Damian O’Doherty: The Trail
I took this photo when James Moore first saw his dad’s first campaign ad. Nearby, Dawn Moore, Maryland’s future First Lady, shared one of her signature hugs along the campaign trail. It was October 11, 2021, and I had traveled alone for 1,7000 miles to watch the opening of the Governor’s campaign office in Prince George’s County. We make these journeys because “showing up” is rule #1 in politics. Moreover, I wanted to back up our Baltimore candidate as he dove into the deep waters of Prince George’s County. I’ve been to a few campaign launches. Often, this is the first time you get to see the family on the trail. Families and spouses interact differently. Sometimes, they are distant or sometimes they are spokespeople for a shy candidate. This was different. The Moore Family was all-in this together as one.
Ahead of board meeting, Maryland 529 director details accounting issues in memo to lawmakers
The director of Maryland 529, which runs the state’s troubled college tuition savings program, offered new details late last week about the agency’s flawed new recordkeeping system in the wake of angry account holders descending on Annapolis to complain of the trust and its administrators. Executive Director Anthony P. Savia also offered a seven-page memo in response to questions members of the House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees volleyed his way at a Jan. 19 hearing. The memo includes a timeline and history detailing the problems plaguing the Maryland Prepaid College Trust, one of Maryland 529’s two college tuition plans.
Roland Park Community Foundation wants to open a park for everyone
A group raising money to buy land off Falls Road for a new park wants to create an inviting place of wonderment with rows of trees, small bridges and recreational spaces to play and rest. The Roland Park Community Foundation also has a goal of inclusiveness as part of its guiding principle for the park, to be called Hillside Park, that will be located on 20 acres now owned by the Baltimore Country Club in the Roland Park neighborhood. “For me, communities do not have boundaries,” said Rita Walters, a volunteer who has advocated for the purchase of the land for years. “When I speak of community, it’s really expansive. And that definition is Baltimore City.”
A four-day workweek in Maryland? Maybe. Bill would set up a pilot program.
Could a three-day weekend become the norm? Maybe. At least for some workers in Maryland if the General Assembly gives the green light to a bill that creates a pilot program offering incentives to companies that cut the workweek from 40 to 32 hours — without reducing salaries. The idea of changing the workweek standard has been floated for decades. But it has been discussed with more frequency in recent years as companies confront pandemic-related stress, burnout and the “Great Resignation.”
Offshore wind will need major investments in transmission, supply chain, reports say
Achieving the aggressive offshore wind power goals of the federal government and individual states will require billions of dollars in spending on transmission infrastructure, “unprecedented” cooperation between grid operators and federal and state agencies and would be aided by major buildout of a domestic supply chain, per a pair of recent reports. Coastal states across the country, from California to Louisiana to Maine, are pushing for offshore wind projects, but the reports see potential bottlenecks looming, both in the supply chain to build and install turbines as well as in the ability to bring the electricity ashore.
Reinvigorating downtown D.C. with a monumentally modest adjustment
D.C.’s low-slung downtown is a distinct feature of our skyline. Local lore is that our skyline is short because no building could be taller than the Capitol or Washington Monument. That’s just a myth. The real reason for the height limit is much more practical. It’s a feature of 19th-century health and safety standards, including how high a fire ladder could reach at that time. We have learned a lot since the late 1800s, including how to fight fires in buildings taller than 12 stories. And while every other American and global city moved on with time, D.C. has kept its height limit at 130 feet (about 12 stories) in most parts of downtown, though buildings of up to 160 feet are allowed along the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and White House. The Height of Buildings Act became law when the city was under congressional authority, and it was protected under federal law after the District gained home rule.
Gov. Moore and HHS Secretary Becerra talk youth mental health, including new 988 crisis line
The new 988 crisis line, designed to replace the national 10-digit National Suicide Prevention hotline, is starting to gain traction in Maryland, one of the few states allocating direct funding to the effort, crisis responders said. The crisis line was among the topics discussed at a roundtable event on youth mental health in Baltimore on Friday, attended by Gov. Wes Moore, U.S Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and other government officials, crisis response providers, mental health advocacy organizations and youth advocates.
Is Baltimore jury duty working? 20,000 summonses, but more than a third don’t show up.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about jury duty in Baltimore. Among the most common — it’s inconvenient, expensive for almost everybody involved tedious, taxing and oh, so boring. But is change possible? In shrinking cities like Baltimore, jury duty has become an almost annual obligation for some residents. The city’s jury pool is typically small — last year it amounted to 247,840 potential jurors, less than half its population, according to a Maryland Judiciary spokeswoman. The total number of jurors who show up for service is even smaller.
‘There is always hope’: How a childhood dream became a reality for Jonathon Heyward, the BSO’s new musical director
In the June 2010 issue of Applause, his high school magazine, senior Jonathon Heyward wrote that by 2020 his “huge overall dream is to become music director of a major symphony orchestra.” “Well,” Heyward, said earlier this month, while visiting the Charleston County School of the Arts, “I was three years late. But here we are.” In September, Heyward will become the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s top baton. Since music director appointments are made years in advance, Heyward will likely be the only Black conductor leading one of the nation’s largest classical orchestras — and just the second in U.S. history. At age 31 this fall, he also will be the youngest.
A bold rebuild brightens Howard Street, once a bustling downtown shopping destination
There’s a transformation in progress along Howard Street that should warm the hearts of anyone who knew this neighborhood as a bustling downtown shopping destination. A $10 million restoration of the old Pollack’s furniture showroom is now in its seventh month of a painstaking refurbishment. It has been renamed Crook Horner Lofts, a reference to the old plumbing supply house that did business in the 1890 structure. The building is becoming 15 units of expansive loft-work apartments. With 14-foot high ceilings and dramatically arched windows in some flats, this building references the days when it served as Pollack’s furniture and rugs retail store — after the bathtub and pipe seller moved on.
