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Northeast Maglev launches STEAM enrichment program

Northeast Maglev, a Baltimore-based company focused on bringing the world’s fastest train to the Northeast corridor, recently launched a STEAM afterschool enrichment program. Designed by former educators, students learn through hands-on experimentation about the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics principles that make the SCMAGLEV train operate. Northeast Maglev teamed up with Restoring Inner-City Hope (RICH) to launch the program, hosting third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students at the RICH headquarters in the south Baltimore neighborhood of Cherry Hill. The event was part of Northeast Maglev’s celebration of National Education Month, which is observed every November.

Symbolic house made from one hundred dollars isolated on white background
As inflation continues, here’s how Baltimore ranks for affordability

While Baltimore has long been touted as a more affordable option to Washington, D.C., it’s still a lot more expensive to live here than in most of the nation. Baltimore ranks 84th for affordability among the country’s 100 largest metro areas, according to a new Business Journals analysis of the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Price Parity Index. The index shows how costs compare in a metro compared to the national baseline of 100. That means a metro with an index of 90 would be 10% more affordable than the national average, for example. That index includes the cost of housing, services and goods as well, providing a more complete picture of affordability.

Maryland booze news: A hard tea and a new distillery

Frederick, Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery has launched a new business beyond beer called Gonzo Drinks, and its first product is a hard tea. Killer Hard Tea is available at retailers in Maryland now, and will be in D.C. stores., as well as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, in January. Killer Hard Tea has an ABV of 8%, is lemon flavored, and is sold in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans. It is lightly carbonated. Flying Dog, founded in 1990, currently ranks as the 35th-largest craft brewer in the country, based on sales volume, according to the Brewers Association. A new distillery has opened in White Plains, Maryland, just south of Waldorf. Copper Compass Craft Distilling Co. is co-owned by cousins Herb Banks, a 23-year Navy veteran, and April Toyer, a pediatric dentist.

Read More: WTOP News
Md. Port Administration receives $150K grant for coastal resiliency assessment

The Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration (MDOT MPA) has been awarded a $150,000 Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) grant under its Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program. The grant will help the MPA develop a thorough flood and storm vulnerability assessment and improve overall coastal resiliencies at the six state-owned public marine terminals of Maryland’s Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore. The study will also include the World Trade Center Baltimore, which houses the MPA’s executive offices as well as adjacent communities to the public terminals in Baltimore city and Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties.

Fells Point pizza shop hits the market

Brick Oven Pizza of Fells Point, a longtime restaurant nicknamed B.O.P. that helped introduce wood-fired pizza to Baltimore before it was trendy, is on the market. Owner Zion Gavriel bought the 30-year-old pizza shop a year ago but said he has decided he doesn’t want to stay in the restaurant business. He said he purchased it because of the key Fells Point location and foot traffic at the corner of Broadway Square. The restaurant sits directly across from Bertha’s, the famed mussels bar and restaurant that is in negotiations to sell before it closes at the end of the year. The B.O.P. building at 800 S. Broadway, owned by 800 S. Broadway Associated L.P., is not for sale, Gavriel said.

Cigarette butts and Juul pods
Baltimore files ‘first of its kind’ lawsuit against tobacco companies for cigarette filter waste

Baltimore City and Mayor Brandon Scott announced Monday that they had jointly filed a lawsuit against tobacco companies in an effort to recover money Baltimore spends cleaning up discarded cigarette butts. Millions of littered cigarette filters pollute Baltimore’s water and soil, the city said in the suit filed in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City. Since May 2014, trash wheels have collected more than 12 million cigarette filters from Baltimore’s waterways, the city said.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
FAQ: How were developers allowed to change the Port Covington name to Baltimore Peninsula?

When the developers of the Port Covington project announced last week they were changing the name to Baltimore Peninsula, it brought all kinds of questions from curious residents and readers. Some poked fun at the name or said they didn’t get it. Others wondered if they were essentially changing the name of a whole community, and if so, how they were allowed to do it. The change — an attempt by the development team to turn a page and build excitement around the 235-acre, mixed-use waterfront project — came at the suggestion of consultants hired to help rebrand the development, said MaryAnne Gilmartin, founder and CEO of MAG Partners, the lead developer.

Bits & Bites: Maryland marks ‘Kimchi Day,’ chocolate-and-shoe shop returns to Hampden and diner plans to open in White Marsh

It’s Thanksgiving week, that one time of the year where the whole nation is focused on the dinner plate. I’ve always preferred the sides to the main dish. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy a traditional roasted turkey and gravy. But there’s something special about creamy mashed potatoes, aromatic stuffing, sweet corn pudding and broccoli topped with decadent hollandaise sauce. They’re even more satisfying when you combine them all in one bite.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Baltimore’s LifeBridge Health raises minimum wage to $16 an hour for hospital system workers

LifeBridge Health is raising the minimum wage of many workers — including all of its hospital employees — to $16 an hour. More than 270 employees recently saw a bump in their paychecks this month, the nonprofit Baltimore-based health system announced Monday. The increase also will apply to the starting wage for almost 2,500 jobs where current employees already make that much or more.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
‘It’s a heavy lift’: How Baltimore will transform 244 acres of former public housing projects

It’s a bold Baltimore urban project — some 244 acres in East and Southeast Baltimore are being demolished and rebuilt throughout Oldtown and the former Somerset and Perkins homes public housing projects. “It’s a heavy lift,” said Chris Ryer, the Baltimore City planning director. “We have the city, state and federal government all aligned, but if there were more money involved, it would be easier.” To put it a different way, the 1904 Baltimore Fire consumed 140 acres. This is a landscape 100 acres larger. It’s a challenge transforming neighborhoods from McElderry Street on the north to Bank Street on the south. The planners, developers and builders are working on a blank canvas as blocks of 1940s housing projects fall to bulldozers.

Read More: Baltimore Sun

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