A new Johns Hopkins University scholars program is attracting more doctoral candidates to the Baltimore school specifically from the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. The Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative welcomed its first 20 doctoral students this fall, ushering in a program designed to help remedy the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, collectively known as STEM. All of its scholars come from either HBCUs or other minority-serving institutions. According to 2019 data from the National Science Foundation, Black and Latinx students earned 3% and 7%, respectively, of new engineering, math, physical sciences and computer science doctorates. At Johns Hopkins, 11% of the doctoral candidates in STEM fields are from historically underrepresented minorities, university spokesperson Jill Rosen said.

Part of the kabuki dance of being a third-party candidate for political office is having to convince skeptical voters and donors that you have even a slim shot at victory. David Lashar, the Libertarian nominee for governor, has dispensed with all that this time. A lifelong Republican and a former top official in the Maryland Department of Health, Lashar quit the party to protest the rise of Donald Trump. In an interview with Maryland Matters, he said he has set a lower — but perhaps more achievable — objective for himself. He’s gunning to outpoll Republican nominee Dan Cox.

In Maryland’s gubernatorial race, Democrat Wes Moore has excited voters with an uplifting life story, soaring rhetoric, impressive credentials from a career spent outside politics and a progressive agenda that relies on an expansive, ambitious government. The Republican, first-term state Del. Dan Cox, has cast himself as Donald Trump’s acolyte, running with the former president’s endorsement and amplifying his lies about election integrity. The candidates are not merely a study in policy contrasts. They exist in different worlds. Mr. Moore has staked out the aspirational high ground as a liberal intent on tackling high crime, unaffordable housing, child poverty, and the racial wealth and opportunity gaps.

A new study could evaluate connecting the Jones Falls Trail in Baltimore City with the Northern Central Railroad Trail in Baltimore County, creating a protected route for hikers and bikers from the Inner Harbor about 50 miles up into Pennsylvania. At a meeting Monday, the Baltimore County Council will vote on whether to help fund the study, which could represent a meaningful step forward for the idea, long discussed by cycling advocates — though it still has a long way to go. After the study, a final design would need to be completed and funding obtained for its construction.

Downtown Baltimore’s assets — a renovated Lexington Market, the Hippodrome theater, renowned educational and health care institutions, and a proposed redo of Harborplace among them — got lots of love during Thursday night’s Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. annual meeting. CEO Shelonda Stokes talked about how the Urban Land Institute, a national group of real estate and land use experts, told her Baltimore “has amazing assets, now connect them.” Stokes, speaking to a crowd at the Center Club, asked audience members to help her make those connections. She said despite fallout from the pandemic and continued crime, change is on its way for downtown.

Despite a plummeting stock market, rising inflation and the Biden administration’s college loan relief plan, Maryland financial advisers say they are not adjusting their counsel about saving for education. Their message to clients? Stay the course. “Our advice really has not changed,” said Ryan Staton, of StatonWalsh in Timonium. Inflation in particular does not faze him. “The cost of college has outpaced inflation for a very long time,” Staton said. “We’ve always educated clients on that. You have to keep in mind that you’re saving for a moving target, one that moves at a much faster rate than your average, everyday spending.”

Work on a new residential enclave at Port Covington overseen by local developer Mark Sapperstein will begin next month with the demolition of the former Locke Insulators building. Sapperstein said Thursday the nearly 619,000-square-foot industrial complex next to Nick’s Fish House will be razed starting Oct. 15. The ambitious demo of the manufacturing plant, which was shut down in 2017, will take place “piece by piece” and ultimately make way for the first of 297 townhouses set to break ground in May by DRB Homes. Rockville-based DRB announced its partnership with Sapperstein’s 28 Walker this month and pledged the new community will allow access to the Middle Branch waterfront not available for 100 years.

Protecting children, reducing high-speed highway crashes and preventing gun theft are some of the aims of hundreds of new Maryland state laws going into effect Saturday. Maryland lawmakers and Gov. Larry Hogan ushered 783 bills from start to finish during the General Assembly’s 90-day session earlier this year. Many of those bills went into effect immediately or during the summer. Hundreds more were scheduled to officially kick-in Saturday, including an expansion of the state’s “move over” law, new security requirements for gun shop owners and a law that no longer allows 15- and 16-year-olds to marry.