Last November, Democratic state Del. Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk said she’d never seen a candidate as dedicated to engaging Latino voters as her party’s gubernatorial nominee, Wes Moore. As the Moore administration takes shape, her enthusiasm over the inclusion of Latino voices is evident. “The cabinet is very diverse and you can see he has been very intentional about it, which is really wonderful and a great example for many other people to follow,” Peña-Melnyk said. “I know that this transition team has emphasized bringing our community to the table, every community to the table.” Peña-Melnyk, who represents parts of Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties, is also vice chair of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus.

Maryland hospitals unveiled a new online tool meant to help students and individuals looking for new opportunities to decide if a medical career is right for them. JoinMDHealth.org is a new website created by the Maryland Hospital Association in collaboration with 60 medical facilities and health systems statewide. The website offers visitors a quiz that gives people an idea of what their “professional personality” entails. The results can help people decide what careers in health fit their personality best. For example, people who test as “heart-felt” may fit best as a clinical social worker or a community health worker. “These career opportunities are tremendous chances for people to get into something that provides an opportunity for service, an opportunity to make a good living, and then an opportunity also to go into leadership into management,” said Ed Lovern, president and CEO of Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital.

If you have been looking for houses in Maryland lately, you probably have noticed there are not a lot of options — and the few available are expensive. Maryland Realtors, a trade association for the state’s real estate agents, is trying to push for legislative action this session in order to keep up with demand. Freddie Mac and the National Association of Realtors estimate there is a housing shortage of around 120,000 units for Marylanders. That shortage is driving up the cost of available housing. A recent survey done in January by the group found 76% of Maryland voters think the cost to buy a home in the state is too high. Maryland Realtors’ concern is growing about the lack of “missing middle” housing, a range of house-scale buildings with multiple units.

A Holocaust survivor from Rockville who sat in the first lady’s box on an invite from the White House and a host of local leaders joined Maryland’s congressional delegation Tuesday night for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. During the president’s annual speech Biden called on congressional Republicans to “finish the job” and work with him to rebuild the economy while uniting the nation. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff invited Ruth Cohen, a survivor of the Holocaust who lives in Rockville, to join first lady Jill Biden in her viewing box. Cohen, who volunteers at the Holocaust Memorial Museum and was liberated from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1945, met Emhoff and Vice President Kamala Harris last year in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Mayor Brandon Scott has finalized a proposed agreement with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. for the company to take over maintenance of Baltimore’s conduit system. The agreement calls for BGE to pay for $134 million for capital improvements to the system over the next four years. The utility also would pay an “occupancy fee” of $1.5 million annually. The deal needs the approval of the Board of Estimates, which the Democratic mayor controls. Currently, Baltimore owns and pays to maintain the 700-mile conduit system that carries utility lines beneath the city through a series of terra cotta pipes. BGE, the system’s biggest user, occupies 76% of the system and pays the city rent for its use.

When the time came for Gale Livingstone to buy farmland, the familiarity and prestige of Prince George’s County called. It was consequential, majority-Black and it used to be home for Livingstone, 50, a Largo High graduate who is known as “Farmer Gale.” After about a year of searching for land while driving around the county and writing letters inquiring about plots for sale, she would eventually “luck up” on 53-plus acres in Upper Marlboro that was once prime tobacco farming land in another era of the county. It’s been hard since. The pandemic added fresh stress, and new debt left Livingstone with doubts about the choice to launch Deep Roots Farm. Still, she wants to farm.

Consider this contrast in two men: Wes Moore, the new governor of Maryland, calling young people to public service, while Brandon Russell, a young neo-Nazi, allegedly plots to cause massive chaos by knocking out the power grid around Baltimore. One day we hear the new governor, a 44-year-old Army veteran, declare that “service will save us.” A few days later, federal authorities charge Russell, the 27-year-old founder of a violent extremist group, in a scheme to, as his girlfriend and co-conspirator allegedly put it, “lay this city to waste.” I don’t know if the contrast between Moore and Russell will occur to anyone else; it might seem weird to even mention the two in the same sentence. But I make the connection because of where we are as a nation.