Southwest Airlines, the airline with by far the most departures and arrivals at BWI Marshall Airport, has released its summer schedule for the Maryland airport and it will be operating slightly more flights that it was in summer 2019. In the peak summer period for 2023, Southwest will operate 219 daily departures from BWI Marshall. At its Denver hub, Southwest will surpass 300 flights daily, the most departures for the airline at any airport. “That’s another positive sign as the airline industry continues to recover and airlines continue to boost their service levels at BWI Marshall Airport. There remains a strong demand for air travel. We expect to see continued recovery and growth in the New Year and well into 2023,” the airport said in a statement.

A is for Adnan Syed, who served more than 20 years in prison for the killing of Hae Min Lee in 1999, the focus of the groundbreaking podcast “Serial.” He was released in September, his conviction vacated and Baltimore’s top prosecutor ultimately deciding not to pursue further charges. Yet questions still linger, including over the treatment of the victim’s family, who would like a redo of the hearing that led to Syed’s release. B is for Baltimore City Fire Department and the loss of three firefighters in a Jan. 24 blaze in a vacant house on South Stricker Street. The community mourned the loss of Paul Butrim, Kelsey Sadler and Kenny Lacayo, and the tragedy already has spurred reforms in how empty dwellings — potential tinderboxes — are tracked, as well as raised questions about whether stations are adequately equipped. Fire Chief Niles R. Ford resigned from office with the release of a 182-page report critical of the city’s performance.

A key leader in the Maryland Senate will vacate his seat of nearly three decades to join the new Wes Moore administration. Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s and chair of the Senate Education Health, Education and Environmental Committee, will leave the chamber to become the new director of the Maryland Energy Administration. Gov.-elect Moore announced Pinsky’s selection and the appointment of Mollie Byron as director of intergovernmental affairs in an email Tuesday. The announcement sparked a flurry of rumors earlier in the day and is expected to factor into what will be a major announcement on changes in Senate leadership in the next 24 hours.

Congress unveiled a $1.7 trillion spending package early Tuesday that would fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year, completing the annual process that began this spring when President Biden sent lawmakers his budget request. Biden’s chief budget official in a statement urged Congress to speedily pass the massive measure before a Friday deadline and send it to the president. The omnibus, as it’s known, is likely to be the last significant piece of legislation lawmakers will push through during the 117th Congress.

Pandora plans to reduce its space in downtown Baltimore — and take its name off the city skyline — as the company finalizes the move of its North American headquarters to New York City. The Danish jewelry giant announced earlier this month that it will move into 27,000 square feet in the 1540 Broadway building in Times Square in early 2023. While it will keep its Baltimore office at 250 W. Pratt St., Pandora plans to downsize this spring to just 18,237 square feet and take its name off the tower but will stay in the city until at least 2026, a company spokesperson said. Pandora previously had 250 employees and occupied nearly 90,000 square feet in the building, where it has been located since 2015 when it moved its headquarters from Columbia.

A former Baltimore Convention Center executive who worked under its longtime executive director is returning to the city to take over the center’s top post. Matthew “Mac” Campbell is leaving the Strathmore in North Bethesda to fill the executive director role left vacant by the September retirement of Peggy Daidakis, who led the Convention Center since 1986 and served as Campbell’s mentor. Mayor Brandon Scott on Tuesday announced the nomination of Campbell for the city-owned and operated facility. Campbell’s nomination must be approved by the City Council. Campbell takes over at a challenging time for the convention industry, with business still trying to pick up after Covid-19 put an end to conventions and meetings nationally for almost two years.

China’s “zero covid” policy was unsustainable and abruptly scrapped, but the absence of a coherent fallback strategy threatens a fresh set of nightmares for its population, its economy and the Communist Party leadership. A new crisis could shake the whole world. As the Wuhan outbreak demonstrated three years ago, what begins in China does not necessarily stay there. President Xi Jinping’s government had imposed draconian requirements for lockdowns, tests and forced quarantines during most of the pandemic. But once lifted on Dec. 7, the measures were followed by little guidance from the top. China’s party-state usually declares that everything is under control. Now, it appears to be quite unsettled. A wave of omicron infections is sweeping Beijing and might soon hit the rest of China.