Around Maryland

The Frederick County Planning Commission on Wednesday will review a preliminary plan to build a combined agricultural and equestrian park near Thurmont that has piqued the interest of horse riding enthusiasts but drawn a rebuke from farmers in the area. In 2017, the 183-acre site was donated to the county by Richard W. Kanode, after whom the proposed park would be named. At that time, Kanode, who died in 2020, also contributed $1 million to the Community Foundation of Frederick County to establish an endowment fund for the proposed park.

The format of the SAT, a standardized test to determine high schoolers’ college readiness, is changing to a digital format this spring as colleges start to make standardized tests optional for admissions. The new format will allow students to get scores back in days instead of weeks, College Board, the nonprofit behind the test, said in January 2022 a news release. “The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give, and more relevant,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of college readiness assessments at College Board, in the release.

This year’s Maryland State Fair is scheduled for three weekends during the summer with pop group Big Time Rush headlining the musical performances. The fair will be held Aug. 22 to 25, Aug. 29 to Sept. 2, and Sept. 5 to 8 in Timonium. During the last weekend of the fair, Big Time Rush will perform in the 2024 Live! ON TRACK! concert series on Sept. 7 with Crash Adams as an opening act.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates is remaining steadfast in the success of the citation docket, but there’s frustration that some of their partners aren’t on board and people could be missing out on services. Police issued 37 citations that have made it to court since the inception of the program, about half were rejected internally.

The Frederick County Planning Commission on Wednesday will review a preliminary plan to build a combined agricultural and equestrian park near Thurmont that has piqued the interest of horse riding enthusiasts but drawn a rebuke from farmers in the area. In 2017, the 183-acre site was donated to the county by Richard W. Kanode, after whom the proposed park would be named. At that time, Kanode, who died in 2020, also contributed $1 million to the Community Foundation of Frederick County to establish an endowment fund for the proposed park.

Sometimes people forget Deep Creek Lake was built to produce electricity, Dustin Droege said. He’s director of operations at Brookfield Renewable US, which owns and runs the lake’s dam that helps power the region. The hydroelectric generation station was built nearly 100 years ago and is permitted to operate by the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Cushman & Wakefield announced that law firm Blades & Rosenfeld P.A., will soon occupy 8,900 rentable square feet at the One South Street building in downtown Baltimore, the first lease for the property’s new owners, One South Street Baltimore LLC. Blades & Rosenfeld has deep roots in Baltimore, having its offices in the downtown area since its founding in 1921.

The Maryland comptroller’s office said Monday that it has processed about half of the roughly 530,000 state returns received this year, following delays due to a tax system upgrade at the start of the season. State returns have been taking slightly longer — up to 10 business days — to process following the upgrade period that held up the office’s systems for roughly the first two weeks of the tax season, which opened Jan. 29.