Maryland officials are preparing for as many as 80,000 residents who could no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage this spring, as the federal government reinstates a requirement that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic for states to verify the eligibility of recipients. Michele Eberle, the executive director of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, said that beginning in May, the state can start ending Medicaid coverage for people who no longer qualify. Maryland, she added, is in a better position to reach people than many other states to either continue Medicaid coverage or move them into other health plans. “We are working through all of those numbers right now, but we believe it’s around 80,000,” Eberle told a panel of lawmakers last month.

The curtain is about to go up on a new show for the long-abandoned Mayfair Theatre, a once glamorous North Howard Street venue that closed in 1986. With its three back walls since demolished and its glorious beaux-arts facade the sole reminder of far better days, it looks like a relic of the World War II bombing of Berlin. But that’s about to change. An ambitious young developer, Yonah Zahler, who hails from Toronto and has lived in Baltimore for 19 years, and his company, Zahlco Development, is the inspiration behind a $25 million project that will be named Mayfair Place. It will be a mixed-use project of 95 residential units, commercial space and parking.

The recently concluded winter 2023 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors focused on the many challenges facing the country’s large and medium-sized cities. Many of the concerns were those directly related to the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic dislocations. With city leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., the Brookings Institution organized a webinar titled “Governing the Post-Pandemic City.”  Hosted by Brookings’ interim President Amy Liu, the panel included as speakers Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland and Mayor Bruce Harrell of Seattle. In their discussion, I heard the recognition by these leaders that cities – and particularly their downtowns — are not going back to their pre-pandemic status as the public health threat lessens.

An icy wind sweeps across the grounds of the busiest mosque in the Baltimore area, swirling up little patches of snow, but the atmosphere inside a ranch house on the 8-acre campus is as warm and friendly as a neighbor’s kitchen. The aroma of kofta, a curried meatball dish, fills a cozy front room. White-haired men surround a folding table to watch an impromptu game of chess, some standing, others sitting, speaking in an animated mix of Urdu, Punjabi and English. As Shabbir Kapadia, 76, grabs a pawn and tries to slide it five squares as though it was a bishop, Jalal Akbar, 74, who is looking on, grabs his wrist and reminds him of the rules.

The Pandora jewelry company is planning to open a new store in Harbor East, the Harbor East Management Group announced Friday. The approximately 2,300-square-feet jewelry store will be located at 1011 Fleet St. in the same building as Sephora and Lululemon stores. The store will be Pandora’s flagship location in Baltimore and is expected to open in April. The news comes a little over a month after Pandora announced that it would be moving its North American headquarters from downtown Baltimore to New York City’s Time Square.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore will accompany U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin on Tuesday to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address. Cardin invited Moore “to celebrate renewed prospects for robust federal-state partnerships” in the state, according to a news release from Cardin’s office. Maryland is poised to make advancements in infrastructure, transportation, public health and safety and the Chesapeake Bay, Cardin said in the release. “From the passage of the American Rescue Plan to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the return of Congressionally Directed Spending projects, Maryland is ready to leverage important investments in our state and local communities,” he said.

It’s hard to believe. A program rehabilitating 3,476 apartments, almost all in quite visible high-rise buildings, has had so little public attention. The program is RAD, an acronym for the Rental Assistance Demonstration, conceived in the Obama administration and approved by Congress in 2012. Locally, the Housing Authority of Baltimore City was quick to act — and soon led a partnership with both private and nonprofit companies — and without any public relations fanfare. Developers who have not yet participated should now be aware that there’s still opportunity to be involved in Baltimore and nationally. Just as importantly, developers should leverage RAD’s momentum here by pursuing rehabilitation and new construction projects in the 16 neighborhoods where the RAD investment — $743 million to date — has already been made.