The Baltimore area has received millions of federal dollars to advance local efforts to create jobs, make health care more convenient, fight drug addiction and reduce the crime that comes with it. For example, the Community College of Baltimore County last year received funding to expand its training program for truck drivers — with the goal of enrolling more women and veterans. Towson University received funds to encourage more students to pursue education degrees to help address a significant teacher shortage throughout our region.

 

The Baltimore Sun is pleased to announce the 2023 class of inductees into our Business and Civic Hall of Fame, chosen for their leadership and community endeavors. We will honor these 14 accomplished women and men and at an awards banquet to be held at The Center Club in Baltimore on June 8 and in a special section to be published shortly thereafter.

 

The vacant Harborplace once bustling with businesses is looking to make a comeback under new ownership — and it starts with bringing in Black-owned businesses to its storefronts. To make that happen, P. David Bramble, who is embarking on a multimillion dollar redo of Harborplace, reached out to Downtown Partnership of Baltimore to bring its BOOST program to the waterfront landmark retail center as it embarks on a temporary plan to bring crowds back.

When a teenage Joan Kelly Crowder stepped through the double doors of Fairmont Heights Junior-Senior High School for the first time, in flat black shoes and a burgundy empire dress, she knew she was home. Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. Greeted by the smells of home-cooked food, the iron and hair grease of fresh press and curls and the newness of her classmates’ clothes, Crowder felt free to be herself in this all-Black space in a majority-White county.

Voters in November demanded lawmakers rethink the Free State’s cannabis policies. Lawmakers should also re-evaluate Maryland’s antiquated and discriminatory cannabis drug testing policies. With adult-use legalization around the corner, this is the ideal time for legislators to overhaul these unnecessarily punitive policies that sanction employees who consume cannabis while away from their jobs.

 

Here in Maryland, you might have noticed our beautiful trees and flowers blooming early this winter. In fact, the region’s National Cherry Blossom Festival has been moved up to accommodate these early blooms. While the colorful flowers certainly brighten and beautify our communities, they also signify a darker reality. This unseasonably warm winter is just the latest development in a string of hot temperatures and extreme weather in the Chesapeake region — impacting all industries relying on our lands and waters. Some farmers, for instance, are acknowledging the challenge and stepping up to support solutions.

 

A nonprofit developer will soon file early-stage plans for a sizable new Metro-accessible affordable housing project in downtown Wheaton, involving a land swap with the county government and co-location of a new county arts and cultural facility. Montgomery Housing Partnership Inc., a nonprofit developer and service provider, owns the 1960s-era Amherst Square garden apartments, just east of and adjacent to a vacant publicly owned lot, which property records show the county government acquired from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in 2020.

Two months after taking office, Gov. Wes Moore (D) continues to work to fill positions on key boards and commissions. Moore on Friday sent an additional 128 nominees to the state Senate for consideration — and also announced that he was withdrawing the names of 13 previously announced appointees. Moore has now sent hundreds of names for top administration positions and commissions along to the Senate, which is trying to work through his nominees at a rapid pace, with the General Assembly session set to end on April 10.

 

 

The Daily Record has announced the 2023 Maryland’s Top 100 Women honorees recognizing high-achieving Maryland women who are making an impact through their leadership, community service and mentoring.word “The 2023 Maryland’s Top 100 Women are leading companies, creating change, breaking barriers and charting new territory. They are leaders who make a difference in their communities and also mentor and inspire future leaders toward success,” said Suzanne Fischer-Huettner, managing director of The Daily Record/BridgeTower Media.

 

Recent reports on the current overall health of the Chesapeake Bay are not good. The recently released Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s 2022 State of the Bay Report gave the overall health of the Bay a D+ grade (unchanged from the D+ grade in their 2020 report). Following the release of the CBF’s 2022 report a headline for a recent news article was “Despite cleanup efforts, the Chesapeake Bay remains a pollution challenge.”