The Crown was the newest, hottest space in Central Baltimore, and word was spreading that it was looking to fill the void for artists who needed somewhere to congregate. The timing couldn’t have been better. That year, 2013, the beloved makeshift venue The Broom Factory Factory, better known as the BFF, in Remington had been shut down by the city under suspicious circumstances. I was in my early 20s, juggling jobs as a teller at M&T Bank, an usher at the Charles Theater and an occasional contributor to the now-shuttered Baltimore City Paper. (Photo: Sam Levin/For The Baltimore Banner)

A day after the remnants of Hurricane Debby blew through the Baltimore region, businesses began reopening, neighborhoods cleaned up storm debris and some awaited the restoration of electrical power. Less than 300 customers remained without power Saturday afternoon, Baltimore Gas and Electric reported at 5:50 p.m.

With schools set to start in a couple weeks, most parents of kindergartners are working to make sure to get required vaccinations for their children before sending them off to school. But not all parents. Over the last decade, more parents have opted their children out of vaccination requirements through the use of nonmedical religious exemption – especially in recent years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the 2024 Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris has neither given a sit-down interview nor held a news conference. Her campaign’s website lacks an “Issues” page (there’s only a biography). We get it, tactically: it’s tempting for Ms. Harris, as it would be for anyone in her position, to stay as vague on the issues as possible, for as long as possible, to avoid giving fodder to the opposition or dividing her supporters.

Democratic Rep. Susie Lee of Nevada is in the fight of her political life as she tries to hold onto her seat in one of the most competitive House races in the country. Lee, who prides herself on focusing on local issues and staying away from the top of her party’s ticket, says that her region has seen a 400% increase in volunteers since Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, injecting a critical surge in her House race that was always going to come down to turnout.

Gov. Wes Moore’s push to build the Red Line light-rail project in Baltimore flies in the face of Maryland’s history with rail transit, a history that includes huge cost overruns, ridership shortfalls and steadily deteriorating transit ridership. According to the Federal Transit Administration, Baltimore buses carried 122 million trips in 1982, before the state built any rail lines.

Electric bills in Baltimore have been especially high this summer after weeks of scorching temperatures. But it’s not just the heat that’s driving up the cost. Another factor, some elected officials and environmental and consumer groups argue, is regional grid operator PJM Interconnection’s failure to plan for the future. That has set utility customers up to pay more. The star of this drama is the coal-fired Brandon Shores power plant that sits against the backdrop of the Inner Harbor.

The gates opened Saturday on the 75th Montgomery County Agricultural Fair at the fairgrounds in Gaithersburg, Maryland. In the cattle pavilion, young 4-H members paraded their Heifers, which they’ve been raising since last fall, before judges and a wide-eyed audience of suburbanites and city dwellers. “The shows and the judging are fun to watch — you don’t get a lot of exposure to farm animals in Chevy Chase, it’s good to be able to see,” said Tom Walton, who visited the fair with his wife and two children.

Perched on a nest atop a green navigation marker in Maryland’s Harris Creek, the osprey glared, spread its wings and started hopping as a boatload of people drew near. “That’s a pretty big nestling standing up,” observed Barnett Rattner, a veteran scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Eastern Ecological Science Center. “Last week, there were two.”

Baltimore has reached a $45 million settlement with the pharmaceutical distributor CVS as part of a lawsuit the city is pursuing over its opioid epidemic, Mayor Brandon Scott announced late Friday afternoon. The settlement adds to $45 million the city had already secured from a separate drug supplier earlier this year. The decision comes as Baltimore is barely a month out from a scheduled trial date with opioid companies and manufacturers after six years of litigation.