Around Maryland

P. David Bramble doesn’t want to mess this up. The developer and West Baltimore native controls the city’s most intriguing piece of real estate: Harborplace. The Inner Harbor’s dilapidated pavilions with green roofs are the result of a controversial bargain struck nearly five decades ago. Under a plan approved by voters, the city ceded public land to a private developer. In return, Baltimore got a dazzling festival marketplace on a waterfront promenade a block away from the central business district.

Talks in the resort town over short-term rentals are heating up. Officials are eyeing possible regulations, especially for rentals located in residential areas. Right along 15th street, positioned near multiple homes is a short-term rental property. The sign out front proudly displays that the one story home “sleeps up to 10”. While it may seem out of place, Joan Roache, who lives right near the rental property said it is right where it belongs.

With the costs of housing stretching budgets, some students in Howard County are getting a little help making ends meet. County Executive Calvin Ball announced a new student Rental Subsidy Program that offers Howard County community college students who already have housing, assistance with rent costs. To qualify, you must be a student enrolled in fall and spring semesters, be in good academic standing and make 60% less than the median income in the area.

When the Charles P. Crane Generating Station was demolished two years ago, the implosion could be heard for miles. People gathered to watch its towers, long part of the Bowleys Quarters skyline in Middle River, come crashing down. Baltimore County announced Monday it plans to on acquire most of the 153-acre site and turn it into a county park. Forsite Development, which currently owns the property, will keep some of it for what’s being called “low impact uses.” The details of what Forsite might do with the land were not clear, though the county said it could “support the resiliency of the regional power grid.”

Baltimore is poised to consider a $2.1 million contract for the gunshot detection technology known as ShotSpotter, which has come under fire in cities across the country and was recently ended by Chicago’s skeptical mayor. The surveillance technology uses acoustic sensors to detect and locate gunfire, and alerts police of the incident. The company, now known as SoundThinking Inc., contends the system allows police to respond to more gunfire incidents, improve response times and collect key evidence from a scene.

Baltimore County’s School Board has approved it’s budget for fiscal year 2025. The $2.58 billion budget, comes in at just 0.04 percent less than last fiscal year. Made up of various different funds, the passed budget includes a $42.3 million increase to the system’s general fund equating to about two percent. Some of that comes from the state’s Blue Print education law.

For patients with cardiovascular disease — who experience a range of problems affecting their heart and blood vessels — getting around is no easy feat. It can be challenging to trek across a hospital parking lot for a doctor’s appointment, and then to venture to different floors to meet with specialists. Starting Wednesday, cardiovascular patients at Baltimore’s MedStar Union Memorial Hospital will be spared some exertion on the day of their tests, checkups and procedures with the opening of the hospital’s integrated heart services center.

Twenty-one fraternities and 16 sororities on the University of Maryland’s College Park campus will not be allowed to hold any social events involving alcohol or recruiting of new members. On Friday, the university took action for what they believe are activities by multiple chapters that have “threatened the safety and well-being of members of the University community.”