The Johns Hopkins University professor behind several Baltimore companies that have sold for hundreds of millions of dollars is launching a new venture to treat cancer, but this one is based outside the city. Hopkins cancer geneticist Bert Vogelstein’s new firm, Clasp Therapeutics, launched Wednesday morning with $150 million in financing led by Catalio Capital Management, Third Rock Ventures and Novo Holdings, with participation from other health-focused investors such as the investment arm of Baltimore’s BlackBird Labs.

MacKenzie Scott was a child of privilege, and educated at Princeton where she studied creative writing under Toni Morrison. She was previously married to someone named Jeff Bezos and together they started a company in Seattle called Amazon that has done quite well in the few decades it has existed. Now an accomplished novelist, one of the world’s wealthiest women and a famous philanthropist, Scott has distributed her fortune methodically, leaning hard into social causes.

Lobbyists for a small number of immensely powerful multinational corporations are working overtime this week to protect a loophole that makes Maryland’s corporate income tax virtually optional for their clients. They’re worried because the House of Delegates’ just-released revenue package wisely includes a rule — called “worldwide combined reporting” — that will close this gaping loophole and make long-time abusers of corporate power pay their fair share of Maryland taxes.

Imagine for a moment that you are an individual of means who wants to — and let’s be blunt about it — bribe a government employee. There are any number of circumstances where you might find it a profitable, if unethical, act. You might be a contractor seeking preferential treatment on a public works project, for example. Or maybe you have pending legislation that just needs a crucial vote or two to get over the hump.

Bills that would limit how much data can be harvested from kids online passed overwhelmingly in their respective chambers in Annapolis, Maryland, but there are signs that opponents aren’t finished objecting to the measures. House and Senate bills would bar tech companies from using data to push personalized ads to children or to track them in real time. The exception would be apps that are used for navigation.

U.S. lawmakers representing Maryland secured $6 million in federal funds to assist in reconnecting west Baltimore communities with Druid Hill Park. The money awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation will go toward redesign planning for Druid Park Lake Drive, which was expanded from two lanes to four more than 60 years ago to facilitate faster travel to and from city neighborhoods.

A hotel near Camden Yards will combine beer, brats and baseball in a new pop-up concept opening for the upcoming baseball season. The Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor at 401 W. Pratt St. will debut Boot & Brats Biergarten on March 28, which is also Opening Day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The city-owned hotel’s outside beer garden aims to draw out-of-town guests and locals.

Defining climate change generated some heat between a Republican and a Democrat at Monday night’s Baltimore County Council meeting, but not the way you might think. Republican Councilman Wade Kach, who represents northern Baltimore County, wanted to add an amendment defining climate change to routine flood ordinance. The legislation would update the county’s flood ordinance to match Maryland’s.

University of Maryland Capital Region Health is gearing up to unveil an $80 million cancer center on its Largo hospital campus, a care hub the health system is betting will help to change outcomes for its underserved Prince George’s County patients. The cancer center opens Monday across an initial 35,000 square feet for prevention and screening, diagnosis and treatment, recovery and palliative care. It’s located in the new 100,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Medicine, which broke ground in April 2022, connected to the UM Capital Region Medical Center.

The prospect of selling 40,000 lobster rolls this year is keeping Dan Beck’s Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls up and running at Harborplace this year. That, and no rent. The seafood restaurant is among the few vendors still open at the iconic Inner Harbor development despite a high vacancy rate and dead-mall image. Their dedication is paying off: Beck says they have paid no rent so far this year and lease negotiations have been stalled since January. He’s unsure why, but is grateful to keep moving froward.