In 2013, soon after the passage of an overhaul of state campaign finance law, Jared DeMarinis was handed a badge. DeMarinis, then the state’s director of candidacy and campaign finance, was part of an overhaul of campaign finance laws in Maryland in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United three years earlier. The new law also gave DeMarinis and his office wider latitude to issue civil violations.

A new cruise line is making Baltimore a homeport. Norwegian Cruise Lines launched a brand new cruise Friday, with plans to start another one in November. Norwegian Sky is the first NCL ship to sail from Baltimore in decades and it’s something the Port of Baltimore wants to showcase more. “It’s one of the best advertisements we have out there, these cruise ships,” said Brian Miller, interim acting executive director at the Maryland Port Administration.

Howard County has it all — affluence, quality education, health care and recreation — but no community escaped the Covid-19 pandemic unscathed. As local businesses confront fluctuations in employment, rising interest rates and changing work habits, Jennifer Jones, a Howard County native and player in local politics, is bringing new eyes to the challenges of post-pandemic business as CEO of the Howard County Economic Development Authority.

Howard County School officials have been working over the holiday weekend to fix last week’s transportation issues. The first week of school chaos put families in the position of finding their own way to campus, with routes temporarily suspended for many students. Officials and the California-based transportation company Zum said it is working to ensure busing goes smoother this week than last.

Frederick County’s schools and libraries will receive federal money to benefit students who lack internet connectivity at home. The grant comes as part of the federal Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), which was created through the American Rescue Plan. Schools and libraries across the country who apply and are selected can use the money to “cover reasonable costs of laptop and tablet computers; Wi-Fi hotspots; modems; routers; and broadband connectivity purchases for off-campus use by students, school staff, and library patrons,” according to the Federal Communications Commission’s website.

 

The Maryland Office of the Attorney General has ratcheted up a more defiant legal strategy in its defense of a still-dysfunctional Baltimore jail health care system, hiring an outside law firm and targeting the medical monitor who has been gauging the state’s compliance, or lack thereof, with the terms of its settlement. In recent months, the Maryland AG hired attorney William Lunsford of the law firm Butler Snow LLP. Lunsford and his associates have gained notoriety in Alabama and other states for defending state prisons against a variety of allegations, and at a steep cost.

The labor market is stable and healthy, economists and policy experts say, although the unemployment rate ticked up in the month of August. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report released Friday showed that unemployment rose to 3.8% in August from 3.5% in July. Meanwhile the economy added 187,000 jobs, above expectations of 170,000 jobs from economists polled by Reuters. In July, 157,000 jobs were added.

 

A 16-year-old was shot to death in Annapolis over the summer. The death of Robert Clark on a July night near his home in the Bywater neighborhood remains unsolved. It is a tragedy for those who knew and loved him, but also for Annapolis as a whole. Maryland’s state capital is not an overly violent place, most days. There are about 11 shootings a year, with an average of one homicide every three months. Sometimes the pace is slower, sometimes faster.

In early June, a staff member in the Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services asked her supervisor for help crafting a sensitive, and potentially explosive, email. Due to a cascade of challenges within the city agency, it had missed a consequential federal reporting deadline, staffer Camille Wathne wrote in the email draft. Without the report, the department couldn’t submit a request for financial reimbursement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It’s just days before the 2022 midterm election that has professional Democrats fretting about a “red wave,” and though she’s new to politics, Thao Nguyen is confidently nailing all of her marks. The Atlanta-based college student is filming in her mom’s Honda while back home visiting in Michigan, the sort of caught-in-the-middle-of-real-life setting that TikTok seems to eat up. Plus the natural light does wonders for the skin.