Tom Mullineaux’s father taught him that working in agriculture is a gamble. “My father said, ‘I can take this money and plant a crop or I can go to Las Vegas. It’s about the same,'” Mullineaux, the owner of Epix Seed Co., said. When Russia invaded Ukraine — one of the top global grain producers in the world — in February 2022, Frederick County farmers had to navigate a volatile market.
In preparation for the 2023-24 school year, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) plans to hold free vaccination clinics throughout August. As required by Maryland law, students must be vaccinated and either show proof of vaccination on the first day of school or show proof of a scheduled vaccination appointment within the first 20 days.
In the Hagerstown area and neighboring West Virginia, where the eastern panhandle is experiencing explosive growth, there is a focus on small business driving the economy. Maryland State Comptroller Brooke Lierman has her finger on the pulse of commerce in both large and small communities. “I love hearing how much small business operators love doing business with their local customers,” she said. “We are a large region here in the State of Maryland so we always look forward to working with our neighbors in West Virginia and surrounding communities.”
With Montgomery County’s office vacancy rate hovering above 16% —a 5-percentage point increase since the start of the pandemic—local planners say the time may be right for developers to consider converting or redeveloping offices into living spaces. County planner Bilal Ali points to one such completed project in a recent post on The Third Place, the county planning department’s blog: In downtown Silver Spring, a former office building on Fenwick Lane was converted into 102 condos in 2015, providing affordable housing for first-time homebuyers.
The announcement by Greater Baltimore Committee CEO Mark Anthony Thomas and representatives of BUILD Baltimore that business and faith leaders will work together to reduce the staggering number of vacant and derelict houses in the city is one all of Baltimore should welcome. But any welcome must come with caveats. The first is that this latest initiative, cheered on by Mayor Brandon Scott to tackle an old problem, does not delay establishment of the Land Bank Authority of Baltimore City as proposed by Baltimore City Council Bill 23-0363. Anything that the coalition of business and faith leaders decides to do must complement the role of the Land Bank because it cannot replace it.
When’s the last time you’ve taken a moment to think about how you’d like to say your final goodbye? Death is not necessarily top of mind, but it’s important to consider end-of-life planning. There’s a new burial alternative that’s buzzing around the country that may soon come to Maryland. There’s a way to give yourself back to the earth and ensure your legacy lives on. Some call it natural organic reduction, or terramation. But, it’s called human composting.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission has filed a lawsuit against numerous companies, alleging they knowingly polluted the environment with “forever chemicals.” WSSC said damages received would go toward the cost of updating water treatment methods. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, the utility names nearly 20 companies — including 3M, Dupont and Chemours — for their manufacturing of fire-suppression foams that contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl, or PFAS.
A few minutes’ walk away from Kristian Herbert’s home on South Stricker Street in Southwest Baltimore, a vacant house caught fire in 2022, killing three city firefighters. A few minutes to the west, the area’s lone full-service grocery store closed at the end of last year. It’s been a tough stretch for Herbert, a mother of three small children who moved to Baltimore a few years ago. In April, her uncle was shot and killed in nearby Washington, D.C. And a few weeks later, her kids’ school, Steuart Hill Academic Academy, closed its doors for good. She plans on homeschooling Zai’Vion, 8, and Zurii, 7, this upcoming school year.
A long-standing effort to provide low-income schools with federal grants to improve building infrastructure and internet connectivity has been reintroduced in Congress by Democratic U.S. lawmakers with support from Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D), and others. According to a Monday press release, the “Rebuild America’s Schools Act” would establish a $100 billion federal grant program and a $30 billion tax credit bond program for high-poverty schools to fund physical and digital infrastructure improvements.
Kevin Brown, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network’s lead play-by-player announcer for Orioles games, was removed from the club’s television broadcasts a day after listing off statistics about Baltimore’s poor play in recent seasons, according to sources with knowledge of the team’s decisions. Brown hasn’t been featured on MASN broadcasts for the past two weeks. The Orioles entered their July 23 game against the Tampa Bay Rays with a chance to win a series at Tropicana Field for the first time since 2017.