Congress is staring down a funding cliff in mid-January and a second one in early February, but neither of those deadlines have inspired House and Senate leaders to broker agreement on the dozen bills that were supposed to become law by Oct. 1. Appropriators are concerned the upcoming election year and competing legislative priorities have pushed their work to the back of the line, increasing the odds that Congress stumbles into a partial government shutdown in the new year.

For the first time in nine years, Baltimore is on track to see annual homicides fall below the 300 mark in 2023, yet shootings remain a near-daily occurrence. During the first week of December, for example, gun violence took the lives of five men ranging in age from 17 to 69 years old. Three were Black, one was white and one was Hispanic. We know where and when these homicides were committed.

About a month back, I spotted my neighbor Tim Hamilton working after dark in his yard. He was wearing a headlamp to see, and the sight of a man raking leaves under a powerful spotlight was unusual. Turns out his trees had dropped their cover two weeks ahead of schedule. “The leaves in this area may vary in intensity of autumnal colors, but they fall like clockwork,” said Tim, who keeps a precise garden journal.

The long, good deed is done. The last of the children of Marylanders killed on 9/11, a dozen boys and girls who received financial aid from the Maryland Survivors Scholarship Fund, have graduated from college. Established in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks to help the grief-stricken families of victims, the fund closed shop last week. Mission accomplished. The long, good deed is done.

 

Congratulations to Gov. Wes Moore (D), the Maryland Stadium Authority and the Orioles on getting a deal done that ensures the Orioles will play in Camden Yards for at least 15 more years. I can’t wait for opening day. In August when I first wrote about public ownership of the Orioles I thought a lease would be signed well before the end of the year. But when I went to The Warehouse at Camden Yards on Monday to see the special meeting of the Maryland Stadium Authority, it was clear that fans, taxpayers, and city and state government had been driven right up to the edge of a cliff by the Orioles’ Managing Partner John Angelos.

Reviewing the big stories of the year to determine what individual or organization made a significant impact on the state and deserved the title of Marylander of the Year, it quickly became clear that most were continuations of big stories from last year, including the tragic level of gun violence in Baltimore, the highs of an Orioles’ winning season, the urgency of ensuring access to abortion care and the righteous battle being waged to give survivors of sexual abuse the means to hold their abusers accountable.

The Baltimore Planning Commission recommended Thursday that the city move forward with a proposal to revitalize the Inner Harbor by replacing the aging Harborplace pavilions with a mixed-use development of housing, shops, offices and a park. Commissioners voted in support of legislation that will now move to the City Council for hearings and a vote. Acknowledging opponents’ concerns about rushing review of a plan that developers unveiled less than two months ago, commissioners agreed that the city must act with urgency to restore a city treasure for future generations.

 

Maryland Transit Administration officials said Light Rail service will be restored “soon,” but are still hesitating to provide a ballpark estimate. Mechanics have finished work on 18 cars so far, officials said. The repairs come after an explosion in October, which led to the discovery that some of the Light Rail fleet may have punctured electrical conduits and issues with the inter-car connector cables. MTA officials said crews are making repairs and that, as of Saturday, they had inspected 41 vehicles for high-voltage conduit damage, 29 of which needed repairs.

 

“New year, new me” social media posts are about to start popping up. While those resolutions may or may not hold up, you may still want to celebrate 2024 with new activities. Here’s a list of places for you to be when the clock strikes midnight — or maybe even a little earlier — on Dec. 31. The Inner Harbor decided to switch things up for this year’s New Year’s Eve. In addition to the annual fireworks, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts will put on a drone show.

Corliss Billips has lived in Baltimore near Morgan State University for 48 years. It’s where she’s owned her home, raised three children, and recently retired as a fraud investigator for the city’s state’s attorney’s office. It’s also where she wanted to stay, but her house was making her sick. “It wasn’t healthy. I didn’t have cold water upstairs, and I had to regulate my hot water to take a shower by turning down the water heater,” she said. “The upstairs toilet didn’t work, and I smelled gas when I turned on the stove.”