Maryland has begun an unprecedented effort to renew Medicaid coverage for nearly 1.8 million adults and children for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. States were required to provide uninterrupted coverage for those enrolled in Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income people, throughout the pandemic in exchange for increased federal funding. But the public health emergency is set to end on May 11.

Maryland’s State Board of Elections kicked off the search Thursday for the state’s first new elections administrator in over 25 years. A job listing for the position, approved by the board, will be posted Friday and start a two-week application period. Board members expect to conduct interviews before the end of the month and announce their selection during a June 5 special meeting.

Freshman Del. Joe Vogel (D-Dist. 17) has filed to run for Maryland congressional District 6, just hours after its current representative, Democrat David Trone, announced he would be running for U.S. Senate in a bid to succeed Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Vogel, who is among the first members of Gen-Z elected to the State House, has filed the Vogel for Congress campaign with the Federal Election Commission.

King Charles III’s coronation, dubbed Operation Golden Orb, begins Saturday at 6 a.m. Eastern in London. Several spots in the D.C. area are ready to mark the historic event. King Charles III and his procession will start at Buckingham Palace with a horse-drawn gilded black Diamond Jubilee State Coach through central London to Westminster Abbey, where cameras will capture the crowning of England’s new king.

 

A new coworking space with over 90 offices has opened in Columbia with the goal of attracting Howard County entrepreneurs who are tired of the commute to Baltimore or Washington, D.C. The 20,400-square-foot space at 8865 Stanford Blvd. will be the first Venture X location in Maryland and has already signed leases with 28 companies in industries including fitness, psychotherapy, clothing design and cybersecurity, franchise owner Dimitrios Topaltzas said during Wednesday’s grand opening.

With a $223 million property tax hike looming, the hunt is on inside the council building to save money and reduce the tax increase. And a council staff analyst has recommended saving more than a third of that amount in one fell swoop. The catch is that it comes out of the county executive’s recommended budget for MCPS.

SPOILER ALERT: This column contains key plot points for a 420-year-old play that’s been made into a movie more than 50 times. I know there may be people who aren’t familiar with every moment of “Hamlet,” William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy about betrayal, political corruption, twisted family dynamics and madness.

This week’s unseasonably cold temperatures have made the swift approach of the Preakness Stakes seem unreal. Yet, there it stands on the calendar: The Kentucky Derby runs this Saturday and then, two weeks later, Baltimore takes the national spotlight with the 148th running of the Triple Crown’s second leg on May 20.

When he testified in favor of the bill that would require American Sign Language interpreters to be licensed in Maryland, Kelby Brick, director of the Governor’s Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, told lawmakers about an incident that made global headlines. At the funeral for former South African President Nelson Mandela in 2013, a sign language interpreter hired for the event was accused of being a fake, signing nonsense throughout the ceremony seen by millions around the world.

Ever since Baltimore officials chose a team to redevelop 18 city-owned properties along Howard, Lexington and Fayette streets, the $100 million project has been characterized as a mixture of historic preservation and new construction. Next week, the developers will meet with Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) to see which properties the panel will allow them to alter or tear down to make way for their project, called The Compass.