A surgical program at Frederick Health has been designated a United States Case Observation Site, meaning surgeons from around the U.S. can come to Frederick Health to learn about advanced robotic surgery techniques. Frederick Health’s thoracic oncology program received the designation from the robotic-assisted surgery platform manufacturer Intuitive.

Did you really think the Harborplace redevelopment fight was over? A day after voters approved a crucial ballot question for the overhaul of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, opponents reiterated their plans to keep fighting. Protect Our Parks, the coalition that encouraged residents to vote “F-No” on Question F, said in a statement that it plans to block residential towers from being built on along the Inner Harbor promenade through its own appeal to voters — two years from now.

 

Baltimore’s Red Line cleared another hurdle Tuesday with Democrat Angela Alsobrooks’ win in the U.S. Senate race against its longtime nemesis, former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who recently doubled down on his opposition to the revived transit project he scuttled. Then it immediately ran into a wall. Republican Donald Trump’s victory Tuesday means he will head back to the White House in January and usher in, many fear, an administration hostile to Democratic strongholds like Baltimore and bent on cutting funding to transit expansion.

 

Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks will become a member of the United States Senate in January. If she waits to give up her current job until right before then, her successor would be chosen from among the county council members eyeing a promotion. Her successor might come from the county council, but it’s likely that whoever finishes out her term will do so by winning another special election next year.

Baltimore County residents will have a chance to weigh in on the council’s choice for a new county executive, replacing newly minted Democratic Congressman-elect Johnny Olszewski Jr. in January. A public hearing is being planned for the first week of December, said Council Chairman Izzy Patoka, in order “to hear from the public, our stakeholders, what they believe the qualities are that an interim county executive ought to have.”

For hundreds of years, a certain breed of patient gardeners has mastered the skill of bonsai, carefully restricting and nurturing trees that would otherwise get to be 50 or 100 feet tall, so that they would fit on a desktop as an object of wonder. The viewer is filled with awe and astonishment at how someone could achieve such a feat. It is not without great skill and effort, as such a restricted environment is fraught with great peril for a tree.

There are hundreds of thousands of ballots left to be canvassed in Maryland, a process that will ultimately decide a closely watched U.S. House race in the state’s 6th District. Maryland State Board of Elections officials said in a news release that more than 309,000 mail-in ballot have yet to be canvassed — a process that will resume Thursday.

Maryland is often promoted as “America in Miniature,” a phrase first coined 85 years ago. It’s an acknowledgment not only of the state’s diverse geography from mountains to waterfront (lacking only a desert) but its diverse population and economy as well as its important role in U.S. history. Yet rarely has the state felt less representative of the rest of the nation than it does today.

This column may not be what you expected. Columnists thrive on controversy, but I found virtually no controversy about state Superintendent Carey Wright’s first year on the job. I searched hard, conducting over 20 interviews, but, to almost all, she’s off to a resounding start. Here’s a small sampling of what I was told.

 

The Republican Party picked up several key wins on Tuesday, November 5th. The biggest one, of course, is the presidential race, and local officials believe that will impact offshore wind projects off our coast. Republicans Donald J. Trump and JD Vance won the presidential election. Republicans now hold the majority in the U.S. Senate, and it appears the U.S. House is trending in that direction.