Around Maryland

A large boom that shook houses in the Annapolis area Sunday and was heard elsewhere in Maryland was caused by military fighter jets following an “unresponsive” aircraft that later crashed in Virginia, according to defense officials. The noise came from F-16 fighter aircraft that “were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds” as they pursued a civilian business jet over D.C. and Virginia after 3 p.m. Sunday, according to a news release from the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Maryland environmental officials are restarting a controversial permitting process that would eventually enable Constellation Energy to continue operating the Conowingo Dam for another half century. The future of the dam along the Susquehanna River, considered a significant source of Chesapeake Bay pollution, has been the object of regulatory wrangling and litigation for several years.

As Maryland’s sports betting market expands, a center that assists those suffering from a gambling problem has struggled to keep pace with a growing demand for help and an increase in pro-betting advertising. On Thursday, the online retailer and betting company Fanatics, which has a sportsbook facility inside the Washington Commanders’ FedEx Field, became Maryland’s 10th active mobile sportsbook.

Potomac Edison’s effort to make an early buyout of its contract with AES Warrior Run is getting pushback from a utility watchdog agency. Potomac Edison, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., announced in April that it submitted a proposal to the Maryland Public Service Commission to buy out the contract with AES seven years early for $357 million.

Some members of the Baltimore County School Board Nominating Commission say the organization has “deviated” from its intended role of presenting eligible candidates to help lead the school system. At a news conference Thursday morning, members Eugene Clark and Marietta English said that the commission’s three officers did not follow policy in deciding which applicants get the opportunity to be interviewed and thus submitted to Gov. Wes Moore for potential appointment to the Baltimore County Public Schools Board of Education. Cindy Sexton, chair of the nominating commission, said policy was followed.

With a Maryland hate crimes task force funded by a federal grant set to expire next year, legislation to make it a permanent group goes into effect Thursday. The task force, now called the Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention, will continue to be managed by the state attorney general’s office. About $114,400 from the U.S. Department of Justice will cover a one-year contract next fiscal year for the office to hire an assistant attorney general to manage the commission.

In a parking lot off the Jones Falls Expressway, my eyes started to water from staring into the sun. I could hear it better than I could see it. At five-minute intervals, a low hum sounded and a small Cessna airplane, roughly a mile from the ground, passed overhead. Throughout April, I’d heard from several Baltimore Banner readers that a surveillance plane was flying over West Baltimore.

Citing “financial challenges … faced in recent times,” the owners of Pimlico Race Course notified employees Saturday that they are shutting down the track’s off-track betting (OTB) facility by June 30 — the same date a key agreement for racing operations in Maryland is due to expire. In an e-mail to employees of the Maryland Jockey Club — subsidiary owner of the Pimlico and Laurel Park tracks — Mike Rogers, the company’s’ acting president, wrote that “this decision was not made lightly.”