Two decades ago, the town of Trappe voted overwhelmingly to grow. As a wave of suburbanization spread across Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore, the tiny community annexed more than 900 acres so a developer could build some 2,500 homes — five times more than still stand in Trappe today. Now, that vision of Trappe is just starting to become reality. Banners along what is otherwise a quiet stretch of U.S. Route 50 invite passersby to look at new homes, for sale and lease, at Lakeside at Trappe. There’s no lake just yet, but nearly a dozen homes have begun to rise from the dirt.

The pandemic has entered a twilight zone, neither causing major disruption to the nation nor vanishing. Everyone is looking forward to a summer without masks or terrifying case spikes. The government has dropped the requirement that international air travelers test before entering the United States. We have vaccines, antivirals and diagnostic tests in surplus. So far, so good. But there is still a nagging uncertainty, one that is not trivial. The biggest unknown is whether new variants will evolve. Omicron was an example of how mutation can deliver an unpleasant one-two punch. It could happen again.

Doctors learned early in the pandemic that COVID-19 was more than a respiratory disease. It was attacking bodily organs, including the heart — even in healthy, young athletes. Enough athletes with COVID were experiencing heart inflammation, called myocarditis, that doctors at the University of Maryland and other Big Ten schools didn’t want to take any chances. Myocarditis already was seen as one of the leading causes of sudden death in elite athletes, so doctors across the conference immediately imposed official protocols that kept some players off the fields for up to six months. Some grumbled, but everyone recovered.

As law enforcement agencies across the country struggle to recruit officers and strengthen community trust, the Baltimore Police Department has announced an internship program in partnership with two historically Black universities in Baltimore. A group of eight students and recent graduates of Coppin State and Morgan State universities, who have started their summer internships with the department, attended a news conference Tuesday at Coppin State. The pilot program, which could become a nationwide initiative by next year, focuses on exposing participants to all aspects of police work, including its inherent complexities and ongoing reform efforts.

They’ve outlined lofty visions for increased wages and tens of thousands of new jobs. They’ve talked about investments in transportation, education and small businesses. But among all the policy plans and stump speeches from Maryland’s candidates for governor, the most pressing economic concerns of voters this year are seldom mentioned. “It’s making it tougher to do anything, to save anything,” Tad Trias, a Severna Park resident, said of mounting inflation that’s affecting everything from groceries to gas. “I’ve definitely been a little bit more conscious of what I’m buying, when I’m buying it.”

Ignoring research on adolescent sleep and healthy school start times policy recommendations, Baltimore City Public Schools announced its new bell schedules for 2022-2023, which include new school start times for 93 schools to “improve transportation for students who ride yellow buses.” With these times, at least 30 middle and high schools will be starting before 8 a.m. As a sleep researcher and psychologist for over 30 years, these changes concern me deeply. The decision to move bell times means that thousands of BCPSS teenagers will not only be unable to get sufficient sleep or to arrive at school on time ready to learn, but will also put themselves at risk for anxiety, depression, misbehavior, substance abuse and other health consequences.

As inflation soars and Maryland legislators debate whether to suspend state gas taxes for a second time this year, an anticipated bump in fare price for Baltimore’s public transit services will start Sunday. The cost to ride city buses, light rails and metro subways will cost 10 cents more in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The Maryland Department of Transportation’s transit administration is required by law to increase fares for core services by at least 10 cents every two years.

MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services LLC Friday announced it brokered the sale of 1407 Rome Road, a single-story building containing slightly more than 22,000 square feet of warehouse space in Halethorpe for $2.3 million. Andrew Meeder, SIOR and Daniel Hudak, SIOR, both senior vice presidents and principals for MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services represented the buyer, Ruff Roofers Inc. with the seller, Mid-Atlantic Carpenters and Training, represented by Robert Filley, Nick Pirone and Bryan Herr of Marcus & Millichap. Last month, MacKenzie brokered the sale of 1407 Parker Road, a single-story building containing 103,640 square feet of industrial/warehouse space, and in Halethorpe. The sales price was more than $10 million.

One of the defining moments of Karen Bond’s professional career came about five years ago. “For years, I had worked really hard to become president of Executive Alliance,” she said of the nonprofit dedicated to helping professional women succeed in leadership roles. At the time, Bond was taking care of her mother who had dementia along with being a mother to her daughter and having a thriving professional career. “The day of our Women of Excellence luncheon, that I had always dreamed that my mother would be able to be there and see that achievement, was the day that my caregiver didn’t show up and I was scheduled to be in front of a thousand women. I barely got there in time.”

When Ukrainians went to the polls in 2019 and elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Maryland election judge was there to observe the democratic process play out. Todd Becker has observed foreign elections for decades with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, giving him a unique perspective on the state of elections now under fire for everything from unfounded claims of fraud to pandemic-related changes.