Gordana Schifanelli, the Republican who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor this year, has been thwarted in her bid to become chair of the state party. The GOP’s current leader claimed her nominating paperwork arrived an hour late. Republican leaders from around the state will gather in early December to elect a new chair, three vice-chairs and a secretary. Schifanelli, a Queen Anne’s County lawyer who ran on a ticket headed by Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick), planned to run for state chair on a slate dubbed the “Unity Team.” In a series of social media posts on Tuesday, she bluntly rejected outgoing Chair Dirk Haire’s claim that the slate filed its paperwork an hour late. She said the only requirement in the party’s bylaws is that nomination paperwork be filed within 30 days of the vote, a condition she insists was met.

Now comes the big hurdle: Thanksgiving and winter holidays in crowded indoor rooms, filled with family and friends. Those are conditions ideal for spreading covid-19. Everyone should consider common-sense precautions such as wearing masks in packed public indoor areas, trying to improve air ventilation and testing often. Meanwhile, preliminary scientific reports about the efficacy of the new bivalent boosters have carried a hint of disappointment. So are the boosters really worth getting? The answer is yes. The core issue is that the new bivalent boosters from Pfizer and Moderna are aimed at both the original pandemic virus and the omicron variant, BA.5, that was prevalent for much of this year. When the bivalent shot was formulated during the summer, BA.5 was raging, and the Food and Drug Administration urged the manufacturers to proceed based on extrapolations from limited human clinical trials.

While Baltimore has long been touted as a more affordable option to Washington, D.C., it’s still a lot more expensive to live here than in most of the nation. Baltimore ranks 84th for affordability among the country’s 100 largest metro areas, according to a new Business Journals analysis of the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Price Parity Index. The index shows how costs compare in a metro compared to the national baseline of 100. That means a metro with an index of 90 would be 10% more affordable than the national average, for example. That index includes the cost of housing, services and goods as well, providing a more complete picture of affordability.

With the holiday season upon us, I want to remind Marylanders that shopping locally is the best way to support our hometown communities and local entrepreneurs. Ever since taking office, I’ve encouraged you to put your local dollars back into local pockets. As my fourth and final term as Comptroller comes to an end, I’m sticking with that message and urging everyone to take part in our annual Shop Maryland and Save for the Holidays campaign. This past year has seen families grapple with many financial challenges, like high gas prices and record inflation levels eating into budgets. The country is still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and experiencing supply chain problems.

A Montgomery County judge closed a hearing Tuesday concerning a bid protest over one of Maryland’s largest highway projects, after lawyers for the state and winning companies said opening the hearing to the media and public could disclose confidential information. The protest by a losing bidder concerns the first contract the state awarded last year in a project potentially worth billions of dollars to widen Interstate 270 and part of the Capital Beltway with toll lanes. Lawyers for both the Maryland Department of Transportation and the winning bidder, a team of companies led by Australian toll road operator Transurban, asked that the hearing be closed, and its transcript sealed to prevent the possibility of proprietary bid details being discussed publicly.

Stepping over needles on the sidewalk, Alexander Cruz walked up to the crumbling front stoop of a West Baltimore home. He craned his neck and looked through an open third-story window to see whether the roof had caved in yet. Cruz’s company had a deal to buy this vacant rowhouse in the New Southwest/Mount Clare neighborhood, one of at least 15,000 in Baltimore. He wanted to renovate it, rent it to a family and remove the eyesore from a block on West Pratt Street that otherwise appeared to be occupied. Then Cruz learned the property owner owed more than $100,000 in property taxes and water bills that had gone unpaid for years, snowballing debt until it became overwhelming. Homes saddled with such debt are called “ghost homes” because their debts are so large that no one will buy the homes, condemning them to a sort of housing purgatory. The vacant homes then become crime magnets and fire hazards.

Seven months ago, with the first rumblings that Elon Musk might buy Twitter, I made the decision to pull back from the site and use it only to alert people to things like the publication of my column or my television appearances. I stopped checking every day. I stopped publishing original thoughts there. I stopped responding to other accounts. Twitter went from an integral part of my life to a tool I hardly used. Now that Twitter is teetering, it seems worthwhile to let my readers know what the experience of walking away has been like. Cutting back on Twitter changed my life … for the better.

As a member of his high school’s debating team in 1968, Sen. Christopher West (R-Baltimore County) was assigned to argue in favor of a proposed state constitutional amendment that, among other things, would have done away with competitive elections as the means of choosing judges for Maryland’s circuit courts. While West’s side won the high school match, the constitutional amendment was rejected by the voters that year — and legislative debate over the issue has continued since, without resolution. “The issue of election of circuit court judges has been the subject of serious deliberation for 54 years by my counting,” West told a Maryland Judiciary workgroup last week, while wryly observing — quoting the late Yogi Berra — “I get the distinct feeling of déjà vu all over again.”

Frederick, Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery has launched a new business beyond beer called Gonzo Drinks, and its first product is a hard tea. Killer Hard Tea is available at retailers in Maryland now, and will be in D.C. stores., as well as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, in January. Killer Hard Tea has an ABV of 8%, is lemon flavored, and is sold in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans. It is lightly carbonated. Flying Dog, founded in 1990, currently ranks as the 35th-largest craft brewer in the country, based on sales volume, according to the Brewers Association. A new distillery has opened in White Plains, Maryland, just south of Waldorf. Copper Compass Craft Distilling Co. is co-owned by cousins Herb Banks, a 23-year Navy veteran, and April Toyer, a pediatric dentist.