Baltimore City has transformed two hotels that it purchased this year, the Holiday Inn Express and the Sleep Inn & Suites, into temporary shelters for people experiencing homelessness. Mayor Brandon Scott held the ribbon-cutting Monday at the Sleep Inn in downtown Baltimore alongside U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development acting Secretary Adrianne Todman, Secretary for the Governor’s Office of Housing and Community Development Jacob Day, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services Ernestina Simmons and other officials.

 

“The Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor declared in her dissent from Monday’s Trump v. United States ruling. The decision virtually guarantees that special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against the former president won’t move to trial before the election.

Several Baltimore companies ranked highly in Newsweek’s Most Trustworthy Companies in America 2024 list, edging out competition across the country. Six Baltimore companies made Newsweek’s annual list, now in its third year: Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., Constellation Energy Group Inc., McCormick & Co. Inc., T. Rowe Price Group Inc., Mercy Medical Center and Under Armour Inc.

Celebrity chef Bryan Voltaggio announced Saturday that his downtown Frederick restaurant Thacher & Rye will close Sunday. “This decision marks the end of a significant chapter for me at the lead of the kitchen here for over 16 years,” Voltaggio wrote in an Instagram post. The restaurant, named after the chef’s son and Maryland’s spirit-making history, opened in September 2020, serving traditional American and mid-Atlantic cuisine.

The Greater Washington Board of Trade is relaunching its Potomac Conference next month, convening business and community leaders to discuss one of the most talked-about challenges in the region today — public safety. More than 100 law enforcement, political, nonprofit, university and business leaders have been invited to attend the conference, which will be held July 9 at the Catholic University of America in D.C., said Jack McDougle, president and CEO of the Board of Trade since 2018.

A Baltimore venture studio is partnering with the Harford County government to transform an old community college building into a hub for scientific research and manufacturing. Early Charm Ventures and Harford County Economic Development are turning the former HEAT Center on 1201 Technology Drive in Aberdeen into a training ground for biomanufacturing materials for the U.S. Military and private industry.

By about this time last year, Southwest Baltimore’s Penrose/Fayette Street Outreach neighborhood had seen 15 shootings, six of which were fatal. This year, as of June 24, the community of aging two-story rowhouses and vacant lots stretching from Grace Medical Center to the westside MARC station saw two gun homicides and one nonfatal shooting.

Maryland got a ton of new providers of mental health and addiction services in recent years, and state health officials are not so sure they are all on the up-and-up. The Maryland Department of Health said Friday it would not approve any new licenses for some types of providers for the next six months as they assess what is happening.

As Frederick County begins to enter a drought, farmers are worried about the consequences of going through another drought for the second year in a row — one with notably higher temperatures earlier on in the season compared to last year. As of Tuesday, about 68% of Frederick County is experiencing a moderate drought, and the other 32% is abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The Maryland General Assembly’s 2024 legislative session concluded with the enactment of many health care laws that will impact health care facilities, providers, insurers, and health care related licensees in the State. Here are some of the highlights from the 2024 session. Noncompete ban: The Maryland legislature amended the state’s existing law governing noncompetes to expand restrictions on their use.