Another Columbus Day will soon be upon us, and many Americans will spend the occasion debating the propriety of observing the holiday. The explorer’s arrival in the New World in 1492 came at horrendous cost to indigenous people. These are important conversations, but they’ll likely overlook an important bit of history — because Columbus Day’s origins are much bloodier and more complicated than many realize.

The one-two punch of Hurricanes Helene and Milton have been especially devastating to the Southeast. It will be weeks, perhaps even months yet before communities from Florida to North Carolina are back on their feet and functioning anywhere near normal again. The fierce winds and torrential rains have been horrific, and Americans grieve with their neighbors over the death and destruction left in the wake of these historic storms.

U.S. Naval Academy graduates Clinton Ramsden and Cody Monroe are bullish on Annapolis. The business partners met while attending the academy in the state’s capital and over the last few years have assembled a portfolio that includes several office buildings and three boutique hotels — with two more on the way. Their quest to combine historic properties with luxury accommodations comes as Annapolis is seeing a wave of growth.

Boeing will cut 10% of its workforce, or about 17,000 people, as the company’s losses mount and a machinist strike that has idled its aircraft factories enters its fifth week. It will also push back the long-delayed launch of its new wide-body airplane. The manufacturer will not deliver its still-uncertified 777X wide-body plane, which has customers that include Lufthansa and Emirates, until 2026, putting it some six years behind schedule.

The median midcareer salary for graduates of 13 four-year colleges and universities in Greater Washington is $124,476, according to data from Payscale Inc. The Seattle company has ranked the colleges and universities by the median salaries of their alumni. In the gallery above, we run down the local colleges and break out midcareer pay, which Payscale defines as the median salary for a bachelor’s degree-holder with 10+ years’ experience.

The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research into differences in prosperity between nations. The three economists “have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm.

State Sen. Cheryl Kagan has spent the past decade working to update 911 centers across Maryland. Kagan, who represents the Gaithersburg and Rockville area, said she was driven to improve emergency response after learning that three people in her district died from 911 call response failures. This week Kagan finished up a years-long tour of every 911 call center in the state. Following her tour, she said the biggest misconception is that no one thinks about 911 until they need it.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton have ravaged states on the southern portion of the East Coast, causing property damage, death and extensive coastal flooding. With Maryland’s long coastline and the world’s evolving climate, how well is the state prepared to weather a high-caliber storm? The Maryland Department of Emergency Management works with federal, state and local partners to coordinate preparation, response and recovery activities for Maryland’s hurricane program, Edward McDonough, an agency spokesman, told The Baltimore Sun in an email Friday.

Maryland Democrats plan to push for new ethics rules during the next state legislative session that would require future governors with business interests to put their assets in a blind trust, a long-simmering proposal gaining traction after new reporting about former governor Larry Hogan’s company caused a stir in his Senate campaign.

After years of study, a judicial workgroup is recommending that Maryland do away with contested elections for its 175 circuit court judges, saying the process presents ethical problems and poses a risk to judges’ safety in the current political atmosphere. Instead of standing for reelection every 15 years in a campaign in which they could face challengers, the workgroup said that circuit judges should face voters every 10 years in a retention election, where voters get a simple yes-or-no choice of whether to keep the judge on the bench.