speed” or “quick” in Swahili, and the store is “a celebration of Black excellence in motion,” according to the store’s website.

Carol, who grew up in Prince George’s County, ran track in high school and college. Once she returned from the military, Carol realized there was no place to service the sport in the county. That inspired her to open this store.

“One of the founding pillars of our mission is to serve the community, so we listen to what the community is telling us, and we’re trying to be in support of it,” Carol said.

[Arepa Zone’s first Maryland location opens in College Park]

Prince George’s County resident Davon Nasir, who has joined the weekly walks in the summer, said they are helping her in her training for a half marathon. The walks create a community where you meet new people who are interested in doing the same things, she added.

Nasir used to live in Northern Virginia, where running clubs and run-supply stores were more accessible. But despite living in Prince George’s County for a decade, she usually has to go outside of the area to get her athletic supplies.

“Having a store like this is beneficial where I won’t have to go all the way to Northern Virginia to get the same things,” Nasir said.

Carol and Jesse aim to address health issues affecting county residents, including higher risks of cardiovascular health abnormalities, high blood pressure and diabetes.

“One of our primary missions is improving and closing that health disparity gap we have in the county,” Carol said. “Also, we’re about community, so we’re going to be listening to the needs of our walkers and runners.”

Haraka is going to do more than just provide running necessities, according to Carol and Jesse. On top of the weekly walks, Jesse said the store will have a designated area for clinics that will teach community members about various topics, including health, safety and movement.

“We’re not going to just be having the walks or just be trying to sell people things,” Jesse said. “Our mission is also education.”

[College Park partnership looks to connect senior citizens with local community]

The assistant general manager of the store, Austin Brown, described working at Haraka as a “dream scenario” because he has run track since he was about 8 years old all the way through college. The University of Maryland alumnus added the sport opened up a lot of opportunities for him.

Brown said the Haraka community walks give community members a space to gather, especially when so many things are online and it’s harder for people to see one another in person.

“With this event, it kind of gives people that space to see one another and get to know people in the community,” Brown said. “Also just building a community around wellness and giving people a place where they can learn about how they can take better care of themselves and just improve their overall quality of life.”

Several students stood outside the career fair to protest against companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics. Others handed out fliers with information about defense companies’ contributions to weapons used in international conflict.

Protesters also asked career fair attendees to sign a pledge that they will “not work for any companies complicit in human rights abuses.” The demonstration was hosted by university organizations affiliated with the Anti-Imperialist Movement, a coalition of student organizations dedicated to fighting  “imperialism and the U.S. war machine on our campus and abroad.” 

Elijah Emley, chair of this university’s Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines chapter, said protestors were angry about this university welcoming defense companies that promote themselves as good places to work, even though they make some students feel unsafe. 

The senior environmental science and technology major said this university prepares students to work for “companies that profit directly off of violence, like the genocide thats happening in Palestine and the counterinsurgency in the Philippines.”  

University president Darryll Pines told The Diamondback on Wednesday there is no filter on which corporations or government agencies are allowed to attend career fairs.

“If you take this Middle East conflict out of the picture, we, the United States, and our University of Maryland students who need jobs, have worked at Department of Defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, who have come for decades,” Pines said. “We do have that offer to our students, because they get good jobs at those particular employers.”

[UMD alters language of Stamp’s multicultural involvement, community advocacy webpage]

Senior aerospace engineering major Abi Nedun said he spoke with companies including TRX Systems, Boeing and Lockheed Martin at the career fair. He said this university cannot overlook defense companies, especially because of their donations and their influence in terms of infrastructure and funding. 

Nedun said many aerospace students want good job security and can find that with them. He said the vast majority of people are not willing to take a chance on a smaller startup, whereas defense companies offer good salaries and job stability. 

Alexa Boltax handed out flyers with College Park Mutual Aid and the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. She hoped to connect with students and spread awareness.

Boltax, a senior religions of the ancient Middle East major, said institutions like this university set a precedent of moral corruption by accepting companies with “blood on their hands” as employers.  She wanted to provide a different point of view to students.

“Just because the institution has become insanely morally corrupt, it doesn’t mean that as individuals that we have to,” Boltax said. “We can stand in opposition to this and it’s not crazy radical, it’s just trying to be moral.”

In a statement to The Diamondback on Wednesday, this university wrote that it does not engage in viewpoint discrimination when reviewing corporations or government agencies at university career fairs.

“Employers seeking to recruit through our events must meet specific criteria, including compliance with all federal, state, and local laws, alignment with campus programs, and adherence to ethical recruitment practices,” the statement read.

[SGA resolution demands UMD recognize Israel’s offensive in Gaza as genocide]

This university has had a multimillion dollar relationship with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Those companies which gave more than $46 million combined to this university from 2010 to November 2023, The Diamondback reported last year.

Nevan McMillian, a sophomore mechanical engineering major and member of this university’s Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines chapter, said there are many job options for engineering students besides defense companies. But those options are hard to find at this university due to all of the sponsorships from the defense companies, he added.

“I wish [this university] would find new corporate sponsors, new endowments from different, more ethical companies,” McMillian said. “There’s a lot of civil engineering companies here, there’s a lot of biotechnical engineering companies here, so there’s a lot more options outside defense.”

Scott Corbett, sophomore computer engineering major, said that the ethical issues echoed in the protests were something good to be brought to her attention. She was planning to speak with Lockheed Martin. But after Corbett looked at some of the protests, she said she realized there are other more ethical options.

“It’s definitely worth it to start divesting against some of these companies because then it’ll start promoting even smaller internships or other places worth diverting funding,” Corbett said.

Assistant news editor and administration reporter Sam Gauntt interviewed university president Darryll Pines for this story. 

Violent protests in Nepal resulted in at least 72 deaths and the destruction of government buildings and politicians’ homes, the Associated Press reported. A government ban on some social media platforms earlier this month sparked the widespread demonstrations against political corruption.

Dipsu Shrestha, the Nepali Student Association’s culture chair, presented a slideshow to the attendees at the roundtable, which discussed the history of Nepal and context behind current events.

The senior public health practice major said it was important to host this discussion to commemorate the lives lost in the protests and because corruption has been an ongoing issue in Nepal.

“There were so many young lives that were lost, and I feel like obviously they’re gone, but I wanted to make it feel like they left for an impact that they made,” she said.

[UMD students honor lost Palestinian lives with campus art demonstration]

Suyog Gyawali graduated from this university last year but said he comes back for Nepali Student Union events because they keep him closer to his country.

Gyawali said what happened in Nepal is emotional and thinks it’s important to emphasize that the protests are about corruption, not only the government’s social media ban.

The Nepalese government announced a social media ban Sept. 4 on platforms including Facebook, X and YouTube because the companies failed to register with the government. The restriction was lifted after police opened fire and killed at least 19 protesters on Sept. 8, according to the Associated Press.

The prime minister’s headquarters, the offices of the president, the supreme court, key government ministries and several police stations were set on fire by protesters on Sept. 9, the day after police shot at protesters, according to the Associated Press.

Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli resigned, and Sushila Karki — the country’s former supreme court chief justice — was named prime minister on Sept. 12, becoming the country’s first woman to hold that title. Parliamentary elections will take place March 5.

Nayan Kadabha, co-president of the Asian American Policy Association, said they pitched the Nepali Student Association collaboration during the roundtable. The group has been talking about advocacy in the local area and thought this conversation would gain traction in the community.

[New UMD Unity Center celebrates culture, creates gathering space for students]

“We wanted to reach out to [the Nepali Student Association] to make sure their voices were heard and they were included in the discussion because that was really important,” Kadabha said.

Kadabha said they learned a lot about Nepal in the discussion and that many people at the event had the opportunity to speak on the recent events.

Talking points brought up during the roundtable included effects of the social media ban, comparisons between Nepali protests and U.S. protests and dealing with corrupt politicians moving forward.

Shrestha, the Nepali Student Association culture chair, presented three ways students can help the situation in Nepal — raising political awareness, educating themselves on Nepal’s constitution and donating to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure.

Some attendees at the roundtable expressed hope for a positive future in Nepal in the aftermath of recent events.

“My biggest hope would be to have a stable country, a peaceful country with no corruption and just patriotic people who want to do right by the country,” Gyawali said.

PGCPS interim superintendent Shawn Joseph shared his initiative to make school data dashboards transparent and available for everyone at a town hall meeting last week. He also pushed for community members to acknowledge the growth that the data shows in the school system compared to statewide measurements.

“All children have greatness and giftedness in them, but it takes the school system to pull it out,” Joseph said. “We’ve got to create the conditions.”

Joseph said the U.S. problematizes Black and brown communities and focuses on deficits in data, which ignores opportunities and great progress. He said he and his team are committed to looking at data from an “equity lens” by comparing students with their peers from similar groups rather than in a “one size fits all” angle.

The data Joseph presented at the town hall showed that while the county’s students lag behind in the state’s overall performance, more than 85 percent of the students are performing the same or higher than their like-peers across the state. He said the school system can use data to compare Black students in the county to all Black students in Maryland.

[After tumultuous summer, new PGCPS interim superintendent works to set path forward]

The data indicated that students of color and multilingual students outperformed their like-peers statewide, he said.

In 2024, Black students in the county outperformed their peers in the state by 4.3 percentage points in English Language Arts and 1.9 percentage points in mathematics, Joseph said. Hispanic and Latino students outperformed their like-peers by 1.9 percentage points in English Language Arts and 1.2 percentage points in mathematics, he added.

At-large Prince George’s County Council member Calvin Hawkins II said looking at data from like-peers will help students, parents and the entire community look at schools in the county differently.

Hawkins said since he has been involved in public service in the county, he never looked at data in the way Joseph presented. This new perspective was important to him because it positively changed his outlook.

“If we’re not careful, we’ll stay engaged in the negative things and miss all the good and positive things that are going on in our school system,” Hawkins said.

Joseph said he and his team have been working on being transparent in using data to make important decisions. The plan is to turn the data into public dashboards to show if schools are making adequate growth in reading and mathematics.

Hawkins said he respects Joseph’s plans to use data to direct resources to schools that are in need of them.

“It would help our leadership, that’s including Dr. Joseph, and our educators and management team members understand through that data, where the challenges are,” Hawkins said.

[PGCPS began school year short about 140 bus drivers]

The statistical analysis will allow for Joseph’s team to focus on the schools that are not improving academically.

Doug Strader, PGCPS’s chief accountability officer said during a Board of Education meeting Thursday that the dashboards will show growth at a district level and school level using various methods, including looking at the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program test results to view growth.

Other progress metrics will include truancy, suspension rates, enrollment rates and demographic information from each school, Strader said.

The dashboards will “highlight academic outcomes and school climate measures, with an emphasis on growth and gains demonstrated by schools,” according to a PGCPS news release.

“We’ve got tremendous staff, we’ve got a tremendous community, but we’ve just got to come together and work together and seek what’s at work in a way that really accelerates opportunities and access for children,” Joseph said.

The D.C. Council passed an amended bill 11-2 on Wednesday that would bring a new Commanders stadium to the Robert F. Kennedy Stadium campus.

The $3.8 billion deal is set to redevelop the RFK stadium and “activate 180 acres of opportunity” surrounding the Anacostia River, according to a statement from D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser’s office.

[PGCPS began school year short about 140 bus drivers]

The redevelopment is set to bring 6,000 new housing units to the site and $26.6 billion in redevelopment tax revenue, according to a council news release from August.

“It is with great pride that I can say we are officially bringing our Commanders home and turning 180 acres of land on the banks of the Anacostia, on the monumental axis, into jobs and opportunity for D.C. residents,” Bowser’s statement reads. 

The decision comes after Bowser and Washington Commanders managing partner Josh Harris initially announced a deal to bring the stadium to Washington in April. The bill was first approved by a council in a 9-3 vote in August, The Diamondback previously reported.

Harris shared a statement in August declaring his excitement about the move back.

“Today’s approval by the council is transformational for D.C. and brings the Commanders back to our spiritual home,”  his statement read.

[Prince George’s County Council member pays off lunch debt for District 5 schools]

The Commanders released a statement on Wednesday to D.C. chair and council members alleging that council members presented a list of “unworkable and impractical” last minute demands that jeopardize the $2.7 billion investment. Most demands were made verbally without supporting documentation, the statement reads.

“Many of these proposals significantly impact our ability to deliver this project as envisioned and will restrict the value this project would deliver,” the statement read.

In their statement, the Commanders urged the council to honor their agreement.

The Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland has been the Washington Commanders’ home since 1997. The team is expected to use the stadium for 33 total seasons before moving back to D.C., where they played from 1937 until 1996.

[Nancy Pelosi headlines Steny Hoyer’s annual luncheon amid SGA backlash]

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore released a statement in April that said the state has been preparing for the possibility of the team’s relocation. The state made a deal with the team to collaborate on a redevelopment plan, Moore said in his statement.

“Our priority has always been ensuring that the Landover community will see a transformative new development in the years ahead, regardless of the stadium decision,” his statement reads.

Prince George’s County chair Edward Burroughs expressed disappointment with the team’s move in an April statement. He assured local residents that the county is committed to turning the site into something valuable for the community.

“It appears [the Commanders] are committed to working with us to ensure the stadium site is not left blighted and abandoned, and instead becomes a vibrant new development,” his statement reads.

Across the county, parents owe more than $1 million in debt from unpaid school lunches, according to a county news report. That’s why District 5 council member Shayla Adams-Stafford decided to pay off $60,000 in school lunch debt in her district.

The council member paid off the debt through a local charitable organization called the Excellence in Education for PGCPS fund, according to a Sept. 3 county news release. The money covers the debt from all schools in her district, she said.

“For some students, lunch at schools could be the only meal that they eat for the day,” Adams-Stafford said. “So for me, it was really important to tackle food insecurity in this way.”

As a mother of three children under the age of 6, Adams-Stafford said she believes no child or family should feel the shame in not being able to afford school lunch.

[College Park City Council discusses possible $10,000 pay raise for members]

About 70 percent of students in Prince George’s County qualify for free or reduced lunch, according to the county report. Many of the remaining students are slightly above the qualification, which makes it difficult for them to afford lunch, the report stated.

Adams-Stafford said the Prince George’s Council has a sponsorship program where it financially partners with organizations, which is how it partnered with the Excellence in Education Foundation for PGCPS. She hopes to grow the foundation into an endowment that can pay off lunch debt every single year, she added.

Pamela Adams, the principal of Thomas G. Pullen K-8 Creative and Performing Arts School, said this donation eases a burden on the parents and allows them to worry less.

[Prince George’s County Council passes resolution to audit overdose response in schools]

“It makes a difference for the families and ensures that children can focus on their education without the stress of financial burdens,” Adams said.

Adams added she was not told that the debt was covered and instead saw the information on the news last week. She plans to let the parents know and show the school’s appreciation for Adams-Stafford.

“We really and truly appreciate the council woman for doing this,” Adams said. “We truly do, we will make sure that we show our appreciation.”

Excellence in Education Foundation for PGCPS executive director Thea Wilson wrote in a statement to The Diamondback that Adams-Stafford understands the unique needs of the school district and the community.

“The generous donation to cover the student lunch debt in District 5 does more than just pay for meals; it restores dignity for students and their families who struggle to afford lunch every day,” the statement read. “It also boosts confidence in community leaders.”

The council unanimously voted on a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting calling on Prince George’s Public Schools to begin evaluating the schools’ readiness for a potential overdose emergency.

The resolution requires an audit to verify whether the school system aligns with state and local requirements for overdose-reversing medication requirements in schools. The audit will begin immediately after Tuesday’s vote and end in January 2026.

[After tumultuous summer, new PGCPS interim superintendent works to set path forward]

A state law requires every public school to store naloxone — a medicine that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses — and have personnel trained in applying the medicine in an overdose situation.

The idea for the bill stemmed from parent feedback at community meetings, at-large council member Calvin Hawkins II said at the county’s education and workforce development committee meeting on June 30. Parents were concerned about nurses having to switch between schools throughout the day, according to Hawkins, the lead sponsor of the resolution.

“Some of [the parents] asked about how would medication for a student that had an overdose be administered if the nurse wasn’t there,” Hawkins said at the meeting. “Many of the schools couldn’t speak on their protocol.”

The county’s fiscal and policy note for the resolution recorded 160 people under the age of 18 who received naloxone in the county’s educational facilities in the past decade. The Prince George’s County Health Department estimates that one person overdoses every day within the county, the resolution states.

There has been an average of 21 opioid-related overdose deaths for county residents younger than 25 each year for the past four years, according to the fiscal and policy note. But these kinds of deaths, naloxone administration and opioid caused emergency room visits have trended down since 2023, the note reads.

District 5 council member Shayla Adams-Stafford said at the June 30 meeting the audit will look at how outside vendors can support the resolution. The audit will also examine peer support in other jurisdictions. 

The resolution would have no impact on county finances because the state has money allocated for medicine and naloxone training, according to findings by David Noto, the county’s legislative budget and policy analyst.

[Gov. Moore criticizes Trump, affirms commitment to Maryland at UMD town hall]

District 3 council member Eric Olson told The Diamondback the resolution is important to make sure the council acknowledges that these procedures need to be in order.

Drug use is a nationwide issue council members need to be prepared for, he added. 

“It’s about the health and safety of young people,” Olson said. “We unfortunately have seen overdoses and hospital visits over the past several years, and just like any threat to health, we need to be prepared for it.”