On Jan. 25, the James Beard Foundation announced its annual award semifinalists. Often described as the Oscars of the culinary scene, a Beard Award can make or break a chef. Baltimore fared exceptionally well with three contenders. Two were for best chef in the Mid-Atlantic region: Chris Amendola of Foraged and Steve Chu of Ekiben. And Charleston, a frequent contender in fine dining awards, was listed for “Outstanding Hospitality,” a category sponsored, oddly enough, by American Airlines.

Brigitte Jacobson was comfortable in the sky. The wind beneath her metal wings as she soared between clouds brought her peace. She didn’t expect to become a lover of planes, yet it became one of the biggest catalysts in her life – and even in death. After Brigitte passed away in 2019, her friends and family founded Empowerment Through Aviation as a tribute to her memory. The program mentors Baltimore girls and young women with the skills they need to become pilots and aims to diversify the aviation industry.

National industrial developer Trammell Crow Co. is growing its footprint again on the Interstate 95 corridor. The developer recently acquired 20 additional acres in rural Elkton to expand its ongoing Elkton Commerce Center industrial project near the Maryland-Delaware line. Trammell Crow’s deal for the 20 extra acres in Elkton will add to the company’s plan to develop the commerce center off Route 40 in Cecil County that kicked off in 2021. The entire logistics and warehouse complex will now total 319 acres. The first warehouse, which stretches 766,000 square feet, is already complete. A second facility of 330,000 square feet is now in the works, said Chris Rodriguez, a Trammell Crow principal, on Monday.

President Joe Biden will tout job creation and labor agreements during a visit to Baltimore on Monday to highlight a $6 billion, federally funded project to replace the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, which dates to the Civil War era, according to the White House. The White House is billing the speech as a “kickoff event” for the project, which will replace a 4-mile section of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, including the mile-long B&P Tunnel, with two tubes that will allow trains to travel at 100 mph. The old tunnel, built during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, is considered a bottleneck for both Amtrak and MARC trains because it forces trains to creep along at 30 mph or less.

Next month, members of an eight-person panel will begin interviewing candidates for the county’s next police chief before they recommend finalists to Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. Twenty people have applied to the position, which was advertised nationally and remains open, following the conclusion of former Chief Melissa Hyatt’s contract Dec. 5. Interim Chief Dennis Delp, tapped by Olszewski to temporarily replace Hyatt, is not among the candidates, after initially indicating he wanted the permanent job. “For personal reasons, I have decided not to pursue the appointment at this time,” Delp said in a statement Thursday.

Traveling across the country in recent years, I discovered a sure way to fire up an audience: issue a call to young people for a year of service to others. “It’s called national service,” I tell people. “Sometime between the ages of 18 to 24 or so, we offer you an option to spend a year helping others — assisting teachers in classrooms, volunteering in a local hospital, reducing global warming and the like. For every year of service, you will receive not only a base salary, but you will also earn a scholarship to reduce future education debt.” Audiences clap loudly. They know from experience that spending a year or more in a military uniform often stiffens a spine and focuses the mind. It is obvious to most folks that a year of domestic service can have a similar impact.

We are waking up to the dangers of toxic “forever chemicals” called PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and the sources of these dangerous compounds. A recent alarming discovery: common pesticides, which are sprayed across our communities, farms, health care facilities, playgrounds, and schools, contain high levels of PFAS. “If the intent was to spread PFAS contamination across the globe, there would be few more effective methods than lacing pesticides with PFAS,” said Kayla Bennett, research director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The good news is we can take a simple step to turn off this tap. State Del. Dana Stein and Sen. Shelly Hettleman are sponsoring legislation, the Pesticide Registration — PFAS Testing — Requirements Bill (SB 158), to ban the use of pesticide products containing PFAS in Maryland. Manufacturers would have to test their products for PFAS as part of the current annual registration with the state.

Associated Black Charities withdrew from a multimillion-dollar contract to dole out federal Ryan White HIV assistance funds in Baltimore after the city rebid the $16.35 million contract last year. The deal to serve as fiscal agent for the large grant went to a newly formed LLC based in Owings Mills. The change in fiscal agents was followed by a scathing audit of the Baltimore City Health Department released last week that found a lack of oversight and controls over the agency’s grant funding, including where and how much of the Ryan White program’s millions were spent. The audit also warned that such findings could potentially threaten the city’s ability to receive federal funding in the future.