Baja Tap is slated to open in the former Bond Street Social space in Fells Point on Sept. 15, the owners of the Mexican restaurant said on Thursday after receiving approval for a liquor license from the Baltimore City liquor board. The venture at 901 S. Bond St. will be the second Baja Tap location opened by the Wave Group, the Virginia- and D.C.-area restaurant partnership that launched the concept in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of D.C. in March 2023 with a rooftop bar, patio and extensive menu.

The Washington Commanders no longer belong to Dan Snyder. NFL owners voting during a special session Thursday unanimously approved the team’s sale from the Snyder family to a group led by Josh Harris. The Harris group is paying $6.05 billion, a record sum for a North American sports franchise. Snyder had owned the majority of the Commanders since 1999, and his family became the sole owners after he bought out his limited partners two years ago.

Gov. Wes Moore (D) vowed Wednesday to get a multibillion light rail line on track while minimizing new costs. The three-member Board of Public Works approved yet another extension and an additional $148 million in payments to Purple Line Transit Partners for cost overruns associated with delays in construction. “We are firmly committed, firmly committed to making sure we’re getting this critical project back on track and also minimizing future delays and costs increases because they have been real,” said Moore.

If there’s one thing property owners, whether residential or business, understand, it is the importance of spending money on essential systems — repairing a leaky roof or faulty plumbing, for example. Such investments can add to the value of a household or enterprise. And, perhaps more importantly, the consequences of not keeping up with those needs can be disastrous. Instead of a slow leak, you get a flood that is far more costly in the long run.

Business development is essential to a thriving community. This fact is too often ignored in political debates about how to revive Baltimore, and it’s time to recognize such efforts. Despite population loss, a struggling school system, rising crime and a host of other issues plaguing the city, companies such as Under Armour, CSX and T. Rowe Price continue to invest in their community. Their resolve offers a dose of positivity and are examples that leaders and residents of the city should encourage others to follow.

Tommie Broadwater Jr., a longtime power broker in Maryland politics who was the first African American to represent Prince George’s County in the state senate, where he lost his seat after he was convicted on charges stemming from food stamp fraud, died at 81. A representative of J.B. Jenkins Funeral Home in Hyattsville, Md., confirmed his death. Additional details were not immediately available.

Yewande Balogun received a call she never expected in June 2021, two months after she relaunched her playing career. She’d been outside the white lines for a decade, getting knee surgery, working in finance, earning her MBA and coaching at multiple NCAA Division I women’s soccer programs. And yet, in the beginning of summer, Nigeria’s national team head coach, Randy Waldrum, was on the other end of the line, extending an invitation to try out for the squad because the team needed a goalkeeper during a U.S. tour that saw some of its players unable to compete due to Covid-19 related travel restrictions.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved $850,000 in funding for restoration of the former Carver Community Center. The funding was less than half the amount requested by Rep. David Trone, a Democrat, prompting him to call the bill a partisan “train wreck.” Several of Trone’s funding requests took deep cuts with some not funded at all. The funding was part of the fiscal 2024 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) spending bill passed through the House Appropriations Committee this week in the majority Republican-controlled House.

More federal public safety resources are coming to Baltimore, including FBI agents, U.S. attorneys and DEA agents. Lawmakers said a majority of the conversation at Wednesday’s meeting at the U.S. Capitol was about public safety and working together to bring down crime in Baltimore. Officials announced more federal positions coming to Baltimore as just one way they’re helping achieve that goal.

 

 

Councilman Zeke Cohen said he and others are frustrated that three popular Baltimore City pools are closed this far into the summer. “There should be no excuses to have any pools in Baltimore closed,” Cohen said. The Patterson Park Pool and Cherry Hill Splash Park are closed for renovations, while Lake Clifton Pool is closed because of mechanical issues that the city said it expects to have fixed by Friday.