A leading candidate in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District released an ad this week negatively targeting his top opponent. The ad approved by former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn’s campaign questions the voting record and political leanings of state Sen. Sarah Elfreth and dropped just before early in-person voting begins on Thursday.

Maryland transportation officials on Thursday said it could take nearly $2 billion to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge, offering the clearest picture yet of efforts to replace a vital part of the local community and economy. The state wants to be “as aggressive as we can” but also set a realistic timeline for delivery, Maryland Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said. He estimated that the project could be completed by fall 2028 and cost between $1.7 and $1.9 billion. (Photo: Kylie Cooper/The Baltimore Banner)

After attorney Thiru Vignarajah ended his bid for Baltimore mayor and endorsed former Mayor Sheila Dixon for the job, the big question is whether Vignarajah’s supporters will follow suit. Mayor Brandon Scott won the 2020 Democratic primary by 3,145 votes over Dixon, so the political saw is true: Every vote matters. The Banner and Goucher College Poll surveyed Baltimore voters last month. We circled back to Vignarajah voters to see how they were feeling now.

Setting up Metro with dedicated funding has been discussed for decades in the region but still hasn’t come to fruition. Now, WMATA and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments hope a regional task force can finally bring about an agreeable plan of action. “We fundamentally don’t have predictability at Metro, which means you as regional partners don’t have predictability of your budgets.

Last week, Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed a host of bills into law aiming to solve the ongoing affordable housing shortage across the state. Three of the measures were part of his own priority legislation to address the issue. “This was a year that we made the choice to put housing front and center, because we knew this was an issue that could not wait,” Moore said at an April 25 bill signing event in the State House.

The body of a fifth person killed in the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse was recovered Wednesday. The Key Bridge Unified Command recovered the body of 49-year-old Miguel Luna, of Glen Burnie, from inside a red truck found by salvage teams, the unified command said in a news release late Wednesday night. The bodies of five of six victims have now been recovered. José Mynor López, a father of four who was originally from Guatemala and lived in Dundalk, is still missing.

 

Maryland’s interim state superintendent of schools will officially lose the “interim” part of her title on July 1. The Maryland State Board of Education last week agreed to a new four-year contract with a unanimous vote, satisfied that Carey M. Wright was the right person to steer the state’s K-12 school systems through the demanding times ahead.

On an exceptionally hot spring afternoon at “The Beach” Tuesday, near the East Gate of Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus, a group of about 100 students (with some non-students mixed in) were, in the words of one participant, acting “pretty chill.” Most sat on the grass as if attending a picnic. Food and drinks were provided, there was a scattering of pop-up awnings for shade, and small groups quietly chatted.

Finding out a new acquaintance is a fellow rabid fan of “Homicide: Life On The Street” is akin to when that little girl dressed like a bee in Blind Melon’s “No Rain” video discovers a whole welcoming village of bee folk: It’s meeting your people. It’s an especially precious relationship based on a mutual love of a Baltimore-set show that went off the air 24 years ago, has only been sporadically available in reruns and is completely absent from streaming platforms.

David Rubenstein wants Washington, D.C., executives to make the trip to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and potentially sponsor his new team, and he is opening up the owner’s box to try and help his cause. Rubenstein, the Baltimore native turned Washington mogul who purchased the Baltimore Orioles earlier this year, invited members of the Economic Club of Washington D.C. to join him for a game in Baltimore during one of the club’s events Tuesday night.