Around Maryland

You can find them surviving against all odds in the vacant spaces of Baltimore City. In church basements, warehouses and abandoned storefronts, they subsist on scraps and inhabit the forgotten nooks and crannies, moving from place to place in search of viable conditions. They are not Baltimore rats. They are its small theaters, existing in a liminal, unpredictable space between the city’s long-standing community theaters and its larger arts institutions.

Kylis Fagbemi and his mother had recently moved to the Brooklyn Homes community when he was killed in a barrage of gunfire last week during a block party celebrating the neighborhood in South Baltimore. At a vigil Tuesday evening in West Baltimore, those who were close with the 20-year-old remembered his good spirit and dedication to his family as others decried the circumstances that led to the shooting, which is likely the most widespread act of violence in Baltimore history.

A Baltimore City historical preservation commission will address the now controversial exterior gas pressure regulators that were being installed outside Federal Hill homes. The Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation on Tuesday is holding its first hearing in more than a year on Baltimore Gas and Electric's controversial outdoor installation of gas pressure regulators at city homes.

The latest forecast has reduced Maryland's odds of getting to view the northern lights this week, but there's still a chance some people could catch the aurora borealis in the sky later this week. Maryland was originally one of 17 states predicted to possibly see the northern lights but some of those factors have changed, meteorologists said Tuesday.

In the last week of May, State’s Attorney Charlie Smith was asked to run for Congress in Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District, he said in an interview Thursday. Smith declined, he said — but he may have another way to have influence beyond his role as Frederick County’s top prosecutor.

The legal tug of war over vacant waterfront land in Westport between a developer planning a community and the operator of proposed high-speed rail will likely go to trial later this summer, after a postponement Monday in Baltimore Circuit Court. A Baltimore jury had been scheduled to begin hearing arguments Monday about the value of the 43-acre tract that Baltimore Washington Rapid Rail LLC seeks to take through eminent domain.

The Parking Authority of Baltimore City announced Monday that it is relocating its office. The office at 200 W. Lombard St. will be closed Friday, July 14, and Monday, July 17. It will reopen to the public at its new location at 211 N. Paca St. on Tuesday, July 18. Free parking for the new location will be available at the Market Center Garage at 221 N. Paca St., next to the new location. Visitors should request validation during their visit.