Just two years ago the sky seemed to be falling on the artists’ studio compound known as Area 405. The old industrial building where 30 Baltimore artists created works in studios came up for sale. Rumors circulated that Philadelphia developers were eyeing the place for a condominium conversion. Some thought gentrification was inevitable.

Senate battle of the endorsements: Now that U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin isn’t running for the U.S. Senate, the two Democratic front-runners are battling it out over endorsements. Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks started early, rolling out multiple waves of endorsements from current and former elected officials.

A crowd of more than 500 people gathered before nightfall Sunday evening, their heads bent for an opening prayer at Memorial Baptist Church. They were urged to contemplate Baltimore City’s vacant housing crisis as they prepared to hear the details of a plan to work on ending it. The Rev. Cristina Paglinauan, of The Church of the Redeemer, asked the crowd to envision residents of Fulton Avenue and Preston Street walking to buy groceries, young kids playing in recreation centers, and residents using park benches, all enjoying a lively neighborhood without a vacant building in sight.

With multiple generations in the workforce, experts say finding common ground is one key to maintaining a harmonious workforce. However, finding that common ground can be tricky — even when it comes to a seemingly universal issue like compensation. A new report from talent and business consulting firm Robert Half International Inc. found a competitive salary with regular merit raises has the biggest impact on job satisfaction for millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers.

I have had the privilege of serving as president of the Maryland State Board of Education for the past three years, each of which has been unprecedented in the history of our state’s school system. Lawmakers have passed sweeping educational reform legislation with a $4 billion investment in the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.

In the South and Southwest, and most intensely from Southern California to South Florida, a dangerous heat wave has gripped the nation, with 104 million Americans under a heat warning advisory. Records are being broken right and left: The first full week of July was recorded as the Earth’s hottest on record, and it followed the hottest June on record.

Maryland was about to settle into a nice, quiet Fourth of July weekend. And while among the chattering classes there was some anticipation for the candidate filing deadline to come on July 6, Maryland political leaders were settling in for a quiet weekend as well. This was in 1998. What followed was anything but quiet or orderly. And it’s easy to see that the chaotic events of that oft-forgotten weekend and the days that followed are still reverberating in Maryland politics today.

Maryland’s Department of Health reported that the death of a 52-year-old male this week marks the first heat-related fatality of 2023 in the state. The health department urged Marylanders to take precautions during the rising summer temperatures and issued reminders about how to stay safe from heat-related illnesses.

 

A third Chesapeake Bay Bridge span that includes options for other modes of transit, possibly bike and pedestrian traffic, has the support of officials in Anne Arundel County. The Maryland Transportation Authority is examining the potential for such access, along with other options, as part of an ongoing required study that could lead to a third span.

 

County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. signed off on new bylaws Thursday that give Baltimore County greater authority over land use decisions in greater Woodlawn and establish a new quasi-public authority to hasten progress on the county’s preeminent redevelopment project. Flanked by Maryland and County Council lawmakers and western Baltimore County community leaders at the O.W.E. Center in Security Square Mall Thursday afternoon, Olszewski said the authority will “transform our capacity to invest in western Baltimore County.”