People facing criminal charges who are deemed too mentally ill to stand trial or ordered by a judge to a psychiatric hospital are waiting 180 days or more to be admitted, blowing past the 10-day deadline set by Maryland law. The Maryland Department of Health on Wednesday made its case in court that it was doing as much as it could to alleviate the long-standing problem, but Baltimore County Circuit Judge Nancy M. Purpura was not convinced.

Maryland’s primary on Tuesday features a wildly expensive U.S. Senate election, a rematch for Baltimore mayor that pits incumbent Brandon Scott against former Mayor Sheila Dixon, and a hotly contested 3rd Congressional District race for a rare open seat. Despite the drama and a relentless sea of campaign ads, analysts say overall voter turnout will likely lag behind other presidential election years — which often attract peak interest.

A Baltimore company is using sustainable practices to recycle and produce wood. The company has been doing it for 15 years. They’ve recovered thousands of trees from Baltimore City and Baltimore County. “I’ve never seen such beautiful wood. You just don’t think about it until you come to a place like this. What a unique place and a unique company,” a customer named Mike said.

With a scribble of his pen and a smile for the cameras on Thursday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore pushed an ambitious plan to remake Pimlico Race Course. Moore signed a new law that enables the state to take ownership of the historic thoroughbred racetrack in Baltimore, spend hundreds of millions of dollars renovating it and eventually running races there. It’s a big bet to rescue a failing but economically important industry.

 

Everybody wants to leave a legacy. Big Rasna wants to leave many. The entrepreneur, whose real name is Ansar Abdullah, has his hand in a little bit of everything, from clothing to running an underground arts venue. Now, as he dips his toes into music, he’s proving that not much can stop him — even the deepest of tragedies.

 

“People criticize me for spending my own money. I don’t know. Let’s see. I could buy a car, I guess. Maybe I could give more money to my children. I could donate it to the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union]. Absolutely. Oh, good thing, I guess. “Or I could maybe try and change America.” That’s U.S. Rep. David Trone. He was at the start of his U.S. Senate campaign, talking about relying on his considerable fortune to succeed Ben Cardin.

 

Weather is delaying the explosive demolition of a massive span of the Key Bridge that sits on top of the Dali cargo ship as concern over high winds has officials moving the plan from Saturday to Sunday. The demolition will happen while more than 20 crew members remain on board. The Unified Command expects the explosions to take just seconds and sound like fireworks. They have discouraged spectators.

Dozens of business and government officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, celebrated the grand opening Friday of the Conair distribution center along Downsville Pike — a distribution center Conair officials said they believe is the largest in the state. Conair President and CEO Kristie Juster said “wow,” as she shared a statistic she learned Friday — that at more than 2.1 million square feet, every NFL team plus two practice fields would fit in the facility.

 

Mayor Brandon Scott rubs his temples from behind the mayor’s desk as Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley runs through the week’s shootings and homicides. A man found strangled with a shirt tied around his neck. Another man who refused to tell investigators who shot him before he died at the hospital. Two men shot and killed over what investigators think was a dispute over a girlfriend.

 

The Johns Hopkins University and protesters occupying a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Homewood campus have reached an agreement to end the demonstration immediately. In exchange for the encampment being dismantled and not restarted, Hopkins will conduct a “timely review of protestors’ key question of divestment,” according to the Baltimore university in a Sunday news release.