Around Maryland

A new study will evaluate connecting the Jones Falls Trail in Baltimore City with the Northern Central Railroad Trail in Baltimore County, creating a protected route for hikers and bikers from the Inner Harbor about 50 miles up into Pennsylvania. At a meeting Monday, the Baltimore County Council voted unanimously to help fund the study, which represents a meaningful step forward for the idea. The connection has long been discussed by cycling advocates, but still has a long way to go. After the study, a final design would need to be completed and funding obtained for its construction.

Baltimore region stakeholders and residents can now provide feedback on another set of transit plans aimed at increasing regional connectivity and improving the region’s economy. In September of 2022, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) announced a set of North-South Baltimore City/County transit system alignments (known in the report as alternatives) for public comment and review as part of the rollout of its Central Maryland Regional Transportation plan.

Anne Arundel County Council member Allison Pickard doesn’t often get to go shopping alone. She was thankful her children weren’t present Saturday afternoon as she was ushered through the back of a Timberland outlet at Arundel Mills Mall when a gun discharged in the food court, causing a panic among shoppers. Pickard, who didn’t hear the shot, was at first unsure why she was being evacuated. She was able to get in contact with an Anne Arundel County Police lieutenant who put her mind at ease that no one was shot. But crowds of Saturday shoppers at the mall evacuated fearing the gunfire came from an active shooter.

The federal government has sold off a rather inhospitable lighthouse in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay for a six-figure sum after a bidding war at auction. The Hooper Island Lighthouse, located west of Middle Hooper Island in Maryland’s Dorchester County, at first drew little interest, The Washington Post reported. But then five potential buyers drove up the price from a starting bid of $15,000 to the winning bid of $192,000. Will Powell, a spokesman for the U.S. General Services Administration, told the newspaper the lighthouse comes with strings attached.

A new study could evaluate connecting the Jones Falls Trail in Baltimore City with the Northern Central Railroad Trail in Baltimore County, creating a protected route for hikers and bikers from the Inner Harbor about 50 miles up into Pennsylvania. At a meeting Monday, the Baltimore County Council will vote on whether to help fund the study, which could represent a meaningful step forward for the idea, long discussed by cycling advocates — though it still has a long way to go. After the study, a final design would need to be completed and funding obtained for its construction.