Arundel Digest

Agency's Meade move on schedule

ANNAPOLIS - The head of the Defense Information Systems Agency said its move from Arlington, Va., to Fort George G. Meade is on schedule.

Lt. Gen. Carroll Pollett met with Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and other Maryland officials yesterday to discuss transportation issues and education opportunities for people who will be coming to the area.

Pollett said surveys show about 63 percent of DISA's work force will stay with their jobs after the move.

Brown said that while some will commute from Virginia, he's hoping rising numbers will move to Maryland over a two-year period during which the military will pay for families to move.

About 4,300 jobs will be placed at DISA's new facility at Fort Meade between October 2010 and July 2011.

The move is part of the military's Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, process.

H1N1 vaccine appointments filling

ANNAPOLIS - The county Health Department had 30 operators available this morning to handle the latest round of appointments for the H1N1 vaccine.

Starting at 8:30 a.m., operators started taking calls at 410-222-4896 to start filling the 600 appointment slots now available for both the injectable and mist forms of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine.

At 9:30 a.m., the department's Twitter page said the phone lines were overloaded and asked callers to be patient. Phone technicians were called in to address the problem, said Elin Jones, department spokeswoman. On Friday, the department filled 450 appointments in two hours.

Currently, the vaccine is available only for the following priority groups:

Pregnant women.

Those who live with or provide care for infants less than 6 months old.

Health care and emergency medical services personnel.

Healthy people aged 6 months to 24 years old.

Anyone aged 25 to 64 with a chronic medical condition or compromised immune system.

Pregnant women and those with a chronic medical condition or compromised immune system can receive only the injectable form of the vaccine.

The appointments will be scheduled at the department's Annapolis, Glen Burnie and Odenton health centers. Officials will continue to schedule appointments as more vaccine arrives in the next few weeks.

Police begin MARC station screenings

BALTIMORE - Maryland Transit Administration Police officers will now conduct security screenings at MARC commuter train stations.

Police will begin randomly checking luggage, packages and other carry-on items on Friday.

The security screening will take place at stations on the Penn, Camden and Brunswick lines.

MTA police said passengers should plan to spend extra time boarding the train.

Security and K-9 teams from the Maryland Transportation Authority and Transit Security Administration will assist with the screenings.

- From staff and wire reports