Around Maryland

As his mother aged, Skip Boyles would drive her to the eye doctor, where she underwent treatment for a little-known eye disease that eroded her vision and added extra burden to her later years. He had hoped to avoid the same fate — but after Boyles’ father contracted the same debilitating disease near the end of his life, the younger Boyles began waiting for age-related macular degeneration to knock at his door, too.

This weekend, hundreds of municipal officials from throughout the state will gather at the annual Maryland Municipal League leadership conference for four days of workshops, seminars, presentations, networking and training. The Maryland Municipal League was founded in 1936 by Annapolis Mayor Louis N. Phelps to help Maryland municipalities obtain funds from the Work Progress Administration under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

The American Visionary Art Museum will host their annual pet parade and pet talent show. Pet registration starts at 8:30 a.m., followed by the parade at 9 a.m. Everyone is invited to register their pets in the parade in star-spangled fashion. There will be a prize for the pet “that embodies the spirit of a true patriotic visionary,” according to AVAM.

The U.S. Navy commissioned the newest ship of its fleet in Locust Point on Saturday morning in a celebration of Baltimore’s maritime heritage. “Somebody told me this week it’s good to see the Navy back in Baltimore, but the Navy never left Baltimore,” Adm. Michael Gilday said during the commissioning ceremony for the USS Carl M. Levin, a 510-foot guided missile destroyer.

Maryland state officials are advising residents to take precautions after the state was implicated in the MOVEit data breach, a cyberattack on the file transfer system that has affected businesses and government agencies globally. The Maryland Department of Human Services, the state’s primary social services agency, is one of a number of state and federal agencies affected by the MOVEit data breach.

Dressed in an ombre caped shirt, neon yellow fishnet shorts and an LED mask, Emmanuel Williams — who goes by DDm, or Dapper Dan Midas — captivated the audience of nearly a thousand people at Baltimore Soundstage. Gusts of air reminiscent of a Beyoncé wind tunnel made his garment float behind him. His backup dancers bounced and popped as they shook their metallic pom-poms.

Seeking more sway in western Baltimore County redevelopment, County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. is backing a council proposal to prop up a redevelopment authority in greater Woodlawn and make it easier to acquire and redevelop property. Already officials are eyeing a massive, multimillion-dollar redevelopment project at Security Square Mall as an opportunity to start flexing broader land acquisition powers granted by the General Assembly in 2022 through a quasi-public West Baltimore County Redevelopment Authority.