The Baltimore County Council has amended some parts of a controversial law passed in June that would curb development in areas with overcrowded schools. On Monday, the council passed 4-3 a “clarifying” bill to supplement the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. The ordinance institutes an advisory committee to recommend changes to alleviate school overcrowding, an ongoing issue in Baltimore County schools.

CSX railroad’s second-quarter profit slipped 2% — even though the volume of its shipments was up by that same rate — as it scrambled to respond to the Baltimore bridge collapse in March that disrupted coal exports. CSX said Monday that it earned $963 million, or 49 cents per share, in the second quarter. That’s down from last year’s $984 million, or 49 cents per share.

August is the Chesapeake Bay’s unexpected month — the time of year when things turn out exactly as you expect until they do not. My daughter was back in town from Louisville, Kentucky, and she brought seven friends for the big Rotary crab feast held every year at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. What do you do when people who’ve never seen the bay come to town in August? Feed them crabs.

Most Americans, at least those who follow Capitol Hill politics, are surely aware of the House Freedom Caucus, the Republican subgroup that wields considerable influence in the U.S. House of Representatives. The far-right group, which spun out of the Tea Party movement and tussled prominently with GOP House Speakers John Boehner and Kevin McCarthy, is closely aligned with former President Donald Trump and is somewhat secretive about its membership (which is reportedly by invitation only).

The heat was suffocating when 70 Democratic politicians and activists gathered on a Frederick parking lot the other day for a rally organized by a national Democratic youth group. But the Democrats saw a hopeful metaphor. “Are we on fire?” April McClain Delaney, the Democratic nominee in the 6th Congressional District, asked the crowd.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign launched a “Republicans for Harris” initiative over the weekend, as her campaign looks to court moderate GOP voters and others opposed to former President Donald Trump’s reelection bid. The Harris team said the effort will be a “campaign within a campaign,” in which prominent Republicans will aim to attract moderates, independents and Republicans who voted for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley when she challenged Trump for the nomination.

U.S. Senate candidates Larry Hogan and Angela Alsobrooks are locked in a stalemate over when and where to debate in their high-stakes race this fall — with both sides accusing the other of dodging invitations from their preferred hosts. Hogan, a former governor with an uphill battle as he seeks to become the first Maryland Republican elected to the U.S.

The reverence for Donald Trump in and around Somerset County Precinct 08-002 is everywhere — on yard signs, bumper stickers and flags waving from porches, storefronts and boat rigging. Trump love is so pervasive in the rural precinct that it feels like an oversight that Janet Ford is not displaying the presidential candidate’s splashy campaign material inside her cozy restaurant called “From Scratch” that caters to local watermen and farmers in a county ranking last in the state in median household income.

Nothing mattered to Janice Sallis-Mustafa after they pulled the naked body of her 16-year-old daughter from the river. She quit her career as a home nurse. She sold the rancher outside Charlotte, North Carolina, to stay with family. Thirteen years went by; a mother doesn’t get over the anguish, not ever. The brutal attack on another young woman has now shaken the fragile life that she rebuilt.

A federal judge ruled Friday that several of Maryland’s gun carry laws are unconstitutional. They include provisions of where exactly permitted citizens can lawfully carry. The lawsuit, Novotny v. Moore, was brought by several concealed carry permit holders and gun rights groups. It sued Gov. Wes Moore and other Maryland officials over specific restrictions on where citizens could legally carry.