Of 10 Maryland properties chosen to receive financial incentives for improvements, two are in Allegany County. According to the state’s planning department, the Maryland Historical Trust awarded more than $20 million in historic revitalization tax credits for the projects. Eighteen applicants sought more than $55 million in tax credits for construction projects that total more than $305 million in estimated costs.

State Sen. Clarence Lam of Howard County on Thursday became the fifth Democratic state lawmaker to declare their candidacy for the congressional seat being vacated by the retirement of Democrat John Sarbanes. Lam, 43, a physician, joins Democratic delegates Vanessa Atterbeary and Terri Hill, both from Howard County, and state Sen. Sarah Elfreth and Del. Mike Rogers, who are from Anne Arundel County.

The city of Frederick’s Department of Housing and Human Services will serve as a host site for the inaugural class of participants in the state’s Service Year Option and Maryland Corps programs, the state said Thursday. The programs, launched by Gov. Wes Moore in late October, allow people to spend nine months serving Maryland communities in exchange for hourly wages and a $6,000 stipend upon completion. The stipend can be used to cover the costs associated with higher education.

About two weeks ago, WBAL TV got early access to an interactive map that shows hundreds of thousands of homes in Baltimore could have lead drinking water pipes. The dots on the map, published by the Baltimore Service Line Partnership, do not mean all those homes in Baltimore and Baltimore County have lead water pipes. Instead, they indicate that local officials don’t know whether the water pipes are made of lead or another material.

The unemployment rate in Maryland is now the lowest in the country at 1.7% in October. Most would think that is good news, but there is a downside to it. Businesses and several industries are struggling to fill vacancies. WBAL-TV looks into how that’s possible. It’s an ironic twist of fortune that has many people racking their brains for an answer and shaking their heads in disbelief. Flaunt, a successful locally owned hair salon in Hampden, wants to expand but is running into an unexpected problem.

A legislative task force created to assess data collection and policies within Maryland’s state’s attorneys’ offices discussed recommendations Tuesday that must be crafted into a report to key Senate and House committees by Dec. 31. The purpose of the report is to provide the public information that can show whether prosecutors’ practices are equitable and fair. The proposals reviewed by the Task Force to Study Transparency Standards for State’s Attorneys included creating a statewide uniform procedure to collect data and a plan for providing one-time, start-up costs to either upgrade or implement more modern technology in local prosecutors’ offices.

Mayor Levar Stoney filed paperwork this week to run for Virginia governor in 2025, becoming the second Democrat to join the race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Stoney has not formally announced for the office but has indicated that he will do so by the end of the year. Kevin Zeithaml, the mayor’s senior adviser, declined to comment Wednesday when asked about the campaign filing, which was made Monday.

The number of Baltimore Police Department arrests lacking in “probable cause,” or a legally sound and properly documented reason to arrest someone, has dropped significantly in recent years, a recently released independent audit found. The findings came from the latest assessment by the Police Department’s independent monitoring team, part of its federal consent decree that dates back to 2017. The report, focused on arrests lacking probable cause, found that the rate of improper arrests dropped from 10.4% to 4% in two random samplings of 200 cases in 2019 and 2021.

It’s been observed before, but it’s worth noting again: Many of Baltimore’s worst problems stem from concentrated poverty. There are broad swathes of the city where a high percentage of people live below the poverty threshold. The effect? People become isolated. Businesses do not thrive, so it’s difficult to find employment. Social cohesion suffers. Health problems manifest. There is increased crime, gun violence and addiction. Schools become places of potential respite for youngsters instead of places of learning.

When confronted with a vexing and evolving problem, managers are sometimes tempted to go for the big solution, to bite the bullet and create a plan that will fix the problem for several years, rather than make incremental change. When the problem is simply a matter of numbers, that can sometimes be the right path. But when the problem involves people, the big idea can be disruptive and divisive.