In January 2022, Baltimore County spent $2 million to buy a 12-acre property near Towson’s Loch Raven neighborhood to serve as park space and as a headquarters for the Department of Recreation and Parks. The 1301 Cheverly Road property, which had served as a Baptist church and as a preschool in the past, has sat vacant for more than two years.

Baltimore County paid $2.25 million to two political supporters of County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. for a marshy slice of waterfront property to be turned into a park less than a mile from his Millers Island home, raising questions about transparency even among the County councilmen who approved it. Though the council unanimously voted in June to purchase the 8.5-acre parcel on Cuckold Point Road in Edgemere, at least three councilmen noted that the deal did not follow typical protocol.

Driving a bus is really hard. “Understand three things: space, your speed, and your visibility — you gotta see everything,” said Jim Webster, my instructor. The Maryland Transit Administration tasked him with teaching me how to handle the roughly $750,000 NOVA transit bus. Bit of a step up from my 12-year-old Chevy sedan.

 

Nothing seems to inspire misinformation like immigration policy — particularly by some opportunistic Republican politicians who see an advantage in scaring the public. And that includes the GOP’s Freedom Caucus in Annapolis whose members recently called upon Gov. Wes Moore to force local governments to notify federal authorities when releasing an unauthorized immigrant subject to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer.

Long, long ago, Frederick was almost exclusively a farming community. Most of the other businesses that grew up here were created to serve farmers. Frederick County is much different today, but the remaining farms still are important to our way of life. The stunning vistas and beautiful tilled fields of our farms are a large part of the reason so many of us wanted to live here — fresh air, uncrowded open spaces, friendly communities.

With its larger-than-usual half-point cut to its key interest rate last week, the Federal Reserve underscored its belief that it’s all but conquered inflation after three long years. The public at large? Not so much. Consumer surveys, including one released Friday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, show that most Americans remain unhappy with the economy, still bruised by an inflation rate that hit a four-decade high two years ago as the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession.

If everything had gone to plan for General Motors over the last three years, the Detroit automaker would be well on its way to catching Tesla in sales of electric vehicles. In October 2021, GM CEO Mary Barra declared the automaker would “absolutely” catch up to the U.S. EV leader by 2025. Instead, after slower-than-anticipated EV adoption across the industry and GM-specific challenges with production, software and supply chains, the company remains well behind Elon Musk’s carmaker, as well as Hyundai Motor/Kia and Ford Motor.

The Department of Housing and Community Development in Baltimore held the first in a series of town hall meetings Monday to seek community input about housing needs across the city. Community members gathered inside the Historic Cherry Hill Elementary and Middle School to provide feedback on the Comprehensive Housing Plan being developed.

An Anne Arundel Circuit Court judge will not stay her order that struck down a Baltimore City ballot question, pending an appeal of her order to the state’s highest court. The Maryland State Board of Elections sought the stay last week after appealing Judge Cathleen Vitale’s order invalidating Question F, which was included on already-printed city ballots. Attorneys for the state elections board also filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Maryland.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is reminding Maryland poultry farmers to remain vigilant and practice enhanced biosecurity on their farms as the annual fall migration gets underway. Cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) continue to be detected in wild birds and poultry flocks in the Atlantic Flyway.