Sallie Whitney had no plans to move from an apartment in a city neighborhood she loves for its walkability and access to transportation. But when it came time to renew the lease on her one-bedroom unit in Brewers Hill, she was shocked to see her rent jump 15%, by $300 a month. With more of her retirement income going toward rent, she’ll be forced to consider other options. So far, she has found limited choices.

Maryland should be moving toward a New Center. Our politics is extremely polarized, and we need a politics which respects the 30% to 50% of the country which does not align with pure versions of either the Republican or Democratic Party or certainly extremist right-wing and left-wing perspectives. With 43% of the country identifying as independents according to a recent Gallup poll, the national dialogue about our red-coat/blue-coat war remains a serious distortion. Maryland in recent years has been a laboratory of change, deliberately or unintentionally, on the part of the voters and the politicians.

Under Armour and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have settled their longstanding litigation over a 2016 sponsorship deal that the Baltimore sportswear maker sought to terminate early. According to the settlement agreement obtained by the Baltimore Business Journal Friday, Under Armour was required to pay UCLA $67.49 million in a single cash payment by June 26, 30 days after the agreement was first signed on May 26. UCLA would then drop the civil lawsuit and the sponsorship would officially be terminated.

Malcolm L. Funn, one of two Democratic members of the State Board of Elections, died unexpectedly Tuesday of complications from hernia surgery. He was 77. The Calvert County resident’s death comes at a critical time for the state elections board, as it works to certify the results from the July 19 primaries and sets rules and procedures for the upcoming general election — and it adds some uncertainty to the board’s short-term agenda and work product.

A heady pulse of dance beats led Roosevelt Brown to park his car on his journey home through Clifton Park on Sunday afternoon. The thumping music, a fast-paced mixture of disco and soul, drifted from a park stage where six DJs spun records as part of an annual event hosted by Hug Don’t Shoot, a nonprofit run by Val Jenkins. Brown stopped to check out the scene at the “Christmas in July Music Fest” back-to-school giveaway and continued his trip home to Broadway East with a bag of nonperishable food and toys for his granddaughter.

The recent Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n was aimed at a citizen’s right to carry a concealed handgun, or more aptly, the ability of a state to require a showing of cause or real apprehended danger before issuing a license to carry in public.  In essence, the court held a citizen must be permitted to carry a gun for defense outside the home—concealed or open carry must be allowed.  One or the other must be permitted; both modes of carry cannot be prohibited.

Fresh seafood is on special this summer at the Westfield Annapolis Mall. As many shoppers and diners have noticed in recent weeks, a pair of osprey are raising a chick on a lighting fixture outside the former Macaroni Grill, near the intersection of Generals Highway and Bestgate Road. You don’t have to be an ornithologist to know that osprey typically nest near water, and a parking lot seems like a ridiculous choice for birds who depend on fresh fish for food. But Dave Brinker, a regional ecologist with the Maryland Heritage Wildlife Program, a branch of the Department of Natural Resources, says the nesting site represents progress, population growth and a formerly endangered species that has survived by becoming more flexible.

 

The data documents a radical decline in crab numbers — the lowest ever recorded. This nadir was reached after crab numbers dropped by 32 percent in 2020 and an additional 30 percent in 2021. We are now at less than one-third of the population of 30 years ago. Juvenile crabs declined three years in a row and in five of the past six years, denoting a serious recruitment failure likely leading to even fewer crabs. The radical decline in male crabs to the lowest recorded level is of grave concern. But the linkage to overall crab abundance from low sperm availability has been overemphasized.

A 26-foot statue of the Virgin Mary is back in place at a Catholic university in Maryland. The Frederick News-Post reports that the statue has been put back in place atop a 78-foot pedestal at the National Shrine Grotto on the campus of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg after a year of restoration work. That work continues even as the statue is back in place, surrounded by scaffolding. Workers are now in the process of layering gold leaf to statue’s exterior. The university has raised $400,000 to support the restoration; about $450,000 more is needed.