Gov. Wes Moore signed an agreement Friday pledging Maryland’s participation in a federal model to promote equitable and affordable health care for all Maryland residents. With Moore’s signature, the state will participate in the federal States Advancing All-Payer Equity Approaches and Development Model, also known as the AHEAD Model.

About the changes in juvenile justice laws that took effect Friday, some prosecutors, defense attorneys and justice reform advocates agree on one thing: The laws are likely to result in increased caseloads for the Department of Juvenile Services. But whether that will have an effect on crime rates — or deter young offenders — is less clear.

In 2018, then-Gov. Larry Hogan won reelection by winning in every Maryland jurisdiction except Baltimore City and Montgomery, Prince George’s and Charles counties. Hogan, decrying partisan labels and distancing himself from the state Republican Party, became the first Republican in 70 years to be reelected governor in the heavily Democratic state.

More than one in five Maryland voters are choosing not to register with a party — a 25% increase since 2012, according to an analysis of state voter data, as more voters express dissatisfaction with Democrats and Republicans. Those growing unaffiliated voters could be crucial in Maryland’s U.S. Senate race, in which Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive, and Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan have told voters the race is a choice between the consequences of party control and independence.

Like any entrepreneur, Emmett Harris’ first priority was getting his business out of the red. His secondary goal was to make enough money to finance his growing collection of Lego Minifigures. Through his business, called E’s Beads, 10-year-old Harris sells artwork made from beads that he assembles in various configurations on a peg board. An iron is used to fuse the beads together, creating designs like Super Mario Bros. characters or Minecraft swords.

Tanya Carter had lived in the Baltimore area her whole life, but a few years ago she started to feel stuck. She was living in the rowhome in Oliver where she grew up, and her oldest daughter, Tobi, had just died. Carter was looking for a fresh start. While searching for housing on Google, she stumbled across New Freedom, Pennsylvania, a small community in southern York County. She made the roughly 45-minute drive and within minutes fell in love.

With the end of October, National Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month draws to a close. But year round, Maryland advocates are working to improve how health care providers identify and support victims of domestic and intimate partner violence. “People who are in abusive relationships have higher overall health issues, so they’re coming into the health care setting more frequently,” said Audrey Bergin, operations manager for the Maryland Health Care Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (Photo by Joe Andrucyk/Maryland GovPics/Flickr Creative Commons)

Tourism revenue for Frederick County reached a record total in 2023, bringing in $539 million, up from $518 million the year before. The money came from 1.9 million visitors to the county, comparable to the number for 2022, according to a press release from the tourism organization Visit Frederick. The tourism rate shows the highest visitor total since 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.

If you’re trick-or-treating Thursday night, expect to come up empty-handed at about one in 10 houses. That’s according to a new poll by the UMBC Institute of Politics, in which 11 percent of Marylanders said they will pretend they’re not home on Halloween. Fortunately, you’ll have some luck on the rest of the block, where 77 percent said they plan to give out candy or treats, and 5% said they will be handing out something else.

Baltimore is on a fast-approaching deadline to obligate all $641 million of its federal COVID-19 relief funds by the end of this year — or else it will lose the money. Around $501 million has been obligated as of Sept. 30, per a new report released Thursday by the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Programs. That number does not include interagency agreements, according to Chief Recovery Officer Shamiah Kerney.