Safe Streets workers don’t share information directly with law enforcement, but now they will notify the city of large community events — including those that could turn dangerous. According to a Safe Streets escalation protocol that came out of last July’s Brooklyn Homes mass shooting, site staffers are expected to share details they learn about all large community events.

The outdoor tables at Market Space in Annapolis still were almost full Sunday afternoon as the St. Patrick’s Day weekend wound its way toward a happy, buzzy conclusion. Green was the color of the moment, with hundreds of revelers clad in emerald hats, T-shirts and vaguely Irish personal decorations. Yet they faded against white pear blossoms and a brilliant blue sky that arched above the tables.

Over $200 million is coming to Maryland from a federal appropriations package signed into law by President Joe Biden earlier this month, funding projects ranging from repairs at Crisfield’s City Dock on the Eastern Shore to wastewater plant improvements in Western Maryland. “We have over $200 million dollars of funding for 167 projects in the state of Maryland,” said United States Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., during a March 11 press conference held by Zoom.

 

Home buyers and sellers in Maryland might be thinking closing costs and commissions will get cheaper after reading national headlines this past week about a multimillion-dollar Realtor settlement. Not so fast — many of the protections in the proposed national settlement are already in place in Maryland. Multiple real estate lawsuits claimed that the industry inflated fees to keep agent commissions high.

BioFactura Inc. has signed a lease with Baltimore-based St. John Properties, Inc. for an additional 12,000 square feet of space at Riverside Tech Park, a 70-acre business community in Frederick. The biotechnology firm has occupied 5,520 square feet of space at 8435 Progress Drive in Riverside Technology Park since 2015, and this expands the company’s presence to 17,520 square feet of space within the building.

State health officials have placed their bid for Maryland to be among the first participants in a federal program that will help fund state initiatives to improve patient outcomes and bridge inequities, while constraining hospital and medical costs. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is rolling out the new States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development Model, called the AHEAD Model, and states are invited to apply for funding.

In a notable twist of political dynamics, Governor Wes Moore, a fellow Democrat, finds himself at odds with members of his own party in the Maryland House of Delegates over budget priorities. Moore, who has consistently pledged not to raise taxes, now faces the daunting prospect of vetoing a budget bill proposed by fellow Democrats that would do just that. This predicament underscores a deeper rift within the party and raises questions about the alignment of fiscal policies with Democratic principles.

Since the Republicans reclaimed a majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the last election cycle, a recurring issue has been the impact of conservative Republican members (notably the Freedom Caucus) on efforts by the House Republican leadership to reach consensus on such issues as government spending, debt limits, aid to Ukraine, and southern border security.

The Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit digital news publication that launched in 2022, is planning to expand its editorial coverage beyond Maryland’s biggest city into the surrounding regions and beyond, its new CEO Bob Cohn told Axios. Why it matters: Cohn sees a geographical expansion and more editorial investments in niche subject areas, like business, culture and tech, as key drivers for adding more digital subscribers.

More plans are underway for new houses in the city. The mayor and City Council on Tuesday discussed an agreement to sell several lots for $1 each to TeaBow Residential LLC, based in Washington, D.C., to increase housing stock in the municipality. Nearly a dozen of the lots are on Maryland Avenue, and several more are on Arch, Lee, Elder and Knox streets, and Pennsylvania Avenue.