Less than 12 hours before polls open on Tuesday, President Joe Biden traveled to Maryland to make one final pitch to encourage voters to choose Wes Moore for governor. “This guy’s the real,” Biden said Monday amongst a boisterous crowd of about 1,700 at Bowie State University, the state’s oldest HBCU in Prince George’s County. “Wes is a leader who will build Maryland and leave no one behind and I believe that.” Biden criticized Moore’s Republican opponent, Del. Dan Cox, and other supporters of former President Donald Trump as unpatriotic for not speaking out against the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. Biden also called Cox an “election denier.” “You can’t only love your country when you win,” Biden said. “Even the Republican governor [Larry Hogan] agrees with Wes.”

The future of plant-based meat was supposed to be cooked to perfection. In recent years, corporate and venture capital funds poured into the space. Fast-food giants such as KFC and Burger King raced to roll out offerings. The meme stock crowd rallied around Beyond Meat. Sales were growing. It would appeal to vegans missing meat! Even better, it would find a following with meat-eaters looking to cut back! It’s now clear that the hype got ahead of a sometimes less than tasty reality. Sales of plant-based meats in the United States are down by more than 10 percent from this time last year. The issue is basic: The problems fake meat were meant to solve — from the climate impact of industrial farming to the health impacts of meat — are all too real, but the solution it offers appeals to far fewer consumers than expected.

Arguing that its hands were tied by the likely implementation of term limits, the Baltimore City Council advanced a bill Monday reducing the number of years required for elected officials to receive a pension. The legislation, introduced by Council President Nick Mosby, calls for Baltimore to offer pensions to city officials after eight years of service. Currently, the requirement is 12. The council voted, 9-2, in favor of the bill that city retirement and finance officials warned could be costly for the city in years to come. Three members, Councilmen Mark Conway and Eric Costello and Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, abstained. Councilmen Zeke Cohen and Ryan Dorsey voted against the measure. The bill still faces one more vote from the council before it heads to the desk of Mayor Brandon Scott.

The team at the Baltimore County Board of Elections finished late Monday night setting up for Tuesday morning, and they’re ready for the voters to come when polls open at 7 a.m. Boxes of ballots line the walls inside the Baltimore County Board of Elections building. The board has started canvassing the more than 60,000 mail-in ballots received so far. “We started on Saturday morning, and we are able to canvas 14,000 ballots, which is amazing because Baltimore County does have a three-page ballot,” Baltimore County Elections Director Ruie LaVoie said. Baltimore County is one of 11 Maryland jurisdictions that have started counting mail-in ballots. LaVoie said Baltimore County’s polling places are fully staffed, equipment has been delivered and they’re ready for Election Day.

Meteorologist Justin Berk took Elmer Wolfe Elementary by storm Monday with a presentation for about 400 students on severe weather. Berk’s Storm Smart assembly is designed to teach children about a spectrum of weather, including clouds, rainbows and storms. It also includes information about how to classify storms, hurricanes and tornadoes. Berk said student anxiety levels are often high regarding severe weather and his presentation helps kids become better prepared for and less anxious about storms. “I cover a lot of things,” Berk said, “and some kids will remember one thing while other kids remember something else — as long as the kids remember something. Then, I encourage them to repeat it or tell their parents when they go home.”

NASA announced last month that its new panel to study unidentified aerial phenomena — i.e. UFOs — was staffed up and ready to get working. The panel is impressive, including planetary scientists, astrophysicists, experts from the Federal Aviation Administration, data scientists and a celebrated astronaut. I have worked with a few of these scientists, and the group represents a stellar collection (pun intended) of smart, creative people with high scientific integrity. But what, exactly, are these scientists supposed to be doing in the contentious domain of UFOs? More importantly, is this really something that NASA should give time and money, potentially risking the agency’s credibility?

The Office of Naval Research awarded Morgan State University a five-year, $9 million grant to address a critical Department of Defense (DoD) need for research in building diverse knowledge bases related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, especially with respect to cybersecurity. The resources will be administered through Morgan’s Division of Research and Economic Development (D-RED) to fund collaborative research conducted by the newly launched Center for Equitable Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Systems (CEAMLS) and the Cybersecurity Assurance & Policy Center. The centers will study the development of formal standards and best practices to test and design new AI and ML innovations that mitigate algorithmic bias.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the rescue programs that came with it have driven a surge of interest in tax credits, with small-business owners increasingly scouring for opportunities they may have overlooked in the past. The Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, which gave out 11.3 million forgivable loans worth about $786 billion, as well as the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and others, made it to clear to small-business owners they should pay attention to government programs and apply for the ones that fit them, said Brent Johnson, co-founder of Clarus Solutions, which helps businesses access federal employment tax credit programs.

Morgan Stanley plans to expand its presence in Baltimore’s Harbor Point, the landlord for the global financial services firm said Monday. Armada Hoffler said it has finalized a lease extension and expansion with Morgan Stanley at the company’s Thames Street Wharf office building. The firm leased an additional 46,000 square feet, bringing its total office space to 242,000-square-feet, and extended until 2035. Thames Street Wharf is now 100% occupied. A representative of Morgan Stanley could not be reached Monday. The company’s website describes the Baltimore office as one of its largest in the U.S. outside the New York headquarters. Morgan Stanley opened its Baltimore office in 2003 with 60 people, a number that has grown to close to 2,000 employees, according to the website.