On Aug. 25, the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) announced the federal approval of the Toll Lanes Project for the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, and stated that experts at the U.S. Department of Transportation found baseless the allegations of possible fraud in the traffic modeling calculations for the project. A close look at the federal approval documents, including what the experts found, tells a different story, however. Only a memo to file, written by the Maryland Division of the Federal Highway Administration, claims that the experts did not find fraud in the toll lanes traffic model. None of the findings reported by the experts support that claim. The experts, who operate separately at the USDOT Volpe Center, did not draw any conclusions on the allegation against the integrity of the traffic calculations.

Marylanders were fortunate this year in that both candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for attorney general during the primary race were highly qualified. Each also stood to break a barrier as being the first elected to that statewide office if victorious in November: retired Baltimore District Court Judge Katie Curran O’Malley as the first woman, and U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown as the first African American. While we endorsed O’Malley in the primary contest, we are not in the least disappointed that Brown won. It was an extremely difficult choice then, and we now enthusiastically put our support behind him in the general election. Anthony Brown has our endorsement.

No woman has ever been elected to the position of Maryland comptroller, a job that essentially amounts to serving as the state’s chief accountant and tax collector. In fact, no woman has ever been elected to statewide office, outside of lieutenant governor — a glass ceiling that can be shattered with the choice of Del. Brooke Lierman to be our next comptroller. Setting that historic opportunity aside, voters can be assured that Lierman is the best qualified person for the job. The 43-year-old Baltimore attorney and mother of two has developed an expertise on state fiscal matters during her two terms in the House of Delegates and a track record in Annapolis of bipartisan consensus building, a skill that’s desperately needed in these politically polarized times.

While looking for a place to get vaccinated against monkeypox in August, Jack Feng of Baltimore looked to the city health department to try and schedule a shot. Case counts in the state and country were rising, and Feng wanted to be part of the solution and protect himself against the infectious disease. To his dismay, the health department and a private partner had limited doses in their possession, and Feng, a public health researcher and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, could not get an appointment. He also faulted the state and city health department for not immediately launching a pre-registration website, call line or public service announcement campaign to help people learn more about the outbreak. Feng asked himself: Was it worth leaving the state for someplace where shots were more plentiful?

Heather Mizeur’s campaign for Maryland’s First Congressional District seat has raised $1,570,809 so far, more than any of the last four Democratic candidates who came before her, according to Federal Election Commission records. House election experts, however, only give her a slim chance to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. Andy Harris in November. He has held the seat since 2011 and has raised $955,507 so far in his campaign for reelection, according to the FEC. “Our elections are not really contests between competing visions and candidates of different backgrounds and qualifications anymore so much as they are censuses of how many Democrats and Republicans live in a given area,” said Dave Wasserman, senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

The prospect of redemption is a hope dashed time after time, so it is worth celebrating when someone lives a redeemed life after a life of crime — and a decade in a federal penitentiary. That was the life of Rocky K. Brown Sr., who died Aug. 8 in Baltimore at 68. His stature in the community is clearly evidenced by two murals in East Baltimore’s Bocek neighborhood, which he helped transform after his stint in prison. A dramatic, two-story mural adorns the side of a rowhouse just off Monument Street, the major east-west thoroughfare bisecting the neighborhood. Brown’s likeness stares intently into the distance as a lion looms over his shoulder. The mural was created in 2018 by artists Elise Victoria and Justin Nethercut of the Baltimore-based Arts & Parks organization. The pair painted a similar image of Brown’s sister, Maxine Lynch, on a rowhouse at the other end of the block.

The Baltimore Orioles are rebidding the concessions contract at Oriole Park at Camden Yards as the team’s 12-year deal with Delaware North Cos. Sportservice is set to expire. Buffalo, New York-based Delaware North has provided food, beverage and retail merchandise services at the stadium since 2010. But that contract is set to expire on Dec. 1 and the company is currently awaiting a decision on whether it will keep the contract, said Charles Roberts, a spokesperson for Delaware North, in a statement. Given that uncertainty, Maryland Sportservice Inc., an entity linked to Delaware North, recently filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) with the Maryland Department of Labor notifying the state of a mass layoff at Camden Yards affecting 649 people that would take place on Dec. 1.

Another union has approved the deal it made with the major freight railroads last month that helped prevent a strike to secure 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses for the workers it represents. The American Train Dispatchers Association said Tuesday that 64% of its roughly 1,600 members approved the deal with Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, CSX, Norfolk Southern and other railroads. The union said dispatchers will receive an average payout of $17,500 when the five-year deal becomes final because it is retroactive to 2020. Four smaller railroad unions have now approved their deals with the railroads, but the two biggest unions that represent engineers and conductors won’t vote on their tentative agreements until mid-November.