Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal warns about ‘Chromebook Challenge' causing fires, smoke

MARYLAND (DC News Now) — The Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) said that there is a 'concerning' new
Officials said that students have been putting electrically conductive items into electronic devices' charging ports in what is called the 'Chromebook Challenge.'
'This reckless behavior has been linked to several incidents resulting in fires, smoke, and property damage,' OSFM said in a news release.
OSFM said that this 'challenge' started being documented on May 5. In some cases, there have been emergency evacuations at schools across Maryland.
School officials: students setting laptops on fire, connected to TikTok trend
'We want to emphasize the importance of educating students about the dangers associated with these acts,' Acting State Fire Marshal Jason Mowbray said in the release. 'It is crucial that parents and educators work together to promote a culture of safety and responsibility regarding electronic devices.'
OSFM encourages parents to discuss the dangers of such acts with their children.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Buzz Feed

13 hours ago

• Buzz Feed

Judy Garland's Death And Ted Bundy's Last-Meal

Do you love all things weird, dark, and creepy? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre! It's a scary good time you won't want to miss. Welcome to That Got Dark! I'm Crystal, and I have a habit of going down deep and dark rabbit holes, which maybe isn't recommended for a good night's sleep, but hey, I just can't help myself! Here's the thing: I love to share all the terrible, weird, and scary things I discover. So, every week, I'll gather the darkest and creepiest things I find on the internet (and beyond) to share just with you, my spooky-loving friend. So, tuck yourself in tight and get out that flashlight…it's about to get dark. So, here's something I wish I had never learned — a teenage TikToker in Florida, known for his "high-speed" driving videos, recklessly killed six innocent people while driving 151 mph. What's even worse is the fact that he was sentenced to only 12.5 years in prison, just two years for each death. Noah Galle, who was 17 years old at the time of the crash, was driving a BMW M5 when he violently crashed into the back of an SUV carrying six farm workers. The impact forced the back of their vehicle forward several feet into the passenger compartment, killing everyone in the SUV. Galle was known on TikTok for regularly speeding and asking his followers to guess how fast he was driving. In January 2025, Galle entered a plea deal to avoid his case going to trial and received a reduced sentence of 12 years and 180 days in prison. Occasionally, I like to ask the BuzzFeed Community to tell me about the most mysterious, cult-like, bad-vibes towns in the United States they've ever been to. And you'd be shocked at how many responses I get each time (or maybe not). This week's spotlight: Island Pond, Vermont. 'My family and I visited friends there a few years ago. The town was very quiet and empty, which always creeps me out, but it wasn't that bad until we decided to go into a cafe that, I guess, was run by the same people as the Yellow Deli (which is run by the Twelve Tribes cult). The interior did not look like a cafe. It was an empty tarp-covered room, and they just had bread for sale, which the people I was with actually bought. I was so freaked out and thought they were going to get poisoned. Only one guy was working there, and he was creepy as hell and kept telling us to go to the Yellow Deli in Plymouth."—cwthree Wikipedia is like the Wild West. It's vast, lawless, and sometimes you can find some extremely weird (and horrifying) things out there. This week's spotlight: a medieval 'punishment' device called a scold's bridle. Used almost exclusively on women, this terrible mechanism was essentially an iron muzzle that went into your mouth and pressed down on your tongue, sometimes with a SPIKE, to prevent the wearer from talking. It was used to punish women whose speech or behavior was considered 'too offensive' or 'unruly' and was designed to inflict extreme pain and humiliation. You know, I would say it's hard to believe this thing was real, but then, humans (*cough cough* men) have been making diabolical devices for thousands of years, so… Judy Garland — Died: June 22, 1969, Cause of Death: Barbiturate overdose How she died: The iconic singer and movie star, who was just 47 years old at the time of her death, was found dead in her London townhouse by her fifth husband, Mickey Deans. Garland had a long history of substance abuse and struggled with addiction for much of her life, which was compounded by the pressures of fame, financial and career issues, as well as mental health challenges. Her death was ultimately ruled accidental. Companion (2025) What it's about: A weekend getaway at a remote cabin turns chaotic when one of the guests goes you should watch it: If you're in the mood for a less traditionally 'scary' horror film, Companion errs more on the side of sci-fi thriller bordering dark comedy. A good date night movie for those with a dark you can watch it: Streaming for free on Max or for rent for $5.99 on Fandango at Home. Ted Bundy Often remembered for the widespread media coverage of his trial and the self-proclaimed admiration of many women, Ted Bundy was a serial killer who kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least 30 young women and girls in the '70s. However, many believe there may have been over 100 victims. After several years in prison, Bundy was executed by electric chair in January 1989. His last meal: Bundy declined to choose, so he was given the standard last meal provided at Florida State Prison: Steak cooked medium-rare, eggs over easy, hash browns, toast with butter and jelly, milk, and juice. Well, it's another dark AF week in the books. In the next issue, I'll talk about a man who died from eating a hot fishcake (seriously!), a missing person Wikipedia page that will haunt you, and an impressive body horror film from Norway. Until then, stay safe, keep the lights on, and I'll see you for another horrifying trip down the rabbit hole… Thirsty for more? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get a weekly post just like this delivered directly to your inbox. It's a scary good time you won't want to miss.

New York Post

a day ago

• New York Post

Sneaky scammer swindled distressed flight passenger out of $5K — here's how to prevent this from happening

A wrong phone call ended up costing this woman thousands. Anyone can fall victim to a scam — especially when you are the one unknowingly contacting them. That's what happened to a mom named Haylee who called American Airlines — the airline she and her family of 11 booked flights with for an upcoming cruise. As explained in a recent TikTok video — where Haylee was clearly still in shock about the deceitful scenario — she has a daughter and niece on the autism spectrum, so she called the airline 'because I wanted to see if there were any accomodations or anything we could get for my neice and my daughter, like priority boarding or could get on the plane sooner…' The mom couldn't believe she fell for a scam that cost her so much money. TikTok/@https_butts 'I've never been on a plane with my children before, so anytime I've flown somewhere, it's been through Southwest and it's either been just me or me and someone else,' she continued. Haylee looked up the airline's phone number — something anyone would do — 'I guess I must've not clicked the number because it rerouted the page…' Without realizing what happened, the mom clicked the first number she saw and the man on the phone asked for the family's flight confirmation numbers. Seems normal. 'He's spouting off all of our information, I'm thinking 'Oh yeah, this is real, he's got all of our information,'' Haylee said in her video. The scammer even rattled off the last four digits of the credit cards that were used to book the flights. Unfortunately, anyone can fall victim to a scam. rraattii – 'He comes back and says, 'I could give you…$150 off per ticket, priority boarding and we're going to have you sit at the front of the plane but in order to do this — I have to refund both of the cards which could take 7-20 business days…' he said he was going to refund the money on both of those cards and put it all on one card — $5,250, giving us $1,600 off the entire thing,' she shamefully said in her video. 'Why did I fall for that?' the woman regretfully groaned in her video. After asking a few more questions — including another credit card to run — the scammer managed to charge this woman's credit cards thousands and then sent a phony 'confirmation' reciept with a tiny detail that alluded to the fact that no part of this situation was legitimate. 'It says in the body of the email that it was [from] 'flight trip' — not American Airlines.' After checking her American Airlines app and seeing that her original flights were still there, untouched, Haylee suddenly realized that this situation was a big fat scam. The horrified mom went into damage control, locking both credit cards and disputing the charge. Clearly scammers don't discriminate because many of the commenters on the video shared their similar experiences. 'It's okay, I almost got scammed for a job that sounded too good to be true, because it was. They were claiming they would send me a MacBook to work from home and pay me $36/hour and I was thrilled. Until they asked me for my cc number. This entire interaction happened on WhatsApp. It could have been so bad.' 'This happened to me once when I called or tried to call a cable company, clicked a link and was rerouted to another link phone number. Luckily hung up when it started to sound sketch but this is definitely a thing.' 'The same thing happened to me, but it was my cruise cabin.'

USA Today

2 days ago

• USA Today

Sean Hjelle's wife accuses Giants pitcher of abuse; team in contact with MLB

A day after San Francisco Giants' reliever Sean Hjelle's wife, Caroline, accused him of infidelity, family abandonment, and abuse in a viral TikTok, posted Friday, June 20, the team released a statement on the matter. "We are aware of these serious allegations," the statement read. "We have been in contact with MLB. These type of allegations fall under their jurisdiction and we won't be commenting further." The TikTok, which has garnered more than 3.5 million views and over 230,000 likes in less than 24 hours since it was posted, includes a caption that says, "When my MLB husband abandons us on Mothers Day a week after this (video was taken) once I finally found about his affairs and stopped putting up with his abuse, so I've been raising two boys alone." Hjelle did not comment to reporters before Saturday's game against the Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Chronicle reported. Before the game, Giants manager Bob Melvin said Hjelle was available to pitch on Saturday. Melvin acknowledged he was aware of the accusations. "He told me about it last night," Melvin told reporters. "We've talked to MLB and at this point, it's in their jurisdiction so we can't comment on it any further." MLB News: Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski begins MLB career with 11 no-hit innings What else has Caroline Hjelle said on the matter? The San Jose Mercury News cited a Giants spokesperson, who said the couple is divorced. It is unclear when the couple officially ended their marriage, but Caroline has several posts on her TikTok alluding to her struggles as a solo parent, dating back to October 2024, when she posted this video for the "17 Diapers" trend, meant to detail the struggles of early parenthood. On April 8 of this year, Hjelle posted another TikTok with the hashtag "divorce", claiming she was "devastated" after "finding out all the lies." Has Hjelle been important to the Giants' success? The Giants have been one of the surprise teams of 2025 with a 42-34 record while sitting in second-place in the NL West. A large reason for that success has been their bullpen, which has posted an MLB-best 2.60 ERA. Hjelle played a sizable role in the Giants' bullpen in 2024, when he recorded a 3.90 ERA across 80⅔ innings. However, he's taken a large step back in 2025, with his ERA ballooning to 4.66, while his BB/9 has increased massively from 1.6 in 2024 to 6.5 this year. Hjelle has pitched only 9⅔ innings this season. MLB News: Padres' Robert Suarez suspended three games for hitting Shohei Ohtani with pitch