For the better part of the past century, the American electric power system evolved around large, mostly fossil fuel power plants delivering electricity to residences, businesses and industry through a network of transmission and distribution wires that collectively came to be called the electric grid. But as the threat of climate change driven by carbon pollution becomes more dire and as technological advances make wind, solar and battery storage ever cheaper options for powering homes and business, states, corporations and voters are increasingly pushing to aggressively decarbonize the grid. Power generation resulted in more than 1.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and accounted for about a quarter of all U.S. carbon emissions.

Hydrocephalus occurs when excess cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in cavities of the brain. The only known treatment is brain surgery, which often involves implanting a device called a shunt in the head to drain the excess fluid. Unfortunately, shunts are prone to failure over time, thereby requiring surgical replacements. According to the Hydrocephalus Association, over 36,000 shunt surgeries are performed each year, averaging to one every fifteen minutes and making it the most common reason for brain surgery in children.

An apartment management company owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, has settled with the Maryland Attorney General’s Office over claims the company mistreated renters by ignoring serious maintenance issues and charging illegal fees. The settlement includes a $3.25 million penalty and the requirement that the company, Westminster Management LLC, pay restitution to current and former tenants. Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said at a news conference that Westminster used its “vastly superior economic power” to take advantage of tenants who often struggled to pay rent and support their families.

Baltimore Sun reporters and editors will soon move to another workspace as the storied newspaper shuts down its Port Covington newsroom at Sun Park this year. Owners of the 185-year-old newspaper did not renew the paper’s lease with Sagamore Ventures, MAG Partners and McFarlane Partners at the site, said MaryAnne Gilmartin, CEO of MAG, and will leave by late December. The move follows the shutdown of the Sun’s printing operation at the 250,000-square-foot plant off Interstate 95 this year, with the giant presses dismantled and sold off. Under Armour founder Kevin Plank, whose Sagamore Ventures is one of Port Covington’s developers, acquired The Sun property in 2014 for $46.5 million.

A hum of soothing voices filled a conference room at Baltimore City Public School’s headquarters Sunday afternoon. The murmurs rose from six volunteers who cradled phones on their shoulders as they dialed number after number, trying to reach more than 1,300 families of students who have missed school this year. The Super Outreach Sunday phone bank is a push by district employees to get in touch with students who have 10 or more unexcused absences or have yet to attend school since it started four weeks ago Although Sunday’s phone bank is a first for the district, Baltimore City Public Schools use multiple methods to reach absent students daily.

A nearly $40 million recreational and competitive swim center is in the early stages of design and set to be built in Provinces Park in Severn by 2026, according to county officials. However, a coalition of community groups from Arundel Forest, Turnbury Run, Strawberry Hill and Disney Estates is doing everything it can to stop it from being built in their neighborhood. The swim center has been in development for a decade. It was originally to be built in Odenton but when the proposed property couldn’t accommodate the plans, the county looked north to Severn, said District 1 council member Sarah Lacey, a Jessup Democrat who represents Provinces Park.

Silver Spring resident Brian Savoie began setting aside money for his son’s college tuition nearly 20 years ago, when his first-born, Caleb, entered kindergarten. Now, facing a fall semester tuition payment, the Savoie family cannot access all of the money in their account due to a glitch in one of Maryland’s tuition savings programs. Administrators of the Maryland Prepaid College Trust acknowledge the problem. They say that during a switch-over to a new vendor, an audit raised concerns as to whether interest earnings were being calculated accurately. That led to the interest portion of accounts like the Savoies’ to be frozen.

Marriott International held a grand opening this week for its new global headquarters, a towering 21-story building that forms just one part of the changing landscape in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. The gleaming new office-hotel complex and other tall new buildings in the central core of downtown Bethesda on Wisconsin Avenue include the Wilson, a 23-story office tower which houses the headquarters for local television channel Fox 5 DC, and the 22-story Avocet Tower, a space for offices and a hotel. While the towering commercial buildings stand out among the multiple construction projects recently completed or now underway, it is residential construction that seen the biggest investment.

That is the number of adult Marylanders who the National Student Clearinghouse reports as having “some college, no credential” and who are not currently enrolled. 613,000 is a staggering number – representing 13 percent of all Maryland adults — but one that also represents a significant opportunity for our state, and especially for those Marylanders who began their postsecondary journeys but never completed them. Aside from the lost economic benefits that having a postsecondary credential affords the graduate (estimated, on average, to be worth $1 million), businesses in Maryland increasingly rely on talent who possess some form of education beyond high school.