Baltimore City leaders are moving forward multiple pieces of legislation focused on improving downtown. Mayor Brandon Scott signed the Harborplace bill into law Wednesday, moving the decision to the hands of voters. The plan to revitalize the Inner Harbor has been the source of much debate in the city, including plans to include a mix of retail, green space and residential apartments along the waterfront. Those apartments would require a change to the city charter should they be approved.

 

Candidates for the Anne Arundel Board of Education discussed their views on book banning, student arrest rates and critical race theory and other topics at a forum Tuesday in Annapolis. The Caucus of African American Leaders’ Education Committee hosted 11 of the 19 candidates who filed for the Nov. 5 election. The candidates were given an opportunity to articulate their vision for and commitment to addressing the pressing issues facing the county’s increasingly diverse student body.

Governor — I have met you once and came away very impressed. Like many, my immediate reaction was to conclude that I had just encountered a future American president. You would be Maryland’s first president. Virginia has produced eight. I would be delighted to see a Marylander in the White House. It would add to our state’s already lengthy list of accomplishments. You have the resume, the charisma, an incredible memory for names, and an intellect that will not only allow you to run successfully for the presidency, but to be a great president.

 

Lyft drivers and users in downtown Baltimore are getting a big lift from a new and growing program. St. Frances Academy, a historic Catholic high school in midtown Baltimore, last year became the home of 100 Lyft electric vehicles, complete with 17 high-speed chargers. The changes, made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, are part of an effort not only to cut down on vehicle admissions but to expand electric vehicles and charging into low-income areas. “We’re celebrating growth, we’re celebrating infrastructure and we’re celebrating progress on the journey of electrifying Maryland,” Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena Mcilwain said when the chargers were unveiled at Saint Frances Academy late last year.

Hundreds of hopeful entrepreneurs will learn on Thursday if they’re one step closer to starting a cannabis business in Maryland, a state-regulated industry experts have estimated could take in more than $1 billion in annual sales. Each of the more than 1,500 eligible applicants have checked all the boxes in a multistep vetting process to qualify as what’s been dubbed a “social equity” applicant for their shot at one of the 179 licenses being distributed in this first of three possible licensing rounds.

 

Maryland is paying out $9.5 million — on top of $13 million paid previously — to thousands of correctional workers who were systematically shorted on their paychecks for years, likely one of the biggest correctional wage theft settlements in the nation. About 6,000 current and former state correctional officers were paid thousands of dollars that they missed out on, representing the overwhelming majority of officers working in state-run prisons and jails, according to their union. Patrick Moran, president of the union, placed the blame squarely on former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who was in office for the 2018-2021 time period covered by the settlement.

 

Every day when Rev. Walter Sadler is about to leave work at Southern Bethany Baptist Church in Burtonsville, he looks out the front window to make sure nobody is lurking in the parking lot before he heads out to his car. After facing vandalism, theft of a van, and threats targeted at the historically Black church over the past few years, he and his parishioners don’t always feel safe. They lock the doors immediately after services, and he won’t let parishioners put up a “Black Lives Matter” sign in the church yard because he’s concerned it could make the congregation a target.

Baltimore City and Baltimore County were among three Maryland jurisdictions to lose population in 2023, according to newly released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Net losses in domestic migration — more people left for another U.S. jurisdiction than moved from one — drove the declines. Each jurisdiction’s decrease from July 2022 to July 2033 was not as drastic as the prior year’s, though. Baltimore City declined 0.7% to 565,239 residents and Baltimore County fell 0.2% to 844,703. Garrett County in Western Maryland was the other Maryland jurisdiction whose estimated population fell.

Baltimore County leaders are considering new fees for certain recreational sports to access their athletic fields and courts. However, some residents are pushing back. Officials say the proposed change is an effort to modernize the Baltimore County Recreation and Parks and promote equity across the board. The proposal includes a new fee for those who participate in travel, select, club and adult programs, according to Bob Smith, the Baltimore County Director of Recreation and Parks.

 

Maryland is facing a housing crisis. And it isn’t just hurting some of us, it’s hurting all of us. Maryland is currently ranked the seventh most expensive state to live in — driven largely by sky-high housing costs. Nine in 10 Marylanders say that housing affordability presents a real obstacle, and a third of Marylanders aged 18 to 34 are thinking about leaving the state due to a lack of affordable, accessible housing. This crisis isn’t just affecting individual lives and livelihoods; it also diminishes our economic strength. The comptroller’s State of the Economy report found that Maryland’s economy grew at a rate of just 1.6% compared to 13.9% nationally, driven in part by the “availability of affordable housing for lower- and middle-income households.”