The county I represent continues to be negatively impacted by decisions of the Maryland state legislature and state agencies regarding wind turbines and solar power fields that are usurping local autonomy and threatening our community’s way of life. Worcester County is blessed with unsurpassed natural resources: the golden sands of our beaches, the fertile soils of our fields, our bays and our rural landscapes.

An online petition to remove Hagerstown Mayor Tekesha Martinez and city Administrator Scott Nicewarner went up Aug. 19 on the website Change.org. By Aug. 26, the petition had 43 signatures. Robbie Soto, president and program director for Authentic Community Theatre Inc. at 43 S. Potomac St., told The Herald-Mail he started the petition because he believes the city government is treating the theater group differently from. other downtown businesses.

Nestled in the mountains of Western Maryland, the small town of Cumberland has been having an unexpected revival as remote workers move in and it upgrades its historic downtown. To keep the momentum going, the city launched a pilot program last week to offer up to $20,000 to 10 families who relocate and commit to staying for at least five years.

 

The Baltimore County Council is scheduled to vote on nearly 400 zoning requests Tuesday, the culmination of a lengthy Comprehensive Zoning Map Process that occurs every four years. The CZMP, which began in August 2023, allows residents, business owners, developers and lobbyists to request to rezone a property anywhere in Baltimore County. Planning staff made recommendations, and public hearings were held for each council district in June.

Almost 15 years ago, Baltimore slashed retirement benefits for its cops and firefighters. They never forgot about it. Now, police and fire workers are on the cusp of getting some of those lost benefits back. Under a proposal being pushed by Mayor Brandon Scott, tens of millions in taxpayer dollars could go toward reinstating a few key benefits in the police and firefighters’ pension, which the city cut in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

 

Out of all the mom-and-pop restaurants in Baltimore, Amanda and Joseph Burton didn’t expect Keith Lee to choose to eat at theirs. Still, the couple figured they would throw their Hollins Market restaurant, Rooted Rotisserie, into the running when they heard the TikTok food critic with more than 16 million followers was coming to the area.

If endless buffets, getting fancied up for a captain’s ball or waiting to see what animal shape the bath towels have been folded into is your idea of fun on the seas, then the Pride of Baltimore II’s guest crew program is probably not your thing. But, if you want to work alongside a crew, haul lines, furl sails, stand watch in the dead of the night and help with maintenance of a tall ship whose design dates to the 18th century, then you’ve found your people.

One of the country’s largest startup accelerators is starting a new program in Baltimore shortly after a large round of national layoffs. Techstars is establishing an accelerator focused on health care and artificial intelligence in partnership with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Johns Hopkins University. The new accelerator began accepting applications on Monday.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have suspended his national presidential campaign, but he will appear on the general election ballot in Maryland. Kennedy announced last week that he will wind down his campaign activities and endorsed Donald Trump, the Republican nominee and former president. Despite Kennedy ending his independent run, state elections officials said Kennedy has qualified for inclusion on the November ballot in Maryland.

More than 130,000 are heading back to class at Prince George’s County Public Schools Monday. For many of them, that means new bus routes and bell schedules. PGCPS said that the majority of schools are seeing no change or only a 15 minute change in their start and end times, but 16% of schools are seeing a shift anywhere from 16 to 45 minutes.