In the contested Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, candidate Angela Alsobrooks picked up support from the only other woman to hold the job in Maryland: Barbara A. Mikulski. Mikulski surprised a crowd gathered at an Alsobrooks fundraiser at Guilford Hall Brewery in Baltimore Tuesday night with her brief speech praising the candidate. Though the retired senator did not use the word “endorsement,” her remarks had all the hallmarks of one.

Baltimore’s top three Democratic challengers lambasted Mayor Brandon Scott’s record Tuesday in what could be the final televised debate before next month’s primary election, casting him as an ineffective leader who has painted a portrait of improvement to mask a more complicated and stagnant on-the-ground reality. But pointing to improvements in public safety, the local economy and the city’s vacant housing problem, Scott argued that Baltimore isn’t in a position to change hands just yet, and asked voters to allow him to “finish the job.”

The police chief in Prince George’s County, Maryland, now has the authority to create and enforce additional youth curfew zones under a resolution passed Tuesday by the county council. Under the resolution, business owners throughout the county can request Police Chief Malik Aziz to create and enforce a curfew for kids aged 16 and under, just like the one established last week at National Harbor by County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ emergency declaration.

Montgomery County residents living near or along the future Purple Line can find out the latest information about the project to build the light-rail line that will travel from Bethesda to New Carrollton during virtual community meetings scheduled in May, according to project officials. “Progress of the Purple Line has reached an exciting period, and our team looks forward to sharing this progress with the public,” Purple Line Senior Project Director Ray Biggs II said in a press release.

 

A fast-emerging field of climate research is helping scientists pinpoint just how many dollars in damages from a natural disaster can be tied to the historic emissions of individual oil companies — analysis that is the centerpiece of new efforts in Maryland and other states to make fossil fuel companies pay billions for floods, wildfires and heat waves.

Thiru Vignarajah takes a bite out of his loaded, cheese-drenched vegan sausage at Lexington Market and reflects on how this year is different, refreshing even. In his fourth campaign in six years — twice for state’s attorney and now twice for mayor — Vignarajah has jumped into the Baltimore harbor and ditched his wealthy donors to instead spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money through Baltimore’s new public campaign financing system.

At the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, crews plan to refloat and remove the grounded Dali container ship within roughly the next 10 days, allowing more maritime traffic to resume through Baltimore’s port. The ship, which lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns, has been stationary amid the wreckage since the March 26 collapse.

Early voting in Maryland’s closely watched primary starts Thursday. The state’s board of elections reported that more than 600,000 voters have requested mail-in ballots for the May 14 primary with the expectation that this presidential primary election could be the highest-counted mail-in ballots in the state’s history aside from 2020. There are a number of races that voters are watching, including those for congressional and Senate seats in Maryland.

 

Before a state board can begin the process of determining if certain prescription drugs pose an affordability challenge to Marylanders, officials of the Prescription Drug Affordability Board are seeking feedback from patients, physicians and manufactures to provide additional context and first-hand experience about trying to afford medications treating HIV, eczema, and diabetes and other conditions.

Key members of Congress announced an agreement Monday on a $105 billion bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration for five years ahead of a May 10 deadline. The 1,000-page bill would raise hiring targets for air traffic control and would codify in law a rule the Biden administration introduced this month requiring airlines to offer refunds for canceled or significantly delayed flights, among other consumer-focused provisions.