Maryland

Maryland sits at the mid-Atlantic crossroads of urban innovation and Chesapeake Bay conservation. This archive tracks the state’s progress stories — from environmental restoration and public health advances to community-led economic development.

Two people holding hands, for article on Parkinson's infusion device, for article on Onapgo approval

U.S. approves “milestone” Parkinson’s treatment for 2025 release

By / / Good News For Humankind

Onapgo, a new wearable approved by the FDA, will give Americans with Parkinson’s a continuous, non-surgical way to manage their symptoms when it launches in late 2025. The small device delivers a steady infusion of apomorphine under the skin, bypassing the digestive system entirely — a real advantage for a disease that often slows digestion and makes pills unpredictable. In trials, patients cut their daily “off” episodes — those rough stretches when medication wears off and tremors return — by nearly two and a half hours on average. The therapy has quietly helped European patients for about three decades, and its U.S. arrival opens a gentler path for the roughly one million Americans living with Parkinson’s, part of a growing global push toward more humane, individualized care.

Silhouette of cannabis leaf, for article on Maryland marijuana pardons

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore set to issue 175,000 pardons for marijuana convictions

By / / Good News For Humankind

Maryland’s marijuana pardons just cleared more than 175,000 convictions in a single executive order — the largest state-level pardon any governor has ever signed. Governor Wes Moore framed it as unfinished business from legalization itself, noting that people arrested for cannabis decades ago still carry those records into job interviews, housing applications, and college admissions today. The order falls hardest in favor of Black Marylanders, who were arrested for cannabis at three times the rate of white residents before the state legalized recreational use in 2023. Moore was honest about the limits: a pardon can’t return lost years. But paired with the federal push to reschedule marijuana, it signals a country slowly reckoning with who paid the price of the war on drugs.

A heat pump unit on a home exterior, representing U.S. heat pump sales growth supported by the Kigali Amendment

Nine U.S. states, including California and New York, sign heat pump agreement to clean up air pollution

By / / Good news links

Nine U.S. states have inked an agreement to promote climate-friendly heat pump sales. The memorandum of understanding sets a 2030 target for heat pumps to make up 65% of residential heating, cooling, and water heating equipment sales. By 2040, the goal is for heat pumps to account for 90% of the HVAC and water heating market. The states on board with the agreement include: California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island.

Person happily holding a trans pride flag, for article on gender-affirming care

Maryland to cover unprecedented number of gender-affirming procedures in “groundbreaking” win

By / / Good News For Humankind

Maryland’s Medicaid program now covers gender-affirming care that reaches far beyond hormones and surgery, including voice therapy, fertility preservation, hair and scar removal, and a wide range of procedures. Under a law that took effect January 1, 2024, patients can only be denied a covered service if a clinician finds it would harm their individual health — never on the basis of identity. The bill grew directly out of conversations at Pride festivals and support groups across the state, shaped by trans Marylanders describing the barriers they faced. For residents like Renee Lau, who had been saving toward surgeries she couldn’t afford, the relief is immediate. As other states move to restrict trans healthcare, Maryland offers a hopeful template for how Medicaid can meet people where they are.