Score another point for fast-growing pickleball. A health and fitness club is expanding at Annapolis Towne Center, with plans to convert a former Bed Bath & Beyond store into an 11-court pickleball hub and lounge by year’s end. Officials of Life Time (NYSE: LTH), a national health and wellness firm with 1.5 million members and 170 clubs across the U.S., said they will add the pickleball component to existing workout space at the town center that sits off Interstate 97.

National restaurant chain Red Lobster Management LLC, and its related subsidiaries, announced late Sunday that it has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. The news came via an 11:34 p.m. release distributed by the company. Orlando-based Red Lobster said the filing is part of a reorganization to maintain the business as a going concern so it can sell to a buyer.

Baltimore elections workers are making their way through thousands of mail ballots, as the outcome of multiple City Council races remains unclear. Counting will continue through the week with provisional ballots and late-arriving mail ballots that were postmarked in time — potentially making for a long and stressful week for candidates who are uncertain of their fates.

Maryland’s teacher workforce still remains majority white, according to data recently released by the state Department of Education, but advocates are hopeful that new laws could help turn that around. According to figures slated to be discussed by the state Board of Education on Tuesday, about 68% of teachers in classrooms during the 2023-24 school year are white.

Business is down considerably for a company that sails charter trips around the Baltimore harbor, but the hope is to get back to normal soon. Ever since the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, Capt. Bobby LaPin, the owner of Boat Baltimore, said his business has been down 23% compared to this same time last year.

Baltimore’s housing supply is still at less than half the normal level even as other markets across the country have seen their listings grow. According to new data from residential real estate brokerage firm Redfin, the Baltimore metro had just 1.6 months of housing supply on hand in April, or less than half of the typical four or five months of inventory markets had on hand before the pandemic.

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a case challenging Montgomery County Public Schools’ gender identity guidelines that provide support for transgender students. The lawsuit, John and Jane Parents 1 v. Montgomery County Board of Education, was filed by two MCPS parents in 2020. The unidentified parents alleged that MCPS’ gender identity guidelines, which advise staff not to disclose a student’s stated gender to their parents without permission, violate federal laws such as the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

 

When the owner of two fossil-fuel-burning power plants in Anne Arundel County filed surprise plans last year to close them by mid-2025, the operator of the regional electric grid determined they needed to stay open until at least 2028 to ensure a reliable supply of electricity across Maryland. But a plan submitted by the owner of the Brandon Shores and H.A. Wagner power plants to keep them open would unfairly burden customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric and other state utilities, argue opponents including the state agency representing ratepayers, state utility regulators and at least one of those utilities.

Long emergency room wait times are unsafe and a problem across the country, but they are particularly bad in Maryland. After Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, we have the longest average wait time in the U.S., at four hours, seven minutes. A complaint of a nearly 12-hour wait was recently reported. Long wait times are a direct result of our health care systems failing us.

Howard County is launching its first public art program, with a local partnership and a $1.5 million investment from the county over the next several years. The program, called Arts for All, is aimed at enhancing the county’s cultural landscape by commissioning permanent public art installations, strategically placed in community spaces and county facilities, reflecting the creative talent and vision of the community, according to a news release.