Baltimore might get a new inclusionary housing law. Here’s why the old one failed.

Baltimore City Councilman John Bullock spent four years sitting on the city’s Inclusionary Housing Board, an opportunity he thought would involve working with developers to create more housing units for low- and moderate-income residents. In those four years, however, Bullock barely recalls developers setting aside any affordable units. Instead, his tenure was spent granting waivers. Many, many waivers. “We’d get these requests for waivers and, looking at the numbers and where folks were, we didn’t have an option,” Bullock said. “Our hands were literally tied.” Baltimore’s inclusionary housing policy, adopted in 2007, was a failure. Few affordable units were built, and the city missed an opportunity to potentially claw back tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks from developers who declined to include housing for low-income residents in their projects as the law required.

Weston: Make the most of new federal tax rules for charitable giving

Most people no longer get a tax deduction when they donate to charity. That shouldn’t keep you from making donations, but you may want to change your approach. Typically, only taxpayers who itemize deductions can write off charitable contributions. The vast majority of taxpayers instead take the standard deduction, which was nearly doubled by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. (Temporary provisions in pandemic relief legislation allowed taxpayers to deduct $300 of their donations in 2020 and 2021 without itemizing, but those provisions have expired.)

Study urges changes to Baltimore County water, sewer billing as condo owners challenge fees

Baltimore County’s utility billing system is outdated and fraught with inconsistencies that risk charging ratepayers inequitable water and sewer costs, according to an engineering consultant report that recommends wholesale changes to the county’s service charges. In the draft report, which has not been made publicly available, consultants said the county should scrap its fee structure — unique when compared to a half-dozen other utilities — and reclassify certain properties, like churches and trailer parks, to align its billing system with industry standards. The billing practices have led almost 200 Pikesville condominium owners to challenge how Baltimore County sets the price of their utilities, saying that they’ve been collectively overcharged by millions of dollars for sewer service due to decades-old rules that don’t calculate how much water condominium owners or homeowners’ associations actually consume.

Covid connections paved way for diabetes education in Latinx Maryland

Norma Reyes stopped giving her children lots of soda and juice, allowing all four of them to split one small bottle on rare occasions. She lost 10 pounds and serves smaller meals at home. But the struggle continues with her husband and brother-in-law, who she said are both prediabetic and need reminding that, nutritionally, one beer equals two cups of rice. Reyes, 37, learned techniques to improve her family’s wellness through healthy eating and exercise in a lecture and Zumba series run by Luminis Health which serves a heavily Latino population in Prince George’s County, an area hit hard by coronavirus. At the height of the pandemic, the hospital system recruited churches to host education sessions and vaccine clinics, forging relationships helped them learn more about the needs of the community — a model providers aim to replicate in underserved areas.

University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center opens new intensive care unit wing

University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center opened a new wing of its critical care unit Tuesday. The renovation, which will include 22 new intensive care beds, will allow the Glen Burnie hospital to potentially more than double its capacity if it can hire additional workers to staff the unit, hospital officials said. The new ICU wing was converted over the course of more than a year from a telemetry unit, which was moved to another space in the hospital. The renovation of the 17,000-square-foot space was funded by a $3 million grant from the state of Maryland and other private and public funding, said hospital spokesperson Holly Basta.

Year-end bonus season is coming — but there’s a catch

Bonus season is coming, but early returns show the checks will likely be smaller than a year ago — at least for many workers. That’s according to new data from benefits and payroll provider Gusto Inc., which found the average bonus doled out in November 2022 was about 8% smaller than a year ago. The average November 2021 bonus was $208, compared to $191 in November 2022 — as many industries are looking for ways to cut costs due to potential economic headwinds. Some industries bucked the trend of shrinking bonuses, according to Gusto Economist Luke Pardue. Workers in goods-producing and logistics businesses saw their average bonus increase 7.1%. In personal services, bonuses stayed largely flat, growing about 0.1% and sticking around $108.

$100M gift to expand Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies into multidisciplinary research hub

A gift of $100 million from philanthropists James and Morag Anderson to Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Europe campus in Bologna, Italy will create new opportunities for students and faculty from throughout Europe and worldwide to address the multifaceted challenges of a rapidly changing world, Hopkins officials announced Friday. The gift will allow Johns Hopkins to expand its SAIS Europe campus in Bologna into an international hub for research and collaboration, bringing together leading academics and practitioners around the world to train the next generation of international experts, offer multidisciplinary solutions to global problems, facilitate scientific and technological research on public policies, and work towards peace and democratic development.

How workers are hedging their bets ahead of a potential recession

A majority of U.S. adults are anticipating a recession in the next year — and many are trying to hedge their bets with a second job. That’s according to a new American Staffing Association Workforce Monitor online survey conducted by The Harris Poll, which found 77% of adults believe the U.S. economy is either on the road to a recession in the next 12 months or is already there. Among other findings, the survey found 72% of Gen Z respondents say they are likely to pick up a second job or side hustle to earn extra income. Overall, about 20% of respondents said they were very likely to look for a second job, including about 68% of those making under $50,000 per year. Experts have said the dynamic could help make it easier for employers to find talent — especially those willing to be flexible by hiring part-time or seasonal workers.

Wickham: Failure to provide context, explanation evident in coverage of DeSantis victory

It’s been just over a month since Ron DeSantis’ big reelection victory, and many media organizations have already crowned Florida’s Republican governor the heir apparent to Donald Trump. In a way, that’s understandable. Trump’s obsession with undoing the results of the 2020 presidential election has driven the former president to openly consort with Holocaust deniers and racists which, seemingly, has pushed him to the brink of political madness. But the media’s fawning over DeSantis is driven by more than Trump’s decline. It is born of the kind of me-too journalism that involves far more repeating than reporting. In winning by nearly 20 percentage points in what was expected to be a close gubernatorial race in a battleground state, DeSantis is being credited with moving Florida solidly to the Republican end of this nation’s political spectrum.

Baltimore County leaders address shortage with assistant-to-nurse program

Education, health care and government leaders in Baltimore County plan to partner on a program that aims to produce a new crop of sorely needed nurses in area hospitals. In an event Monday, they plan to announce Public Health Pathways, a program to address long-standing shortages that were exacerbated locally and nationally by the coronavirus pandemic. Those shortages are being further highlighted now by the flood of patients with flu and RSV to emergency rooms. The program is designed to get professionals to the bedside faster by certifying students to be nursing assistants in four months and then to become licensed practical nurses over 20 more months. This would give a guaranteed career path to students from disadvantaged county neighborhoods.