Developers who want to build in areas of Baltimore County with oversubscribed schools will need to receive approval by a County Council-approved committee or wait to build until capacity opens up in that district, according to a law passed Monday by the council. The Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, which the council passed 4-2, requires that developers be approved by a special school capacity committee before they can obtain a building permit in areas where nearby schools are 105% or more over their state-allotted capacity.

Maryland consumers who are cheated out of small amounts may as a practical matter often not be able to obtain compensation. Consider, for example, how Wells Fargo opened unauthorized accounts in the names of millions of its customers. Other banks have likewise opened unauthorized accounts. Suppose a consumer discovered that a bank had opened an account the consumer hadn’t agreed to or known about and charged the consumer a fee of $30.

In his first public testimony since stepping down from government office at the end of 2022, Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday fended off a variety of attacks from Republican politicians at a fiery hearing called to discuss lessons learned during the pandemic. Fauci, appearing voluntarily before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, denied a wide range of claims that have been made against him in recent years.

Imagine a moment when you can’t stop worrying about a family member who is thinking of hurting himself or herself. Or maybe you yourself are overwhelmed with thoughts about suicide, and it seems you have nobody to talk to. Not long ago, such a person in distress who called a helpline could well end up reaching an automated response. No longer.

I recently made crab dip for 75 people. We threw a party for my son and his fiancée, and this ubiquitous dish has always been one of his favorites. And why not? Made with generous amounts of backfin crabmeat, tangy cheese, mayo, spices and heated to browned perfection, it is Maryland’s comfort food. My wife likes artichoke in it; I prefer un-choked. The dish is good almost any way you serve it.

 

Two days before he was to deliver the State of the Union address in Washington D.C., during an election year — a year in which he said “our very democracy” is “at risk” — an American president made an unplanned stop outside a rather unexpected locale: Hagerstown, Maryland. The airport for the city of less than 50,000 people, located about 20 miles north of the site of the Civil War’s bloodiest battle at Antietam, has been visited more times this year by President Joe Biden than the one for Baltimore, the state’s largest city that he toured by air in April.

The Baltimore County Council approved an amendment that supporters say will help the county grow responsibly as new housing developments may threaten the stability of the public schools. The bill calls for an amendment to the county’s “Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance,” which would ensure there are enough roads, water and schools to accommodate the expected population growth.

Crews in the Patapsco River are still cutting and lifting large chunks of what remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge as they clear the way to restore the full 700-foot-wide channel into the Port of Baltimore. While larger vessels have recently been able to transit cargo into and out of the port through a limited-access channel, heavier lifts are needed to restore traffic back to normal.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan, the former two-term governor, won’t attend next month’s Republican National Convention that will be led by former President Donald Trump, a Hogan political adversary. “I can definitively tell you Governor Hogan will not be in attendance,” campaign spokeswoman Blake Kernen said in an email response to questions from The Baltimore Sun.

While some major retailers are investing in AI to combat shoplifters, Giant Food supermarket chain is taking a low-tech approach: It is banning large bags in some stores. “Giant Food initiated a new policy at select stores that are experiencing high shrink to mitigate the unprecedented levels of product theft that have become unsustainable for our business,” the company said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.