Truist Financial Corp. has tapped an insider to be its new market president for Greater Washington and Maryland. Thomas “T.J.” Hughes, most recently Truist’s head of structured credit and wealth credit delivery, took over as president of the region Friday, the Charlotte-based company said Tuesday. He replaces Evelyn Lee, the former Greater Washington and Maryland president who left in August for a leadership role at Bethesda’s EagleBancorp Inc.

Baltimore Ghost Tours has received eerie calls and reviews since 2021. “We are trying to find out where this ghost tour is. Nobody’s answering the goddamn phone to let us know after we spent almost $100 for this tour,” one angry caller said. From another: “I haven’t received any information on whether or not I got the tickets, or if the purchase was accepted or anything.”

In a couple years, Maryland schools will teach kids to read using brain science, find struggling readers early, and make individual plans to get them caught up by the end of third grade. That’s according to the new comprehensive literacy policy approved Tuesday by the Maryland State Board of Education. That policy recommends struggling readers repeat third grade if all else fails.

Larry Hogan is a Republican Never-Trumper who only goes so far with his Never-Trumperism. As a candidate for Senate against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, our former Maryland governor can’t take his Jamais-Trump act to the extreme and endorse Democrat Kamala Harris for president. That would only hurt his prospects among Maryland Republicans. And that’s why, when asked about his presidential choice last month, Hogan said, “Neither one of the two candidates has earned my vote.”

If there are any readers who were surprised at the news that the Baltimore County Council voted unanimously Monday to condemn the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP), the controversial 70-mile power line connecting northern Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties, we would recommend new prescription lenses.

Most of my childhood was spent in nearby Silver Spring. While there is much about Silver Spring that I remember most fondly, when I was a child, I thought it was a rather bland community. I wished then that I could have lived in someplace interesting, someplace people went to as a destination, not by default. Ah, the ignorance of youth.

 

I was waiting in a fancy chair in a dark, exquisitely decorated room in Baltimore’s historic Clifton Mansion, taking a last-minute glance at the questions I had prepared for a VIP. I had been going back and forth with press people for months for an interview and credentialing and now it was finally happening. I knew I probably only had 10 minutes or so to talk, a limited time I’d usually protest.

When it comes to transportation — like most policy issues of importance — elected officials have basically two options moving forward: They can take the easy road or the hard one. The former requires no difficult decisions; often it just requires kvetching about how you’ve been shortchanged. The latter means challenging your supporters to make meaningful choices — cutting projects or raising taxes and fees.

 

Baltimore’s school board on Tuesday extended the contract of CEO Sonja Santelises through June 2026, adding a second year to the one-year contract she received in June. The unusually timed move comes four months after Mayor Brandon Scott appointed three new members to the board who were more supportive of Santelises, apparently swinging the board in favor of her leadership continuing to a 10th year.

Amazon is shutting down a service that offers same-day delivery from mall and brick-and-mortar retailers, CNBC has learned. The company has stopped any new development of the service, called Amazon Today, and will begin to wind it down, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The people asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The bulk of the program will be shut down by Dec. 2, the people said. Select retail partners will be able to continue fulfilling orders with Amazon Today through Jan. 24, 2025, Amazon told CNBC.