The Washington region has among the highest rates of remote work among major US metro areas, something that was not true before early 2020. Remote work rates are lower than they were at the peak of the pandemic, but they’re persisting at a higher level than before it. While the federal workforce contributes to this increase in remote work, most remote workers are in the private sector. The region’s high levels of remote work are part of a pattern seen in other technology-hub metro areas with large white-collar workforces.

 

The late A. Bartlett Giamatti, a one-time commissioner of Major League Baseball, once wrote of the sport, “It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone.”

Maryland’s inspector general for education is investigating whether outgoing Maryland schools superintendent Mohammed Choudhury and other state education department leaders improperly shielded their communications from public records requests. A source with knowledge of the investigation told The Baltimore Banner the state watchdog is asking questions about the administration’s use of Signal, an encrypted messaging app, to discuss state business. The source spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Former state Sen. Jennie M. Forehand (D-Montgomery), who combined Southern charm with steely persistence when it came to pursuing her legislative priorities, died Tuesday in Indianapolis after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. She was 87. Forehand represented the Rockville and Gaithersburg areas in the General Assembly for 36 years — 16 in the House and 20 in the Senate — before retiring at the end of 2014.

On the same day Maryland’s Child Victims Act went into effect, 50 people filed lawsuits against the state and two of its agencies alleging they suffered rampant and repeated sexual abuse as youths incarcerated under the juvenile justice system. The six lawsuits, filed Sunday, are part of a new wave of litigation stemming from the state’s decision to eliminate the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to file complaints against institutions they say enabled harm.

The Baltimore water task force, convened to decide the future of the area’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, came close to homing in on a single governance model at its second meeting Wednesday night: a regional water authority. In its first-ever vote, the 13-member group — made up of Maryland water and wastewater officials, as well as politicians and a labor leader — narrowed down its list of possible models.

An Anne Arundel County Council bill introduced this week would require a portion of all new residential developments with 20 or more units be set aside for people with incomes at or below the Baltimore-area median. Called the “Essential Worker Housing Access Act,” the ordinance would mandate that qualifying new rental developments designate 15% of units for people earning 75% of the area median income or below, and all new for-sale developments with more than 20 units would assign 10% of them for people earning no more than 100% of the area median income.

The Greene Turtle’s parent company has raised millions to continue its growth plans, which include opening more sportsbook restaurants. ITA Group Holdings recently closed on a $6 million equity round led by TABLE Management, the family office run by billionaire investor Bill Ackman. The investment, raised over the course of three weeks, will be used to expand Greene Turtle’s reach outside of Maryland, along with growing other brands within the parent company’s portfolio.

Difficulty sleeping. Bad dreams. Stomachaches, change in appetite, feeling jumpy or irritable. These are all normal reactions after going through a traumatic event like the shooting at a Morgan State University homecoming celebration Tuesday night. School psychologists and crisis response researchers now have more than two decades of experience responding to school and campus shootings.

A proposal to widen an 11-mile stretch of the Capital Beltway in Virginia has entered a new phase with the release of nine possible construction alternatives. Topping the list is an extension of toll lanes into Maryland. Virginia transportation officials unveiled concepts that include congestion pricing along new 495 Express Lanes, dedicated bus lanes and technological enhancements to combat traffic snarls from the Springfield interchange to east of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge.