Applications open for mobile sports betting licenses as public comment period continues

As the application process got underway this week for business owners to enter the mobile sports betting industry in Maryland, state regulators are accepting public comments on proposed regulations to guide licensure. The Sports Wagering Application Review Commission held a 30-minute public hearing Friday but heard from mainly one person: Arthur Robinson, the CEO of Full Circle Solutions in Baltimore. Robinson’s testimony focused on persuading the commission to allow a $500,000 application fee for mobile licenses to be refundable. The regulations currently state that and other fees are nonrefundable when an organization applies, provisions the legislature approved last year.

Americans are finally feeling better about the economy

After months of gloom, Americans are finally starting to feel better about the economy and more resigned to inflation. Consumer sentiment, which hit rock bottom in June, has begun inching up in recent weeks. Gas prices are down. Decades-high inflation appears to be easing. And at the same time, Americans are making small changes — buying meat in bulk, for example, or shifting more of their shopping to discount chains — suggesting that many families are learning to deal with higher prices. “While consumer sentiment is still fairly low by historic standards, we’re starting to see pretty dramatic improvements,” said Joanne W. Hsu, an economist at the University of Michigan and director of its closely watched consumer surveys.

‘What a wonderful life’: Christmas tree farmer Ronnie Sewell reflects on career after his property is annexed by Taneytown

To Ronnie Sewell, owning a Christmas tree farm is the best job in the world. “I have everything I possibly want here,” says Sewell, 80, who loves the glossy, sparkling finish his trees’ needles get after a strong summer rain. “It’s so rewarding.” “In today’s busy world of getting up and driving a half hour to work and putting up with traffic and spilling coffee, what glorious world I live in,” Sewell said. “I can walk out the door, feed the cats and ride around the farm and it’s a definite inspiration.”

Brooks: The immortal awfulness of open plan workplaces

Oscar Wilde is said to have quipped that “God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.” Our species is capable of folly on a grand scale. Exhibit 4,000 in this litany of woe is the continued existence of open plan workplaces. For decades, research has found that open plan offices are bad for companies, bad for workers, bad for health and bad for morale. And yet they just won’t die. Human beings, if they are to thrive, need a bit of privacy — walls and a door. And yet employers, decade after decade, neglect to give workers what they need, refuse to do what’s in their own self-interest.

Opinion: The power of unity in Maryland

Maryland Democrats had a party unity problem in the 2018 statewide election cycle. Amid a national blue wave fueled by resistance to President Donald Trump, about a third of their own voted to give incumbent Gov. Larry Hogan (R) a second term. And it wasn’t just the Democratic voters who broke ranks. Many Democratic lawmakers offered only halfhearted support for their gubernatorial nominee, Ben Jealous, and kept their distance from him on the campaign trail. Some, most notably State Comptroller Peter Franchot, withheld their endorsements altogether. The Democratic Senate Caucus Slate even funded mailers boasting about Democrats’ working relationship with the Republican governor.

Marylander Frances Tiafoe, who plays Friday in US Open semifinal, offers hope for present and future of U.S. men’s tennis

Frances Tiafoe’s run to the U.S. Open semifinals is, first and foremost, about Tiafoe himself, a 24-year-old from Riverdale in Prince George’s County who took up tennis because his father was a janitor at a junior training center, a player who never won a match past the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament until now, who owns one career ATP title and a sub-.500 career record, and whose ranking ranged from 24 to 74 over the past two seasons. “A Cinderella story,” to use his phrase. Tiafoe’s tale — which already includes a victory over 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal along the way to Friday’s matchup against No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain with a berth in the final at stake — is about so much more, too.

Ex-Hogan donors have given nearly four times as much to Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate Moore as Republican Cox

Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has distanced himself from Republican gubernatorial nominee Dan Cox since Maryland’s primary election in July. Now, some of Hogan’s former campaign donors have done the same. Democratic nominee Wes Moore has received nearly four times as much in donations from Hogan’s former financial supporters as has Cox, according to data analysis by Capital News Service. From July 19 to Aug. 23, following the primary and until the most recent campaign reporting period, former Hogan donors gave Moore’s campaign $117,861. During that same span, the governor’s former donors sent $29,727 to Cox.

Marijuana legalization advocates launch campaign to approve Maryland ballot question

Advocates supporting a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational use of marijuana launched a campaign Thursday to spread the word to Maryland voters that the decision is up to them on November’s ballot. The “Yes on 4″ campaign says approving recreational marijuana could improve economic opportunity, racial equity and public safety in a Thursday news release. The referendum marks the state’s first marijuana-related constitutional amendment, after state lawmakers expanded Maryland’s medical marijuana program in 2014. Alex Hughes, the campaign’s co-manager, said the group plans a “full scale campaign” to spread the word to voters, including social media campaigns and advertisements.

How Baltimore businesses are affected by the city’s boil water advisory

Even before the city issued a boil water advisory to residents and businesses in parts of West Baltimore, Shareef’s Grill & House of Wraps was well stocked with bottled water. The halal restaurant has a storefront at 1214 W. Franklin St., right on the edge of an “impact area” identified by Baltimore’s Department of Public Works, which on Labor Day announced the city had detected E. coli and coliform bacteria in three different water samples from the Harlem Park neighborhood. City officials have urged those within the impact zone, and a broader “boil water advisory area” that spans a swath of West Baltimore, to boil their tap water before using it to drink, cook or clean.

Political Notes: a Sugarloaf meeting and a Rickroll

Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner and representatives from Stronghold, the nonprofit organization that owns Sugarloaf Mountain, met last week about a plan to preserve the mountain and its surrounding area. The meeting ended with no consensus between the two parties, Gardner wrote in an email on Thursday. The meeting came roughly one week after members of the Stronghold Board of Trustees said during a County Council meeting on Aug. 23 that they would close the mountain to the public if the council approves a version of the plan that Stronghold opposes.