Retail real estate company Centennial said Wednesday it has finalized its deal to purchase the Annapolis Mall in Anne Arundel County. The Texas company is partnering with Sandeep Mathrani, founder of Atlas Hill RE and vice chairman of Brookfield Properties, to acquire the shopping mall. Terms of the sale were not released.

Baltimore scored millions in a settlement with the popular e-cigarette brand Juul, officials said Wednesday, the latest addition to the city’s pile of cash after a summer of settlements with pharmaceutical companies. Juul Labs Inc. can pay Baltimore either $7.5 million by the end of 2024 or $8 million over three years, according to a news release.

For the second year in a row, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s administration is proposing to delay expansion of the heavily congested American Legion Bridge and other infrastructure projects because of a transportation budget shortfall of over a billion dollars, according to a new spending plan released Tuesday. The Democratic governor came into office in 2023 with ambitious infrastructure plans, including the use of only clean energy by 2035 and a Red Line rail project in Baltimore that was abandoned by his predecessor, former governor Larry Hogan (R).

Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) has pulled ahead of former governor Larry Hogan (R) in Maryland’s competitive Senate race, showing a five-point lead among registered voters just over two months before the November election, according to a poll released Wednesday. The poll, conducted between Aug. 24 and Aug. 30 by Gonzales Research & Media Services, found that 46 percent of registered voters would support Alsobrooks “if the election were held today,” as opposed to 41 percent who said they support Hogan — an edge that reflects the momentum Alsobrooks may have gained after delivering a prime-time speech at last month’s Democratic National Convention.

“To err is human, to forgive is divine,” Alexander Pope said in his poem “An Essay on Criticism.” But to acknowledge error is heavenly. Gov. Wes Moore conceded error in neglecting to promptly correct his claim to a Bronze Star for service in Afghanistan. The combat veteran who risked that last full measure of devotion for his country had been recommended for the award, but the recommendation may have been lost in the chaotic processing during wartime.

It’s been nearly six months since a cargo ship hit the Key Bridge, sending it into the Patapsco River, effectively closing the Fort McHenry shipping channel. The channel fully reopened nearly three months ago, and Port Administrator Jonathan Daniels has seen progress. “Across all of our business lines, we’re seeing solid recovery,” Daniels said. But Daniels admitted they still have a ways to go before they are back up to the capacity from before the Key Bridge collapsed.

 

If you have been lucky or prepared enough to dodge the latest wave of COVID-19, public health officials say now is a good time to get another shot. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just approved two new versions of the coronavirus vaccine, and pharmacies and doctors’ offices are loading up. Public health officials say the virus has proven adept at changing, so a booster offers some protection from the disease, plus protects any vulnerable people in your life and helps fend off long COVID.

 

Anne Arundel County has received a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to implement a new comprehensive hate crime prevention program. County Executive Steuart Pittman began work on the Hate Bias Forum in 2020, after learning that Anne Arundel led the state in reported hate crimes. Anne Arundel was awarded an amount that was three times the initial grant request due to the strength of its application, making it the only county entity in Maryland to receive the grant in this cycle, according to a county news release.

Paul Lemle’s mandate to members of the 75,000-member Maryland State Education Association is short and straightforward: It’s time to invest in ourselves. “I want to talk to [teachers] about power, and why it’s important that our own voices matter in education policies and how schools get funded,” said Lemle who, on Aug. 1, became president of the MSEA. “I want to build that power by recruiting our members into action.

Gaithersburg-based Emergent BioSolutions was granted federal approval to use its smallpox vaccine in people at high risk for mpox infections that have been surging in Africa. Emergent had been making the vaccine called ACAM2000 for the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile in case of a bioterrorism attack. It’s been federally approved for smallpox since 2007 but wasn’t used much previously against mpox, another orthopoxvirus, because it can’t be used with people with compromised immune systems. That includes people with HIV.