To community groups and climate-focused organizations, Maryland’s policy on trash incineration is a glaring environmental injustice. To the companies that own and operate incinerators, it’s a windfall. The state classes trash-to-energy plants, like Wheelabrator’s BRESCO incinerator in South Baltimore, as a form of renewable energy – making them eligible for millions of dollars in subsidies despite the carbon emissions and air pollution they release.

There is a certain rhythm to the writing of any governmental budget, and every chief executive must dance to the tune. The lyrics go something like “We have so many needs. We have so little money. We can’t pay for everything.” It is predictable precisely because it is always true. The requests for more spending always outstrip the funds available.

Montgomery County, known for its cultural and ethnic diversity, healthy residents and the state’s largest school system, now has something else to crow about: It’s a top spot for the fast-growing sport of pickleball. A new report has named Bethesda as the top community for pickleball in the state. Rockville was in second place and Potomac and Olney in ninth and 10th place, respectively.

A recent progress report on the county’s new budget draft led to a spirited discussion among the Washington County Commissioners over tax rates and finances. Bottom line, don’t look for a change in your local income tax rate this year. Here’s the background: Each year, the state of Maryland distributes “disparity grants” to jurisdictions whose per-capita tax revenues are less than 75% of the statewide average. And every year, Washington County seems to qualify.

In 1817, Baltimore became the first city in America with public gas-fed street lighting – a monumental achievement in infrastructure. Today, the tallest building in the city and state of Maryland, 100 Light Street, is keeping that flame alive with the introduction of 1817: a new sky-high, panoramic amenity space perched on the building’s 18th and 17th floors.

There was golf, a swanky evening soiree complete with a band, committee meetings and interview sessions with the media. And, of course, the annual grilling of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. This year’s league meetings at the lush Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes was, as usual, a gathering of football cognoscenti, and it provided no shortage of storylines, most notably the implementation of wild new kickoff rules and the banning of a controversial tackle beginning next season.

In his op-ed (‘‘Maryland businesses under threat,’ March 26, 2024), Doug Gansler grossly misrepresents the effects of a recent Maryland Supreme Court decision as it relates to the Maryland Telephone Solicitations Act (MTSA) and its application to calls from customers to businesses. In addition, Mr. Gansler has found someone to introduce an amendment to pending legislation, House Bill 1228, that would effectively overturn the Supreme Court’s decision and put Maryland consumers in harm’s way.

Mayor Brandon Scott’s campaign will air its first TV and radio ads this week, selling him, as one grandmother declares, as “the kind of young man we can all be proud of.” The four new ads mark a continued strategy by the campaign to tout Scott’s accomplishments and allude to the corruption scandal of former mayor Sheila Dixon, his chief Democratic primary opponent, without naming her.

Standing at the front of the serving line, Vicky Deuboue kept an eye on the people filing past and the red-shirted volunteers filling up the plates. Deuboue and others from the Kemmo and Nguefack Foundation served food during dinner Sunday as part of the Community Table program in downtown Frederick. The menu included rice, stewed tomatoes, chicken, vegetables, fruit salads and dessert.

 

The Anne Arundel County police chief, fire chief and chief administrative officer were the three highest-paid county employees this fiscal year, according to data from the county Office of Personnel. Police Chief Amal Awad and Fire Chief Trisha Wolford are tied for the top salary at $244,306. Christine Anderson, the county’s chief administrative officer, is next at $236,848.