An Alzheimer’s agenda for Annapolis
Residents from across the state will make their way to Annapolis on Feb. 16 for Alzheimer’s Association’s Maryland Advocacy Day. Their mission is to let their legislators know how Alzheimer’s disease impacts their lives and to ask for support for three legislative priorities: community support for dementia caregivers, full funding of Maryland’s State Alzheimer’s Plan and expansion of existing services for seniors to age in place. These requests are personal. More than 110,000 Marylanders live with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia.
Baltimore’s Afro newspaper to restore Upton Mansion and digitize archives with $2.2M in federal funds
Baltimore’s Afro news organization will house and showcase its extensive archives in a restored Upton Mansion in West Baltimore with more than $2 million in federal funding. Maryland Democrats U.S. Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume worked together to secure $2.2 million for the project. The money will go toward restoring the building and digitizing the Afro’s archives, which is made up of more than 100 years of news articles, photographs, letters and audio recordings. “The Afro archives is one of the strongest reserves of information about the African American community in our country, and it’s right here in Baltimore,” Cardin said.
Baltimore County schools propose cutting 162 vacant teacher positions
The Baltimore County Public Schools system is proposing to cut over 160 vacant teaching positions to save millions. Staff from the budget office say it’s to match declining enrollment numbers, but union leaders and the school board chair still find it concerning. The proposed cuts were explained in a 62-page document in which district staff answered dozens of board members’ questions about the district’s budget for fiscal year 2024. The answers revealed ways the system aims to save money in a spending plan the county executive called “unrealistic,” but also points to areas where they may invest more, such as all-day pre-K.
Home construction in Baltimore delayed by nationwide shortage of electrical equipment
A newly renovated rowhome sits empty in East Baltimore with marble steps and a picture window with dentil molding. It has a newly finished basement, granite countertops in the kitchen and two bedrooms on the second floor. The home, just a few blocks from Johns Hopkins Hospital, is under contract and the renovation was expected to finish in mid-December. But no one has been able to move in due to a global shortage of dull gray, metal boxes. They’re called meter cans or meter sockets and they house the electric meter — the device that measures electricity used by a home. While they don’t look like much, meter cans are essential to connect a new or renovated home to power.
Developer has abandoned plans to demolish former Hampden bookbindery and bird roost
A commercial real estate developer that had plans to demolish a former bookbindery in Hampden, where chimney swifts have roosted for generations as part of their seasonal migration, has walked away from the property, Councilwoman Odette Ramos confirmed Tuesday. Ramos, whose district includes Hampden, said a representative for the owner of the property informed her Monday that the developer, Segall Group, is no longer interested in the building “at this time.” The representative told Ramos they had not been in communication with the developer for months. The property was built in 1930, according to the Baltimore Sun, and used to serve as a clothing factory. Free State Bookbinders began operating there in 1984 but has since closed.
Southwest Airlines BWI service will top pre-pandemic levels this summer
Southwest Airlines, by far the dominant airline at BWI Marshall Airport in Maryland, will top its pre-pandemic summer flight schedule this year, and it’s bringing back a transcontinental flight from the airport that it suspended in December 2020. According to the airline, for the 2023 peak summer travel season, Southwest will offer about 220 daily departures from BWI Marshall, topping its scheduled service in summer 2019. As part of its schedule extension, now set through October, Southwest will restore nonstop service from BWI to Oakland, California. The daily service to Oakland will return Sept. 5.
Edmondson Village shopping center to sell for $17M as new owner looks to crowdfund its future
Baltimore liquor violation fines could increase from $3,000 to $20,000
Lawmakers in Baltimore City want to increase the maximum fine that bars, restaurants and other establishments can face for liquor violations from $3,000 to $20,000. In order for the city to raise the fines, state law would need to be changed. Maryland State Sen. Antonio Hayes made the case for a bill that would do just that at a virtual hearing last Friday of Baltimore City’s Senate delegation, while Del. Stephanie Smith presented Monday to the city’s House delegation on behalf of Mayor Brandon M. Scott’s office. Baltimore’s delegation to the General Assembly is weighing the proposal and will vote on the bill Friday.
Blueprint supporters rally to tell Maryland lawmakers to ‘fully fund’ the education reform plan
Among the many duties Ma’ryah Baynard has as a community activist, curriculum developer and peer mediator, one of her top goals is mental health support at her high school in Baltimore City. The 18-year-old senior at Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women wants Maryland’s top brass – Gov. Wes Moore (D), House Speaker Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County) and Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) – to support and fund mental health services for her peers as part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan.
Bruce Springsteen to play at Camden Yards, the venue’s third major stand-alone concert since 2019
“The Boss” is coming back to Baltimore. A few months after he plays an April show at the newly renamed CFG Bank Arena in downtown, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at Camden Yards on Sept. 9. It will mark the ballpark’s third major stand-alone concert ever, after Billy Joel in 2019 and Paul McCartney last year, as the Orioles and their landlord, the Maryland Stadium Authority, seek to bring more non-baseball events to the park. Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos said in a statement that “as a lifelong fan of Bruce Springsteen and of my hometown, it’s an honor” to announce the concert.
