Rona Kobell (right), during her time as a student at Hebrew University, is shown with a co-counselor while leading a tour of American teenagers through Israel in 1992. (Courtesy of Rona Kobell)
A few years ago, I hitched a ride to a Washington, D.C., journalism conference with a writer then living in Baltimore and his wife. We exchanged small talk about our families and hometowns, and I mentioned I had two siblings in Philadelphia and one in Israel. At this news, his wife’s face turned sour. “What is your sister doing there?”

One wintry morning, an investigator with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office teamed up with a federal agent to surveil America’s largest medical waste incinerator. They watched from nearby as employees at the south Baltimore facility used a front-end loader to lift inadequately burned waste into a container, then they tailed it on its way to a landfill in Virginia.

Nearly 50 restaurants and drink-focused spots opened in Greater Baltimore in the first three quarters of 2023, with more planned to come by next year. In an industry still rebounding from the lingering impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Greater Baltimore continues to add new dining options for customers. At least 47 have opened this year, with a handful still expected to debut. Many of the new spots come from new restaurant owners trying their luck in the industry for the first time, while others come from restaurant veterans who are expanding their concepts or adding new ventures to the mix.

A key state fiscal panel approved a sharp increase in state borrowing for the next year as fiscal leaders look for ways to offset a projected structural deficit while improving schools and aging buildings and infrastructure. The recommended $500 million increase over anticipated levels comes as Gov. Wes Moore (D) and others express concerns about the state’s fiscal future. It also represents a potential reduction of cash once intended for capital projects.

A sea of pink and green T-shirts filled the Montgomery County Council chambers in Rockville Tuesday as a couple hundred community members, primarily service workers and restaurant owners, gathered to share praise and opposition to a controversial bill that would raise the base minimum wage for tipped workers, if passed. Restaurant workers who support the legislation wore hot pink shirts with “One Fair Wage” on the front. Those in opposition wore kelly green shirts with a message of “Save Our Tips.” The Rockville chambers were split about evenly between the two sides.

 

In an era where accessibility is a cornerstone of economic growth, the Greater Washington Partnership is championing a wide range of efforts to increase regional mobility. “When the partnership was formed, transportation was the top issue,” said Partnership CEO Kathy Hollinger. “We heard repeatedly it was holding the region back in terms of competitiveness and inclusivity.

For years, Rhett Reidpath got around town in a 2010 Ford Focus that the “Star Wars” fan affectionately referred to as his Millennium Falcon. It took him out of the city to golf courses in the suburbs, on weekend trips to his home in a galaxy far, far away — West Virginia — and, most importantly, to the office. Then it went kaput. So Reidpath had to figure out how to travel the two miles from his Highlandtown home to the office every day.

As a way to boost her students’ vocabulary, LaTanya Sothern introduced a “word bank graveyard” at Excel Academy Public Charter School. It’s a figurative cemetery where basic words like “good,” “bad” and “nice” are laid to rest and replaced with multisyllabic words like “excellent,” “fabulous” and “incomparable.” It’s one of the methods the Prince George’s County principal says contributed to her school’s huge improvement in English Language Arts achievement since the pandemic.

Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. joins Damian O’Doherty for Episode 60 of The Lobby. Keiffer is a former local & state official from Baltimore before serving as the Chief Legislative Officer to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, He is now a key leader for BGR’s State and Local Advocacy. Just as Bill Murray was David Letterman’s first show guest, Mitchell was featured on Episode 1 of The Lobby.

The Baltimore County Council passed amendments to a ban on the sale of plastic bags that is slated to go into effect in two weeks. County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. said he will veto the three carveouts. In February, the council voted to ban retailers from offering free plastic bags at the point of sale and to require a minimum-5-cent charge for provided reusable and paper bags under the Bring Your Own Bag Act, which will go into effect November 1.