It’s a bold Baltimore urban project — some 244 acres in East and Southeast Baltimore are being demolished and rebuilt throughout Oldtown and the former Somerset and Perkins homes public housing projects. “It’s a heavy lift,” said Chris Ryer, the Baltimore City planning director. “We have the city, state and federal government all aligned, but if there were more money involved, it would be easier.” To put it a different way, the 1904 Baltimore Fire consumed 140 acres. This is a landscape 100 acres larger. It’s a challenge transforming neighborhoods from McElderry Street on the north to Bank Street on the south. The planners, developers and builders are working on a blank canvas as blocks of 1940s housing projects fall to bulldozers.

With winter coming on, Washington Gas is offering its Maryland customers rebates if they buy new gas appliances, including home heating equipment (up to $805) and water heaters (up to $460). What they don’t tell you is that this is a terrible deal. Customers will be able to get far bigger incentives if they wait until January and buy electric equipment instead. Under the just-passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Uncle Sam will provide tax credits of up to $2,000 per year for electric heat pumps that provide both heating and air conditioning as well as heat pump water heaters. For lower-income customers, the incentives are even greater — up to $8,000 for a heat pump — and will be available as up-front rebates.

As a huge soccer fan, devouring the Premier League and Champions League, Mike Steenstra dreamt of opening his own soccer bar — a place for like-minded fans to soak in a unique atmosphere. But when it came down to it, between raising his two children and affording a mortgage with his wife, Steenstra felt he needed to reach one rung lower on a ladder of dreams. So instead, he’ll settle for keeping his day job while organizing a week-long watch party for the World Cup. It’s not his full dream, but it’ll do. For now. “Soccer bar was the goal,” Steenstra said, “and World Cup Pop Up was what it became eventually.” At the SoFive indoor soccer complex in Columbia, Steenstra has organized an event that encapsulates a World Cup experience.

Seemingly everyone at the Baltimore City Council meeting Thursday night could agree on one thing: the city’s existing inclusionary housing ordinance isn’t working. Passed in 2007, the law requires developers of market-rate housing to set aside affordable units for people with lower incomes, but it has led to the creation of only 37 affordable units. Instead, developers have paid into an offset fund or sought waivers. Now, the Baltimore City Council is taking another crack at inclusionary housing. A bill proposed by Councilwoman Odette Ramos and co-sponsored by a majority of the council would eliminate the loopholes allowed by the previous law, while also reducing the percentage of affordable units required.

The Betfred Sportsbook at Long Shot’s in Frederick has successfully completed its controlled demonstration with the Maryland State Lottery & Gaming Control Agency and officially opened its doors for the betting public on Friday. All proceeds from the four-day demonstration procedure have been donated to The Community Foundation of Frederick County. The initial sportsbook, which is just across from Long Shot’s, which specializes in off-track betting, will be in a temporary location while the permanent sportsbook is under construction. A permanent 6,000-square-foot sportsbook with a video wall and theater-style and lounge seating will open in spring 2023. In addition to the retail sportsbook, Betfred and Long Shot’s also recently secured online betting licenses and will be launching an online betting product in early 2023 pending regulatory approval.

Baltimoreans prepping for Thanksgiving dinner can add one more item to the shopping list this year: higher prices. Rising costs for everything from turkey to cans of pumpkin are putting a strain on budgets as the country continues to deal with burgeoning inflation rates. Overall inflation was 7.7% in October, according to the Consumer Price Index, which tracks the fluctuating costs of goods and services. The growth in grocery prices was even more substantial, at 12.4%. “It’s a real thing that it’s going to be more expensive,” said Laurence Ball, a professor of economics at the Johns Hopkins University. “There’s been inflation in general, but [the increasing cost of] food at home has been faster than inflation, and certainly faster than people’s wages have been growing.”

With the 2022 state and county election results in the books, the Harford County Board of Education will have a new look on Dec. 5 when five new board members are sworn in. Newcomers Denise Perry, Melissa Hahn, Diane Alvarez, Carol Bruce and Wade Sewell have won seats on the school board. Incumbent Carol Mueller will keep her seat. The board will have a mix of members who will advocate for parental rights as well as members who will voice the opinions of educators. “Harford County Public Schools looks forward to welcoming and supporting all new board members,” said Jillian Lader, HCPS manager of communications.

For Ana Valdez, the numbers tell the story about the power of the Latino population in the U.S. economy. U.S. Latinos accounted for 73% of the nation’s labor force growth since 2010 despite representing 18.6% of the population. Additionally, if U.S. Latinos were a standalone country, they would represent the fifth-largest gross domestic product in the world at $2.8 trillion. For Valdez, executive director of the Latino Donor Collaborative, those numbers also represent an often-untapped opportunity. One of her organization’s goals is to change that by reshaping the perception of Latinos in America. A big part of that mission is helping companies understand how to target and serve Latino audiences and capitalize on the potential of the Latino labor force and customer base.

Many workers are gearing up for a shortened Thanksgiving workweek, but new data suggests a significant number of companies are considering shortening their workweeks on a permanent basis. About 40% of companies surveyed as part of the EY Future Workplace Index from Ernst & Young LLP said they have either started using a four-day workweek or are in the process of implementing one. The survey included more than 500 C-suite and business leaders across multiple industries in the United States. As we’ve noted, an increasing number of employers are exploring four-day workweeks as they seek to differentiate themselves in what remains a tight market for talent, despite economic headwinds.