The proposed $5 billion budget for Baltimore County includes pay raises for educators and public safety employees, tens of millions for library buildings, and no tax increases. County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said the budget “reaffirms our tireless commitment to support all of our residents and uplift all of our communities” when he presented it to the County Council last week.

Some Montgomery County Council members aim to eliminate the county’s office vacancy rate by providing a financial incentive to encourage businesses to rent or expand their local footprint. “We have 76 million square feet of office space and we want to make sure that as much of that is used as possible,” councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) said while promoting proposed legislation Monday during a press conference at the Preserve office building at 2600 Tower Oaks Boulevard in Rockville. “Filling that space is good for all of us.”

 

A hot new buzzword among pro-housing advocates is “single-stair point access blocks.” Activists and legislators in several cities and states are advancing legislation that would allow low-rise, small-footprint multifamily buildings to be built with just one staircase shared amongst the units, rather than the two currently required by nearly all building codes in North America.

Columbia, along with countless other Maryland communities, was first envisioned when the car was king. Planners, engineers, and politicians all agreed that the city of the future revolved around the automobile, sprawl was common, and the highway offered the ultimate freedom. Today, we know that these priorities were misguided. Far from heralding an age of utopian prosperity, car-centric design has brought us bumper-to-bumper congestion, inequity in our transportation networks and made us a leader in per capita carbon emissions.

There is an interesting history between abolitionist Harriet Tubman, organizer of the Underground Railroad, and Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. In 1856, Harriet Tubman helped an enslaved black woman named Tilly escape slavery by boarding a steamboat docked near what is known today as Pier 4. The steamboat was en route to Delaware, and scholars describe it as her most complicated and clever escape attempt.

Spirit Airlines Inc. is adding two California destinations to its service out of Baltimore later this spring. The airline will start flying to Sacramento and San Jose, California, from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in June, the company announced Friday. Spirit will fly to San Jose four times per week starting June 5 and to Sacramento three times per week starting June 6.

Howard County Executive Calvin Ball said Monday that he plans to increase funding to public schools by $52 million in fiscal 2025, fulfilling most of the Board of Education’s requests. The Howard County Board of Education had asked the county for $55.2 million above its required minimum funding level for schools, for a total budget of $1.14 billion for fiscal 2025.

It is fair to question whether any new version of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed March 26 following a collision with a cargo ship, should continue to bear the name of the man who wrote the lyrics of the national anthem but who also enslaved as many as a half dozen people during a time when the shameful practice was flourishing in America.

At a time when Maryland hospitals are under pressure to reduce wait times and control costs, more of them are turning to a rapidly expanding firm backed by private equity to operate their emergency departments. An Ohio-based company called U.S. Acute Care Solutions, or USACS, will soon expand from operating one emergency department for the University of Maryland Medical System to 10, increasing its already sizable footprint in the state.

The Baltimore County Council on Monday evening unanimously approved the appointment of D’Andrea L. Walker as the new county administrative officer. Several dozen supporters stood and applauded after the council backed County Executive Johnny Olszewski’s nomination of Walker, who will be the county’s second-in-command.