For most of his adult life, 55-year-old Alton Graves did not have a doctor he saw regularly. He sought medical care only when the need was dire. “The emergency room was my doctor,” he said. Graves found himself in such a situation a couple of years ago, when he developed a staph infection in an unhealed wound on his leg that eventually spread to his spine. Though he was in severe pain with a high fever, Graves still didn’t want to seek care. He says his neighbor at the time noticed he “didn’t look right,” and told the building’s security guard to call 911.
Community outreach program hopes to get more Black men to go to the doctor
Johns Hopkins graduate student workers vote to unionize in Baltimore: ‘We are one body’
Graduate student workers pursuing PhD degrees at the Johns Hopkins University officially voted to unionize this week with a 97% majority. Of 3,335 PhD students registered with the National Labor Relations Board, 2,053 voted yes and 67 voted no, a turnout of 64%. The union, which calls itself Teachers and Researchers United, better known as TRU, is affiliated with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. “We are so excited to unite so many graduate workers. This is a clear sign that we face real issues at Hopkins and are able to solve them together,” said Alex Peeples, a graduate worker in the history department, in a news release.
After baby formula disaster, the FDA’s proposed reforms are inadequate
The Food and Drug Administration vowed to make big changes to its food safety teams after the 2022 infant formula crisis exposed deep flaws in the agency’s culture, technology and structure. On Tuesday, the FDA finally revealed its fix: creating a new deputy commissioner for human foods. This is a major disappointment. The new deputy commissioner position would not even have authority over all food safety and nutrition. Confusingly, there will still be a separate Office of Regulatory Affairs at the FDA that handles food safety investigations. On a call with reporters, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock spent 45 minutes trying to explain which powers this new deputy would have and which authorities the Office of Regulatory Affairs’ leader would exercise.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott moving quickly on deal for BGE to take over conduit maintenance
A proposed agreement for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to maintain the city’s underground conduit system is moving quickly and could be put to Baltimore’s spending board for consideration in the next month, city officials said Wednesday. The details of the agreement, which have yet to be fully released and which officials say are still being negotiated, call for BGE to take over maintenance of the 700-mile terra cotta pipe system that runs beneath the city and contains telephone, electric and fiber-optic cables. In exchange, BGE would no longer pay to rent space in the system. BGE is the largest user to the system, which dates to 1898, and it currently occupies 76% of the conduit.
Of more than 7,500 threats against members of Congress in 2022, just 22 prosecuted
Members of Congress receive thousands of threats a year, though just a fraction of the people who call, mail or email will ever be prosecuted — a situation that’s of great concern to the police who guard members. Just 22 of the 7,501 threats lobbed at members during 2022 led to prosecution, the U.S. Capitol Police confirmed to States Newsroom on Tuesday. It’s a statistic the chief of police has said needs to change. “Recognizing that threat cases are difficult to prosecute, it is disheartening to me that our prosecution rate remains low,” USCP Chief Thomas Manger said during a recent congressional hearing while talking about the 2021 numbers.
Gaithersburg’s Vector BioMed launches with $15M to manufacture gene therapy technology
A new Gaithersburg biotech has launched with millions of dollars in new financing to make a key technology for gene therapy companies. The firm, called Vector BioMed Inc., raised $15 million in late 2022 and is now putting that money to work — to speed up its commercial operations and bring customers on board. It plans to manufacture lentiviral vectors, a type of therapy used to deliver genes into human cells in cases such as cancer and rare disease, and to supply those vectors to other biotechs developing and commercializing treatments that use them, Vector BioMed co-founder and CEO Boro Dropulić told the Washington Business Journal, a sister paper to the Baltimore Business Journal.
Here are the six Marylanders Gov. Wes Moore honored during his State of the State address for their commitment to service
As Gov. Wes Moore (D) delivered his first State of the State address on Wednesday, he highlighted six Marylanders for their service to their communities and the state. Judy Roopnaraine has worked the last eight years for the state’s Department of General Services doing maintenance work mostly inside the State House. Wednesday marked the first time she watched the State of the State address in person, seated next to first lady Dawn Moore and the governor’s family. “Tens of thousands of government workers through our state serve our people,” Moore said before Roopnaraine blew a kiss toward him from her perch in the House of Delegates gallery. “They do so despite the fact the pay could be better, the incoming complaints could be fewer, the challenges could be easier. They do it because, like you and I, they love our state.”
Soaring egg prices take toll on restaurants, shoppers, economy
When Kelly Simmons bakes her signature butter crunch cookies, she uses flour, butter, baking soda, water — and, of course, eggs. But after egg prices skyrocketed, Simmons, owner of Aunt Kelly’s Cookies in Mount Vernon, raised prices by 20% just to stay afloat. Now sales are down, revenue is dropping, and she’s been forced to cut staff. “We are in a position where we’re going to have to figure out alternative ways of turning a profit,” she said. Business owners like Simmons are feeling the weight of rising egg costs, and the pain is also hitting shoppers at the grocery store. Though overall grocery prices have increased, the jump in egg prices is one of the most impactful examples of inflation.
How to create a retirement glide path
In investing terms, a “glide path ” describes how a mix of investments changes over time. Typically, the mix gets more conservative — with fewer stocks and more bonds, for example — as the investor approaches a goal such as retirement. You also can create a glide path into retirement by making gradual changes in your working and personal life in the months or years before you plan to quit work. Retirement can be a jarring transition, especially if you haven’t set up ways to replace the structure, sense of purpose and socializing opportunities that work can bring, says financial coach Saundra Davis, executive director of Sage Financial Solutions, a nonprofit financial education and planning organization in San Francisco.
Tessemae’s, Baltimore-based organic salad dressing maker, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Tessemae’s, a Baltimore-based organic salad dressing maker, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure debts and stop what it called costly and distracting litigation by a former lender. The seller of dressings and condiments sold at dozens of national and regional retailers filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy reorganization Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore. The filing lists liabilities in a range of $10 million to $50 million. The Chapter 11 process will allow the manufacturer to preserve its assets, obtain new capital to fulfill customer demand and stop litigation, the company said.